isastyle
- Date posted
- 4y
GregJGregJ
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 4y
If you do develop another theme you’ll be able to squash it again! How did you do ERP for harm?
isastyleisastyle
- Date posted
- 4y
I worked HEAVILY with uncertainty statements as well as script writing. My harm ocd pertained to gun violence so imaginary exposures worked best. I recognize that OCD is a smart shapeshifter but using tools to be smarter than it can be exhausting :(
GregJGregJ
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 4y
@igluvty I have the same thing I’m dealing with. I am so scared I will shoot and kill someone. Can you give me guidance on how to squash it?
isastyleisastyle
- Date posted
- 4y
@NOCD Advocate - Greg J. I am not a therapist and everything works different for everyone but I am happy to tell you what worked for me! I have a NOCD therapist I’m working with at the moment. The uncertainty statements can help with the concrete event of committing gun violence. Often however, there’s a core fear buried under that concrete event and that is where the script writing comes into play for me. Dr Michael Greenberg has an article online about the core fear and it is very useful! Gun violence is a catastrophic fear and guns are not something we have to use on a daily basis like a kitchen knife or ur vehicle. So when I wrote out a script of the event happening, I noticed the gun itself wasn’t the obstacle to get over, it was the emotional suffering I was most afraid of enduring should something LIKE gun violence occur. hope this helps :)
GregJGregJ
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 4y
@igluvty Yeah I never understood how scripts worked or helped. So I would just write a script about my fear happening and then not react to it? And read it multiple times per day?
isastyleisastyle
- Date posted
- 4y
@NOCD Advocate - Greg J. Personally writing the script itself and reading it for the first time was the hardest. After that yes, now I read it once or twice everyday and it becomes boring to me. I’m not sure what your compulsions are, I ruminate heavily. So I read it over and over and just told myself it may or may not happen. I know that is what everyone says and it’s hard to believe when ur in the thick of it that it’ll work but you can do this!!
GregJGregJ
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 4y
@igluvty Yes my only compulsion is ruminating! I feel like we have such a similar OCD fear! Mine is about a specific person that what if I hurt them. So I should write a script about hurting them and the consequences and read it till it gets boring? I also heard you can record scripts and listen to them?
isastyleisastyle
- Date posted
- 4y
@NOCD Advocate - Greg J. If that is something you are prepared to do then yes scripts can be very effective. I haven’t felt the need to record mine but they offer that tool on this app.
Stronger. Stronger.
- Date posted
- 4y
@igluvty Love what you said about the core fear. I always make sure my recorded scripts get to the core fear. “I’m scared that I cheated on my homework. Actually, I probably did cheat on my homework. Because I cheated on my homework, that’s an immoral act, I will get kicked out of school, everyone will know I’m a fraud and I will go to hell.” I just take it alllll the way. When it comes to ethical themes, whether it’s attaching to me or someone else the panic inducing fear is always hell. When it comes to relationship or real event OCD I also go all the way, “that was cheating, I cheated and my husband will divorce me” or “what I did WAS bad. It was horrible. If people knew they would hate me. My husband would leave me and I would have to kill myself.” I just get to the fear that makes me hyperventilate, and knock it out cold. 👊👊
Related posts
Cody Fournier
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 23w
OCD switches themes
I was just thinking about how OCD tries to be tricky and switches themes on us!! The amount of times I have said to myself in the past, IF ONLY I HAD THE OLDER THEME I USE TO WORRY ABOUT BECAUSE THIS NEW ONE IS SO MUCH WORSE!!! Has anyone ever experienced this before? Once I started ERP therapy, I began to really start understanding what mental/physical compulsions I was doing to really keep my OCD alive! While I did this, I would also tap into my self-compassion bucket, even when it felt like it was dry at times, because it was SO easy to judge myself for because of the sheer presence of my thoughts. I would also have the most self-compassion for myself for those taboo intrusive thoughts that really felt so strong, ego-dystonic and real!!! My OCD would hop around from theme to theme and just when I thought I figured it out (compulsion) it would hop again and make me discouraged! I noticed for me that once I really understood my compulsions, it didn't matter when the theme switched as I could tackle it at its core. If I was able to stay steadfast and resist compulsions the best I could, I started to notice that my CONFIDENCE increased in the long run! I also noticed that some of the core fears were the same for different OCD subtypes. OCD treatment is hard BUT living with OCD is harder. I have experienced subtypes including Harm OCD, ROCD, Moral Scrupulosity, Sensorimotor, Contamination, Perfectionism/Just Right, Hit and Run, Magical Thinking, Real Event/False Memory. ERP therapy allowed me to really work on stopping these compulsions and switching from theme to theme. I was fed up with what OCD took from me and I needed to do something about it. I talked to an ERP therapist and it was one of the best decisions of my life. If you are struggling, keep pushing and get the help you deserve!! You got this!!!
Dude01
- Date posted
- 23w
It's about the Themes, you can't convince me otherwise
"The themes don't matter, it's the OCD that's the real culprit!" I don't buy that. How's that? I didn't have this crap until the real event themes came along. I wasn't born with OCD, I didn't have it from a young age, etc. This was learned, this was real event theme triggered, this was a bad habit that kept on on going and never died, the frequency just picked up and now it's a daily hell. This wasn't happening before the actual themes. Which makes sense. It's a result of being "stuck" in a cycle of guilt, shame, and constant cognitive challenges to "deal" with past deeds. I've very skeptical of any future solution. The fact that there doesn't seem to be any permanent solution for real event OCD is defeating and depressing. I don't know how people "beat OCD" without some level of delusion mindset or baked out of their mind in medication. Doesn't seem to be a holistic or real solution to this. Just more of the same hellish routines. I'm just very pessimistic, it's been years. Where is the hope. Sick of being stuck like this.
slippery_salad
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 19w
F this disorder
I’ve gone through so many themes and seen the pattern so many times that I’m getting to a point where, new themes come in and I automatically identify my compulsions and the potential ones and then choose to not engage. OCD now is like a thorn in my side rather than a boulder suffocating me. But still that annoying little thorn that will always be there dispositionally
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