Hello Everyone! My name is Ted. I'm a NOCD Pro, a licensed mental health professional trained in OCD treatment. I would like to offer my knowledge and help to this community. If there is anything that bothers you pertaining to your OCD, please feel free to ask me questions in this thread. I may not be able to get to every question posed, but I will try to answer as many as I can. I look forward to it!

Such great questions everyone! Thank you for a great response to my first post! Allow me some time to get through and respond to the questions over the next day or so but keep checking back ?

I need advice about HOCD please...

Stop ruminating. It’s the worst thing. It feeds into the ocd and gives it more power and the false memory gets more and more real. Use cognitive defusion to view the intrusive false memory thoughts as disconnected from you. Observe them notice them but don’t entangle in them. I’m doing ERP and it’s helping but I think ACT is helping more than anything. Accept that if your fears are true they are true and you are moving on and living your life with your values. Ocd will see that it’s not in power anymore and will back away. I still have my bad days. But it’s gotten better

Our Pro, Ted, will be following up soon with responses. Please note that this thread is now closed from further questions. Thank you for your participation and look for new threads within the community like this in the future!

@zidzad1 When it's difficult to accept something, try to accept that you cannot accept it! This might sound pretty "meta" and abstract, but it really boils down to not fighting the feeling and instead going with it.

Hi Ted, What are the best methods for treating ‘Falsr memorys’ in OCD? I know lots of other people have this issue It’s messed my life up completely, I am due to start ERP soon with my therapist? Cheers for any help!

@Brooklyn33 Questioning one's sexuality is a more common presentation of OCD than people typically would expect. With HOCD, thoughts are unwanted or intrusive versus desired or pursued. Doing a compulsion might "neutralize" the obsessions for the time being but maintain anxiety in the long-term. ERP can be a more useful long-term approach to manage the distress associated with these obsessions.

@Lark Having support from loved ones or friends or others in the OCD community who understand what one's going through can help give one the strength to continue to the journey. When doing exposure and response prevention treatment (ERP), an often effective way to deal with "spreading" contamination is, ultimately, to intentionally have everything around the person be contaminated. At this point there is no other choice but to learn to tolerate the distress. Of course, not everyone is ready or able to do this right away and so it's best to have the guidance of a therapist.

Happy you’re here Ted! I have a question about meditation. I have heard conflicting opinions on meditation, with some OCD professionals saying that it’s just another form of avoidance, while others say it’s an essential part of recovery. What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Hi ted, I need help into accepting groinal responses I feel like they are definitive proof and I can’t seem to ever accept them

I’m with Lewis, I’d love some thoughts on false memory ocd.

Hi Ted, why do I feel “calm” when I imagine not getting better and living with POCD and then when I think of getting better and don’t have intrusive thoughts I feel anxious / it is like I want to stay this way even though it’s absolutely abhorrent and I have severe depression. Is this “false feelings?” How do I know the real me?

Hi how can I accept uncertainty when there are repetitive thoughts about how I may have been molested and then doing a lot of mental compulsion /thinking back to the past to figure it out. I am really stressed about this as I can’t stop thinking about how I might have been molested .I convince myself that it didn’t happen since I did not felt anything during the school trip and only get the thoughts one month after but my mind keep telling me I might have been in a deep sleep therefore i did not felt anything .I even felt like going to ask my girl Friend sharing room with me and straight up ask the guy Friend sharing the room on another bed with my another girl Friend if he has molested me .Thank you !!

@ADT Hyperfocus on bodily functions, such as breathing or blinking, are something we've worked with sucessfully using ERP.

@sabracadabra You might want to learn about a treatment approach called ERP. ERP stands for Exposure and Response Prevention. You might also see it written as EX/RP. ERP works by exposing ourselves to situations that trigger distress and preventing compulsions from occurring. With repeated practice, symptoms of OCD decrease as the cycle between obsessions and compulsions is disrupted.

@Francis Great question! Meditation is term that can have many different interpretations. Let's instead talk about "acceptance." Acceptance is the non-judgmental observation of our inner experiences. When we react to our thoughts as intrusive or unwanted we are judging our thoughts for being there in the first place. Its a natural tendency to problem-solve as humans but this approach to our thoughts is not always useful and its not practical to try to react to every thought we have! By observing thoughts without judgment we are learning to practice acceptance. When we talk about "sitting with anxiety" during ERP we mean observing our experiences without having to react to them. "Thank you Brain" is one fun way to practice acceptance. For example, instead of trying to answer the question of does meditation work for OCD you could instead observe the thought and say to yourself, "thank you Brain for reminding me that I'm not sure if meditation is the right approach to treating OCD."

Responses from NOCD are intended to be brief and informational only and are not a substitution for medical or therapeutic advice. For help specific to your situation, the help of a licensed professional is recommended.

