I’d love to talk to people about their experiences with ERP! I just started last week (imaginal exposure in session) and I kind of feel alone in this. Is there anyone else doing ERP in therapy as well? How is it working for you? Thank you ?

I'm doing them on my own and in therapy as well. For tonight I got homework ERP to do for my therapy session tomorrow. I'm a bit scared, but I hope it will go ok... My experience so far is ok, I get really anxious but then manage to calm down quite fast and then I'm usually really proud of myself for doing it. But I can only do it for some themes, for others it's really hard and I haven't found a way yet... How is it working for you?

@logan123 ERP is the only scientifically proven therapy to recover from OCD. You expose yourself deliberately to your fears and then avoid doing the compulsion. You can read more online about it! :)

Oh! I'm aware of this actually! Haha I think it's the best way. Although I've not had proper ERP, if I think about past obsessions, the way I got over them was by overtime realising how they are just not real and being able to think of them without getting triggered in anyway.

@Muni, thats a great idea, I think it would be good to motivate each other! If you don't get homework, maybe you could ask him to give you some, if you want. I'll let you know later how my homework today worked out, let me know later how your session is going too if you feel like it :) we're strong haha ?

Muni, I like that idea! I suffer from depression I think apart from ocd, but not officially diagnosed. My themes changes but usually it's rocd and religious ocd and sometimes fear that someone might be harmed because I didn't help them, like I see a random person my ocd thinks might need help, like a homeless person eg, and I think that I'm supposed to do something to help them but I don't really know what or if they even need or want help but I get anxious if I don't do anything like it would be my fault if they are harmed. How about you? Like right now I was supposed to walk by homeless people and not check if they're ok, that was my homework. I did OK I think,but the anxiety wasn't so bad.. Maybe it calmed me that I knew that I was supposed to do this.. I don't know if that's good or bad haha. My therapist said he's gonna "help" me get anxious about it tomorrow, so I'll see how that goes... How about you? Logan, I feel the same way! I'm doing exposures a few days and feel good about that but as soon as I feel bad about something I'm like "aw I'm not gonna do exposures today, I'm already feeling bad" it's so easy to talk myself out of it!

Thanks Logan! How did you achieve that youre not bothered by the thought anymore, if you don't mind me asking? Muni, I'm so sorry to hear that you're not feeling good today... I hope it has got a bit better by now? You're right, every day is a battle, but you're not alone in this! ? My appointment was good, he told me to keep doing the erp and also he wants to try some new methods next time, I'm a bit sceptical of that but I trust that he knows what's best... I took escitalopram (I think it's the same or a similar drug according to Google?) for some years when my depression was worse than now, and I can say that it really helped me, I hope it will help you too! I can see that you're really determined to fight against this OCD monster. That's impressive. I'm sure you will win against it! ?

Awww me too!!! Oh you're in Spain! I'm in Germany and I thought you were American too haha!!

Yay!! I'm glad to hear that! Mine was also good, not too distressing so yay :)

I'm ok, my religious ocd is a bit annoying today and I've already had some anxious situations even though I just got up less than an hour ago, but oh well... At least the sun is shining here today so I hope its gonna be an ok day ☀️ Youre right, don't give up!! Why do you think it's not working though? (unless you don't wanna talk about it which is totally fine)

What is ERP?

Hi, @jananas! Thank you so much for your reply! It means a lot because now I don’t feel so alone. Thank you for sharing your experience. Maybe we can motivate each other :) I feel like it’s too soon for me to say whether it’s working or not, since I only did it once last week. I have 2 other sessions this week, and hopefully he’ll give me homework for this week, cause I don’t feel like it could work by just doing exposure therapy 1 or 2 times a week.

*and not avoiding them, as distraction is only temporary relief.

That sounds about right! That’s great, Logan. Some obsessions are easier to beat than others, though. The key is being persistent I guess.

That’s awesome jananas! We can keep updating each other via this post, if you want :) id love to see your progress! What type of ocd do you suffer from? Do you suffer from any other mental illness?

I'm starting to expose myself to more too??! It's hard but definitely worth it. It's so strange, does anyone else feel like it's a physical challenge in the sense that you can easily push it to the side as it if were a workout?haha

Haha yeah it's strange! I set up an ERP plan on here which I thought was easy peasy, as soon as I start I had to stop?lmfao. But will get there soon ??

*Also with your ROCD, I've had that before. Actually had a really bad experience with it a couple weeks ago, had such a panic attack I had to run out of the house!!?But now I can say that thought and that rocd doesn't effect me anymore. I can even think of the thought and not have to do a ritual because it makes me laugh. I'm like "did I really think this??? What a drama queen!" Ahha I hope this shows you there's definitely a way to get through this :)

Thank you guys for all the feedback! I do suffer from depression as well, so I can totally understand you @jananas. How did the appointment with your therapist go? Having OCD can definitely lead to depression, at least from my experience. It’s incredibly hard. Everyday is a battle ? Sorry, I’m feeling negative today. It has been a hard morning. I just want to wake up and not have this anymore. Regarding my ocd: I have existential as well as health OCD. I focus on any weird sensation I feel and then catastrophize. I had an appointment with my therapist yesterday and exposure didn’t work. He says I still need a couple more sessions to start working on erp on my own. I really wanna start my treatment 100% cause I need to be free from ocd. I’m also gonna start Lexapro tomorrow...

I’m so happy I found you, @jananas! And I think it’s good to try all sorts of techniques - I think it’s great, actually. The more resources / tools you have, the better. Only that way you’ll be able to know which techniques work best. And yes! It’s actually escitalopram. It’s called like that in Spain too - where I’m from, but I thought you were American and so that’s why I used the American name :)

Bist du deutsche?! Haha

Haha I'm in london! Jananas, regarding your question. It was different because sometimes I have recurring thoughts which really imprint in my mind and this one had just came that day. The whole day it was building up until I was alone in my room and it gave me a panic attack because now ritual was working. I think having such a peak of anxiety and then having it come down when a friend came over, really made me realise how stressed I got myself over nothing. Although i was on edge - I'm not usually one to open up and most people with OCD find their thoughts embarrassing to talk about - having my friend there who didn't know about it made rethink what I was making a fuss about. The next morning I woke up and told myself I was going to live the day just as I did two days before where my mind was fine. And with life happening e.g uni, going out, seeing friends, my mind forgot about and made it way smaller then it used to be. After a while when I forgot about it, I thought about it and was like "ha....stupid"

*to be truthful though my mind always makes new obsessions so I think having a new thing to worry about made the old thought nothing x which isn't very good but it helped get rid of that one.

Hahha ja, ich bin Deutsche haha. Do you speak German Muni? How was your day? :) Logan it sounds great how you were able to do that!! Maybe you can apply that system to every new worry? :)

Haha yeah, I’m part Spaniard part german! ? My day was surprisingly better, thanks for asking!! How about yours?

Thats good news!!! Let’s see how tomorrow goes. I have another ERP session scheduled with my therapist, I’ll let you know how it goes ?

Good luck!! You can do this!! ??

How are you doing today guys? ? How was your session Muni?

Hey jananas! My session was a bit “meh”, if that makes sense ? I’m feeling kind of discouraged cause I don’t think it is working for me. Lots of doubts are creeping into my mind (but that’s part of my anxious personality, I guess ?). I’m not gonna give up just yet, I understand that erp takes practice, structure and time. On another note, I’m on day 4 of escitalopram and I’m feeling super drowsy ? and fatigued. How are you both doing???

I also live in Germany. Aus welche Bundesländer kommt ihr?