- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
What they mean by “agreeing with the thought” is to agree with the fact that you’re thinking it, acknowledging the fact that you’re thinking about the fact. It doesn’t mean for example, “yes I am contaminated and will get AIDS”, “yes I will do a hit and run with my car” - that’s not the point of ERP, it’s mainly just accepting that the thought is there in your mind, and that you’re going to choose to not argue with it, to not do any compulsions. There are some CBT worksheets that can help with these types of OCD, but it would be better to see a OCD specialist for guidance and focus on doing a OCD self-help booklet (Mindfulness Workbook for OCD by Jon Hershfield is really good!)
- Date posted
- 4y
Okay that makes sense. Thank you so much! That’s helped:)
- Date posted
- 4y
@njjjjjj No problem! also to clarify on a typo earlier, I meant “acknowledging the fact that you’re thinking about the thought”
- Date posted
- 4y
I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND ITS SO CUNFUSING SOMETIMES
- Date posted
- 4y
You don’t necessarily agree with the thought in a sense, you more so acknowledge it. So the thought pops up and you would notice it’s there, but then not do any of the compulsions to rid yourself of it. When it comes to the challenging thoughts idea with agreeing however, I can see it being where the thought comes in of “what if I hurt my family”, you challenging it by agreeing “yup totally gonna do that” - the OCD expected you to go the other direction and say you would never do that, do other various compulsions, but instead you challenged it. Hopefully that makes some sense!
- Date posted
- 4y
Thank you so much! That’s made so much sense and helped me understand it now! Thank you:)
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- Date posted
- 24w
I've been told a lot that in order to get better, we need to tolerate uncertainty, which yea I get that and I'm trying every day more and more to reach that point!! But I've also been told that we need to tolerate uncertainty AND "our worst fears becoming true". Like how does that work, especially with POCD, OCD about a///ault, SA and all of that? Like that is really difficult for me and I don't really understand how I'm supposed to just shrug stuff like that off
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- Date posted
- 23w
I read about ERP and have seen information about it on here. One of the goals is to say, "maybe I am this or that...ect." That terrified me. The thoughts and images that go in my head are disturbing and upsetting. I don't want to even think about saying, "maybe this or that." It's devasting to have these thoughts and question why you're having these thoughts. Doesn't the "maybe" make it worse? The one thing that helps me is that is to remind myself that these are just thoughts and I know I'm not a monster, even if I feel like one. Is ERP not for everyone? Has anyone else had a problem with the techniques used in this kind of therapy? I had cognitive therapy for years with an OCD specialist and that seemed to help a lot. Writing out the worst case scenarios would make me suicidal. Im having a difficult time not obsessing over the "maybe" after intrusive thoughts now. It doesn't make it better.
- Date posted
- 20w
I’ve been getting stuck in my understanding of OCD lately. When I have intrusive thoughts, although I have OCD, I’m not supposed to label them as part of my condition? Instead I just say maybe/maybe not? It feels like it takes the wind out of my sails a bit in recovery? Like having cancer, but when I go to chemo, I’m supposed to say “maybe I have cancer, maybe I don’t.” Would anyone be able to speak to this and increase my insight and understanding? Thank you!
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