Hey thank you ! do you help patience with sensorimotor ocd ? ?

Hi what am I supposed to do about the obsessions and compulsions that are too severe to for ERP exercises while I'm working on the other ones? I've been trying to refocus or distract myself from them when they come up but is this the right approach?

Hey Ted, I have been in and out of really high anxiety for the last two years. It all started when I had to confess to my now wife that I had been unfaithful to her. I struggle now with thoughts about Cheating again. I know I want to be with my wife and I do not want to cheat. But the constant what if’s are causing me to spiral. Can you shed some light on this issue

Hi Ted, what can I do about obsessive thoughts and compulsiveness? I sometimes count things out or I'll talk my thoughts out loud. Sometimes i obsess over thoughts too and repeat them in my head. It really is a struggle at work sometimes. This comes and goes.

What do you think about tms therapy? My psychiatrist does this at his office and brought it up to me.

Hi Ted, I have pocd and am feeling hopeless. My brain always tells me I'm just trying to deny it, and I'm terrified I'll find young teenage boys attractive. The worst is when I feel like I actually do find a young person attractive, and I don't know if it's "false feelings" or if I'm just a sick pedophile.

Hi Ted- thanks in advance for your help. As you can see from my many posts here, I struggle with major contamination OCD. This is triggered by me having to use a poorly maintained public bathroom almost daily for my job. I struggle with blood sightings and thinking it has “contaminated” me. I know I need to fight compulsions but struggle. Any tips on how to go about this? How do I also manage the concept that contamination spreads like wildfire? For example, if my shirt touched the bathroom door then everything I wore that day need to be washed and my bag, phones and anywhere I put it also got contaminated....

I have the same question about meditation

Hi Ted! Can you explain why the insecurity keeps popping up? I know that thoughts are only thoughts and I shall not believe them. But sometimes there’s this tiny voice going “why wouldn’t you”? I’ve got Harm OCD and I’m a reasonable person who works close with people. My harm OCD is about my kids and it’s the worst thing. Had treatment, but the thoughts are still there, I know I should practise what I learned often and make the thoughts worse, but it makes my mood really bad. It didn’t help losing my mother suddenly who’ve stood by me all the way. The OCD became so much worse after that. And also got a new OCD regarding my health. I feel that one is getting better now. But the harm OCD is awful. And I’m so scared when I snap at my kids, what if I totally lose it?

What about groinal responses? Is so True when its happen :(

Hi Ted! I have been struggling with POCD since I was 16. I feel like I don’t have a grip on my life anymore. I know I would never do these things but the thoughts are constant and I would rather die than become a pedophile.

@Hales how do you currently deal with it? I’ve improved a lot, but just stuck on one topic that’s really effecting my life

Hi. I have been really struggling with food. I have been restricting and I can’t stop. I have several calorie counting apps on my phone and my thoughts just wont go away. Anytime I feel like I ate an “off limits food” I feel bad and I will skip meals or have to exercise or something bad will happen. My family still doesn’t know and I really need some help or someone to talk to. Thanks.

@Lewis OCD can make us doubt everything, including our memories. ERP and acceptance of uncertainty may be particularly helpful approaches to manage distress when doubt is involved.

@jenagade Congratualtions on doing ERP! The skill of acceptance may be helpful while you continue to work on ERP exercises. Acceptance is the non-judgmental observation of thoughts, images, or urges. One common approach is to imagine your thoughts are like leaves floating by on a stream - watch each one pass by without the need to act on it or react to it. Then, just watch your thought float down the stream and out of sight. Practice, just like in ERP is key to learning this skill.

@Bht One place to start may be to think about the DSM-5 definition of an obsession: a recurrent and persistent thought, urge, or image that is experienced, at some time during the disturbance, as intrusive and unwanted, and that in most individuals cause marked anxiety or distress. The important part here is to note the absence of the word "intent." We care about you and don't want you to "spiral" - it may be best to seek the advice of a trained and licensed mental health professional in person.

@rachel1979 TMS could be a treatment option for OCD. Currently, a type called deep TMS (with exposures) has FDA approval for OCD. Other types of TMS have shown efficacy in research studies but are not yet FDA approved for OCD. We are very excited that this treatment option is being researched as a potential option for treatment-resistent OCD. It's a treatment development we are going to continue to follow and learn about!

@T. Many people with these types of thoughts find it difficult to not seek reassurance in some way, either from others or by trying to reassure one's self. The non-compulsive way of dealing with them, which will help in the long run but requires an "investment" of being uncomfortable in the short run, is to try to not seek reassurance, or check, or do other compulsions, and try to tolerate the emotions that go along with the thoughts.

- End of Thread - Thanks for participating!