- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
No!! And way less scary
- Date posted
- 4y
Because it’s essentially confronting the thoughts and accepting them instead of trying to convince yourself that you’re the opposite of your thoughts correct?
- Date posted
- 4y
@Love Exactly! you’re not saying it’s true. You’re saying maybe it is , maybe it will happen in 10 years but I can’t figure it out. I almost canceled multiple times but I promise it’s worth it. For me just understanding ocd in the therapy helped a ton too! Also watch the YouTube sessions by others with ocd those help me
- Date posted
- 4y
@Justmesadly Okay I gotcha! I’m beginning my journey tonight, not sure who exactly I’m doing my therapy with but I’m going to start getting all of that figured out tonight!
- Date posted
- 4y
@Love With nocd? I hope your journey goes well! You got this! Give yourself grace
- Date posted
- 4y
@Justmesadly Not sure yet. I’m calling with my health insurance company to see what resources I have. And I’ll try too! Before I start I need a better attitude cause I have some “who cares” and “I don’t care what happens anymore” kind of thoughts. Not sure if that’s normal 🤷🏻♂️
- Date posted
- 4y
@Love That "I don't care" attitude comes from depression. I would say until you start therapy try some relaxation techniques and also try occupy yourself with more joyful or fun activities. If they take your mind off of this crap even for a few minutes at a time, it can help. Especially with the depression.
- Date posted
- 4y
@Jbm421 Yeah that makes more sense. I was diagnosed with depression and general anxiety disorder. It really is a bottom less pit of “not caring”. My ocd does limit if I’m allowed to enjoy things sometimes as crazy as that sounds
- Date posted
- 4y
@Love Oh ok! Well who cares can be good in some ways and areas but not all !
- Date posted
- 4y
@Justmesadly Yeah my not care though is like “I don’t care if I get better” or when the other people who love me so much around me say that things will be better I’ll think “yeah who cares whatever” which I’m thinking is on the bad side of the “I don’t care” mindset haha
- Date posted
- 4y
@Love Okay so not a good mindset! You’re definitely correct to fix that before you go to therapy!
- Date posted
- 4y
@Justmesadly Yes, very tough for some reason and increases my guilt. But I’m gonna try
- Date posted
- 4y
ERP can be very challenging because you're dealing with thoughts that can be frightening. The important part is remembering they are just thoughts, ideas in your head.
- Date posted
- 4y
Okay that’s what I’ve read. Sounds like it’ll be tough at first and then slowly get better
- Date posted
- 4y
It can be very scary at first but you habituate to it and it becomes less frightening.
- Date posted
- 4y
Are u able to regain thinking your own thoughts that you want to think?
- Date posted
- 4y
@Love Yes but you gotta be careful until you do. It's very easy to fall back into the negative thinking habits. Your normal way of thinking returns but you must be patient and don't get discouraged. Persistence and perseverance are key, especially as you start to heal. You don't want to let a thought or a trigger completely derail you.
- Date posted
- 4y
@Jbm421 Okay thanks for the help! After 2 years (with a couple incidents almost 8 years ago) I’m getting help soon!
- Date posted
- 4y
@Love Dude, I've dealt with this crap on n off for 11 years (with varying degrees of intensity) and its only in the last year as it got really bad that I sought help. Best thing for me really. I still got a ways to go and I have alot of bad habits I'm trying to stop (compulsion are habits after all) but I'm much better than I was.
- Date posted
- 4y
@Jbm421 That’s good to hear man! I myself am at the lowest I’ve ever been, very depressed and feel hopeless
- Date posted
- 4y
@Love Believe me when I say that I've been in that very same position. Remember two things: 1) despite how hopeless things can seem, there is ALWAYS hope. And 2) There is a Batman quote I always love using: "The Night is darkest just before the dawn, and I promise you the dawn is coming."
- Date posted
- 4y
@Jbm421 I appreciate that, you’ve got me fired up with that Batman quote haha. That’s like my favorite movie of all time
Related posts
- Date posted
- 19w
I had just posted a summary of ERP for a group member, and I thought it might be useful for everybody. Here it is below (with a little extra added)…. ERP therapy is researched-based. Most other therapies don’t work. There have been people who have been literally stuck in their houses (from their OCD) who gained their lives back through ERP therapy. NOCD does ERP therapy exclusively. You can find it in other places too, but you have to ask around. There are two tenants of ERP therapy: The first one has to do with the repetitive thoughts inside our heads. These thoughts are actually defined as “obsessions”. You are not supposed to do anything with the obsessions. You are supposed to let them run through your head freely, without trying to fix them or stop them. Imagine a tree planted by a river. The leaves fall off and float down the river. You can see the leaves falling, but you don’t try to stop them or pick them up. You don’t try to fix them. You just let them float away. This is really important to do with your obsessive thoughts. The more you try to fight them off, the worse they get. I used to have blasphemous sentences running in my head 24/7. I felt like I had to put a “not” next to each sentence in order to “fix” it. But this just took hours of my time every day, and it was very scary, because I was worried that if I messed up, that I would go to hell. It was very freeing to learn later that I could just let those sentences run freely through my head without trying to fix them. The second part of ERP therapy is all about “denying your compulsions.” Every time OCD tells you that if you don’t do things a certain way that something really bad will happen, that is a compulsion. Once you recognize what your compulsions are, ERP therapy will have you practice stopping doing all of those things. For some people, that will mean stopping washing their hands or touching lights switches or, in my case, putting “fixing” words in their head. Compulsions are safety behaviors. During ERP therapy, you will practice stopping engaging with safety behaviors. All this is very hard to do and scary, so during therapy you will be given tools to help you deal with the fear. Often ERP therapy will take people from being non-functional to functional. I highly recommend it. ————————————————- PITFALL #1: After you have been doing ERP for a while and become somewhat successful, the OCD will try subtle little tricks to bring you down again. The first one is to tell you that your thoughts are REAL and not OCD, and therefore you can’t apply ERP therapy. Don’t fall for this trick! All thoughts are just thoughts. They are all meaningless. Don’t try to figure out what is real and what is OCD. Just treat all thoughts with ERP therapy. PITFALL #2: The second pitfall is that OCD will tell you that you can’t move forward unless you have absolute certainty that you will be safe. Hate to tell you this, folks, but there is no certainty in life. You will never know for SURE that you or your loved ones will be “safe” from the OCD rules. Therefore, you have to move forward in the uncertainty. It’s hard, but it gets easier with time and practice. We got this, guys !!!!!!
- Date posted
- 18w
I’m thinking about doing erp but my ocd is so severe the thought of accepting my fears happening to me makes me sick to my stomach. I also believe in the power of my words and saying I accept this Bad thing will attract it into my life. I’m not sure what I should do🥲
- Date posted
- 17w
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.
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