- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
I do, but to a way lesser extent. Keep in mind that the therapy through this app is just enough to teach you to do it on your own. You still have to continue the ERP afterwards for a while. How long have you been doing ERP?
- Date posted
- 4y
With my therapist through this app for a couple months. I tried it on my own before.
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- 4y
@j420 Yeah ocd recovery is a lengthy process, but it does work. OCD never really goes away, you just learn to live with the thoughts, which isn’t as bad as it sounds. I’m in a much better place than I was a year ago even though I still get intrusive thoughts
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- 4y
@Drvmstick What else has helped you with your OCD? I've been trying to learn how to be self compassionate... Very hard!! My family has ALWAYS struggled with this. My dad was super critical and abusive to us kids and my mother. Learning to be kind to myself is a challenge
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- 4y
@Drvmstick Any suggestions on how to live with the thoughts?
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- 4y
@j420 Self compassion is very difficult indeed, I’m sorry to hear about your trauma. Have you tried self compassion meditation? It’s a bit weird at first but it helped me feel less guilty about having the thoughts and feelings that I was having. This one is one of my favorites: https://youtu.be/GTriRU6PYNA
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- 4y
@Drvmstick I have a hard time with acceptance. I've always been the kind of person who fights things that are uncomfortable.
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- 4y
@Drvmstick Thank you SO MUCH for talking with me. I think it helps to have support. I will read this when I get a chance. Let's stay in touch. Can I ask where you live? I live in Utah. USA
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- 4y
@j420 Yeah I hear ya. Same with me. You really have to be patient with yourself. You really just have to put in the work and let yourself feel anxious. Just don’t be so hard on yourself when you feel bad or if you mess up. Progress isn’t linear, when I was recovering I would feel bad almost every 2 weeks for a few days. Then I’d feel good, then I’d feel bad again. It was so strange to me that it was so on point, but that’s how it was for me and it’s different for everyone.
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- 4y
@j420 No problem! I’m from California!
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- 4y
@Drvmstick Right on. I'll read or listen to that link you sent me and chat with you later. Thanks
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- 4y
@Drvmstick What are your themes? I struggle with relationship and self harm most the time plus the fear I will not get better
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- 4y
I’m almost done, but it’s already starting to get bad again. It think it’s because it’s summer and I’m less busy so I have more time to think.
- Date posted
- 4y
I'm sorry for you as well. I don't know what triggered me today so bad. Last week and today have been super tough.
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- 4y
Relationship and somatic, ocassionally other themes as well
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- 4y
I have my last session of my “getting better” phase and I feel like I haven’t really gotten better. I’ve certainly learned a lot through therapy and maybe I’m learning to manage things differently but it’s still so tough sometimes. Just riding the wave.
- Date posted
- 4y
Hello. This is pretty dang tough. I hope we can get better. It's a good thing we have this app to help each other. I sometimes get so nervous that I will not get better. That thought sure feels like OCD though. Hang in there
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- 4y
@j420 I always think that too, but then I eventually feel better, even if it’s only for a few days. I’ve had OCD for about 10 years. While it’s different for everyone, for me at one point it goes away and then doesn’t come back for a year, or I should say, it becomes much more manageable out of nowhere. This time around when it came back I decided to do therapy. now with the tools we learned from therapy, the hope is that we can apply them when we need to. Everything works out in the end, that’s a motto I always lived by!
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- 4y
@Brian C. Really. That's hopeful that it will have ups and downs. This has been a down for a long time. I'm 51 and have had this since I was young. I didn't know what it was though.
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- 4y
@j420 Wow, you’ve been dealing with this a lot longer than I have. I’m grateful that OCD has gotten more recognition in recent years. You’ve made it this far so I’m confident you will get through!
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- 4y
@Brian C. Thanks. I hope I can. My self harm OCD has made it rough
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- 4y
@j420 That’s what I have as well. Stay strong and best of luck ✊
Related posts
- Date posted
- 19w
Hi this is my first time posting on here. I wasn't sure if I should because I want to make sure I'm not seeking reassurance because I heard that makes ocd worse. I don't want to talk about what my ocd problem was, but basically I was really upset about a religious ocd problem that I know isn't true. I'm feeling a lot better about it now, but when it was bad I decided to try and get better on my own. I read about ERP therapy and how you're supposed to make a list of your ocd problems, from least distressing to most. So I wrote them down on two pieces of paper. At first I started with the simple ones, like looking for spiders before leaving the room. I have a tendency to look for spiders before leaving a room but lately I've been trying not to anymore. Then I decided to try and do one of the hard things. It was a religious ocd problem. I decided to start simple, and just write the problem down on a piece of paper. So I went downstairs and got some paper. But then I thought, oh no, my ocd is probably not going to like this. What do I do with the paper once I write it down? If I think what I wrote down is bad and going to upset God and I will go to hell, (even though I know logically it's not), my ocd is probably going to freak out if I throw away the paper. It probably won't calm down unless I erase it. So I just decided to not write it down on a paper, and just type it on my phone instead. So I did, I typed it on my phone. So, even though I didn't write anything down on the paper, now it feels like that peice of paper is bad. I feel like it's connected to the problem I was having, and I was so upset I called my mom crying asking her what to do. Eventually I decided to just put the paper back with the rest of the paper downstairs, but I'm still upset. I feel like I have to throw away all the paper downstairs, the pencil I was going to use to write down the problem, and the eraser I was going to use in case I needed to erase anything. It feels like if I use any of those items I will make God angry and go to hell. I know I shouldn't do this though, so I'm not going to. I don't know what to do with the papers where I wrote down my ocd problems. They are on my desk and I'm too afraid to move them. And if I put them in my desk I'm afraid they will get mixed up with other papers. I guess I can do whatever I want with them. I think I'll put them in a folder or binder and if I make any more ocd papers I can just put them in there. I'm just really confused on how to move forward. Right now, I'm too afraid to use the papers, pencil, or eraser for anything. I feel like I can't write on them, draw on them, or anything. It's even making me feel like I can't make digital art. It's making me feel like I can't do a lot of things. I guess what I have to do is just do whatever I want to, because I know the ocd isn't true and doesn't make sense.
- Date posted
- 14w
Please help. I have felt so off/wrong all day. I constantly worry that the “bad guy” is going to get me. I have awful thoughts and I constantly want God to know that I don’t mean these thoughts. I am at a point in my therapy where I need to choose to use my ERP but it feels too scary. I then do compulsions, which makes the OCD worse, which makes me want to use ERP less. And the cycle goes on. I am currently sitting in my car crying because I feel so lost and exhausted. I’m not supposed to figure out my thoughts, but today I just went into a spiral of sadness and depression, thinking that I will always feel like this. When my thoughts got really bad at the end of the day, I tried to use ERP even though I was shaking and not believing my responses and I ended up feeling like I missed something and that I gave into the “bad guy.” I have no one to talk when I’m not doing therapy twice a week. I am alone and have no one to talk to when I am like this… please help
- Date posted
- 8w
My theme is suicidal OCD. I’ve been doing ERP since last year November and the overall intensity of my thoughts have not reduced at all. I have these thoughts 24/7 and my life feels like a living hell. Not two minutes goes by throughout the day where I’m not suffering from relentless thoughts. I don’t want to take meds because of the side effects and my insurance is coming to an end so it’d be difficult to ween off them by myself. I’m starting to feel so hopeless because I’ve done the toughest of the toughest exposures and I’m not getting better at all. My life is a living hell and I don’t see my condition with OCD getting better anytime sooner.
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