I know a lot of people say to face your instructive thought with exposures and then the thought will go away. When I do this the thought does go away, then comes back in about 5 minutes randomly. Any advice on what other exposures to do? I’m really trying not to give in

The thoughts won’t go away with a snap of the fingers, it’s definitely a gradual process. I used to have intrusive thoughts and anxiety every minute of every day, but with exposure therapy my thoughts have been reduced, but they haven’t totally gone away. The more time and effort you put in not giving in to your compulsions and exposing yourself to those fears, the more progress I think you’ll makes. I suggest you practice saying out loud, “I accept the uncertainty that ….” Or “I may or may not do (whatever your fear is)…..” The most important step in overcoming this is to accept the uncertainty and not knowing for sure whether your fears are true or not. Just treat those intrustive thoughts like any other thought that comes in your head. Just notice it like “huh. That’s a weird thought. Well I have homework that I need to do“ and move on

When I have an instructive thought I feel the need to confess. And right now I feel like I need to tell my mom because I’m so ashamed of my thought. But it’s such an insane disturbed thought that it might just do more damage. So I am trying not to give in to that compulsion

A good exposure will trigger your anxiety. The key is to avoid doing a compulsion during or just have the exposure. Doing so will render the exposure ineffective. After you do a couple of exposures you will notice a pattern. Your anxiety will surge, peak, and then decline. You may need to do an exposure more than once. Rate your anxiety prior to the exposure and after. You will find that your max anxiety will decrease. If your post exposure anxiety is 4 or above, that means you have to repeat it. Its also best to start slow and work your way up.