- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
I started ERP therapy 2 weeks ago. What it asks you to do is face your fears. OCD is an anxiety driven mental illness that plays tricks on you using irrationality to convince you that you “might” be something you fear to be. It teaches you to “sit” with the anxiety of the possibility. You physically, mentally, and emotionally grow from this process. It is scary initially but it gets better. I understand why this triggered you but I am hear to say to you, that you can do this.
- Date posted
- 4y
Thanks a lot. I wouldn't even wish this illness on my worst enemy. I'm going to talk to my therapist about this fear and I'm sure they will help me walk through it. It's so scary.
- Date posted
- 4y
Don't put too much stock in what people say on here. It's just a forum and none of the statements have been verified. What people say may be true or may not be true. I will say that OCD makes many people believe they have already become what they fear. ERP in its initial stages does not necessarily get rid of this fear. You have to remember you are your own person, so don't get caught up in other people's stories because you're not them. Focus on your life.
- Date posted
- 4y
Thank you! I always try to tell myself that their story is their story. And like my therapist told me. "possibility does not indicate probability" we just have to be okay with the uncertainty. That statement just really triggered something in me but I'm feeling better now.
- Date posted
- 4y
Remember that a lot of us might post when we’re feeling at our worst. When in the throughs of OCD it’s hard to be rational. Also, you’re embarking on your ERP with a therapist. That means you have a professional to help you in going through a difficult but very helpful treatment. It’s so unfortunate when we do get triggered here by each other, but now that you spoke out about it, you also know there are those of us here with and for you. Be as brave as you can, and know we’re rooting for you. If you like dogs, mine also offers you some snuggles. Strength and comfort your way. 💪🏼💜
Related posts
- Date posted
- 23w
I sometimes see posts on here of people saying their OCD fears becoming true and it’s so so triggering for me. It makes me question if I ever had OCD and if I’m just faking it. I’ve tried to accept that my fear was real. Okay? Before I knew this was OCD, I really TRIED to accept it as a part of myself because I figured if I was even having those thoughts, it must be true. But in reality it just made me feel worse in the end. It wasn’t until several hours/few days after accepting the thoughts as true did I realize they were not and how uncomfortable it made me identifying with them that way, so eventually I went back into the rumination cycle. And I’ve done this multiple times. No matter how much I’ve accepted it as real, I never come to a conclusion in the end and I just get 10x more miserable. And I am still so scared of my fear coming true as those peoples did. But I know that’s what we all fear, otherwise we wouldn’t be here. And with a new fear I just developed, (all in the realm of the same theme) I’ve also tried to accept it as real when I felt SUPER convinced and even though it felt excruciatingly real, there was a part of me that couldn’t fully believe it, because I just know viscerally that it’s not. But the feeling of it being real is just too powerful and it overmastered any ounce of insight I had left. It wasn’t until my OCD spike calmed down when I was able to see through the viel. I hate this. I have no desire to do anything that my thoughts tell me. I know what I want to be, want to do, and it’s the opposite of those OCD thoughts. But these triggering posts won’t leave. (Not really the publishers fault, it’s my ritual that I engage in). They make me come all back to square one (if I wasn’t there already) and question if I’m using this as an excuse. I don’t want to do what my OCD tells me to do, but my brain just spits, “you’re just convincing yourself you don’t want this!” as it so often now does. I’m so tired. Please give me my old self back. Please give me 100% certainty that none of this is real and my fears are not at all based in reality. My brain cannot accept uncertainty and will not leave me alone. My brain is raged and powerless without knowing why, and spiels that anger back on me to get a reaction, and when it gets what it wants, the cycle continues. And goes way longer than I had bargained for :(
- Date posted
- 22w
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
- 22w
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
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