Hi guys! Was wanting some tips on ERP. I am just getting started & trying to read articles about being codependent, happy engagement stories but my mind when I try to sit with “maybe I am, maybe I’m not. Life is uncertain.” Will come up with more rabbit hole thoughts of I’m crazy have every mental illness out there etc. does anyone have tips for experiencing all day anxiety/panic attacks & fear of doing an exposure wrong? I am scared I won’t get better bc I’m not doing it right.

Finding it hard to trust myself though since intrusive thoughts are so bad! I am nervous b/c a lot of people also have come out as gay in their early 20s so this also makes me nervous I’m living my life a lie somehow

What if some of my fears are slightly true? Does that make sense? It’s scary!

@Anonymous Do you mean something along the lines of possible contamination, or thinking something bad could happen if you do/don't do something?

@Anonymous No, just like what if I actually do have other mental health disorders like BPD or separation anxiety and I am not getting help for them b/c I am just telling myself “maybe, maybe not.”

@Anonymous Also, how many diff. ERPS do you do daily?

@Anonymous OCD sometimes likes to make you think you don't have OCD, or there's more to it. For these fears, still do ERP -- one possible idea I might suggest for an exposure is writing scripts. They should be short and to the point -- being more descriptive where you get anxiety in the script. There isn't a correct amount of times to do ERP. The more you do ERP, the better. I do multiple different exposures for multiple different obsessions, and I try to do them twice a day.

@Anonymous What’s an example of a script? My therapist hasn’t brought this to my attention. I’ve just read articles so far. I just read an article about being bisexual though and am spiraling now. I have a lot of different obsessions going on. :(

@Anonymous You should bring scripts up to your therapist -- your therapist might plan on telling you about them later, and they could help you more with scripts. But scripts are written for things you can't actually expose yourself to -- i.e. if you have a fear of a public bathroom and don't want to go to one every day, you could write a script about it, or you could write a script about something actually happening. Scripts could be higher on your hierarchy depending on the script, so you probably won't get to this quite yet. I'm sorry to hear that you're having a difficult time right now! Try to focus on the initial intrusive thought. If you find that reading articles is too difficult right now, you might want to do a lesser exposure and go back to articles later if you can. I'm also sorry that you have many different obsessions. I have three main ones that are bothering me that I'm focusing on right now.