- Date posted
- 3y ago
- Date posted
- 3y ago
Talk therapy doesn't work for OCD. Prior to realizing I had OCD, I did about 10 years off and on of therapy with several different therapists. I did everything I was supposed to, but never made an progress. ERP is not fun or easy, but it works and will change your life. I made more progress in 3 weeks doing ERP than I ever did in talk therapy. The key to ERP is starting slow and gradually working up. Also, not doing a compulsion during or just after an exposure. The hardest part is when your anxiety is going crazy. It feels like an eternity, but its only a few minutes. Then your anxiety will peak and start to decline. It also helps if you can channel your rage and anger about OCD into ERP. I read a really good book about ERP. Its called Daring to Challenge Your OCD by Dr. Joan Davidson. She does a good job of explaining ERP, how and why to do it, and also barriers that can hinder your progress. Available on Amazon. Good luck! You can do it!
- Date posted
- 3y ago
I’m also doing talk therapy and while I feel good about talking about what I feel, I don’t think it’s been effective in alleviating my OCD symptoms. I’ve heard great things about ERP and people swear by it, so if you don’t think talk therapy is helping, maybe you should consider ERP. You can always back out if you think it’s making things worse. I hope things get better for you!
- Date posted
- 3y ago
Thank you. I'm gonna try this. I'm determined to get rid of this or at least get control of it.
- Date posted
- 3y ago
Good luck! Keep us posted. Rooting for you!
- Date posted
- 3y ago
So my best advice to you is- any thought your brain throws up at you, is bananas. Thoughts are like farts. They mean nothing. When you fart, it’s just your stomach doing natural digestion and the fart is the by product. When you have thoughts, just think of it as brain digestion, because that’s all it is. Your brain can throw up ANY thought and that’s perfectly fine! How we get into this mess is by performing compulsions to get rid of the “unwanted” thoughts, feelings and sensations we don’t like. When in reality we can experience ANY thought, feelings or sensation and still carry on what we value! You are not your farts or your thoughts!
- Date posted
- 3y ago
Thank you!! This is great advice!
- Date posted
- 3y ago
Thank you. I'm definitely gonna look for this book.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 24w ago
I am really struggling with harm ocd. ( The fear of hurting others) My ocd is very tough to combat at the minute. I feel like i’m having intrusive thoughts every minute of every single day. Except from when Im distracted. I feel guilty and foul for the thoughts. I have this strong intrusive feeling that feels impulsive, as if i’m about to act on a thought. It almost feels like I want to. But I really don’t and i’m so scared this isn’t normal. I keep thinking. “What if this isn’t OCD” “What if i did that” and it’s really worrying me as it feels relentless and as if I’m about to do it. In my head chest wrists. I feel tired of this. I don’t know much about compulsions etc but i find myself - Asking my bf if he gets intrusive thoughts like me. Asking him if he actually does and asking repeatedly. - I ask him over and over again and check if he definitely does. - I will literally try to fight the thoughts by kind of saying “ as if i’m not that type of person” Then saying everything will be okay to myself. Please can someone tell me if this is normal. Yes I may be looking for reassurance but i need to know if it is, Im scared, i’m crying. Please tell me if you’ve had this feeling of as if you’re about to do it!
- Date posted
- 20w ago
HARM OCD VENT. I feel Terrified. I am so scared that I am going to act on a terrible harm ocd intrusive thought on someone else. The idea, the sensations the urges terrify me because it feels so scarily real. I feel like im a horrible person - a danger and i’m so guilty for having intrusive thoughts. I hate knives, I avoid looking at them in real life, in the kitchen as i’m so terrified that i will do sone thing terrible. I get excited when my boyfriend cones round as i always think he knows about my thoughts so at least he would restrain me if i were to do anything bad. I just feel so scared so guilty. I have this horrible sensation of urge running through my body- currently im on the verge of tears- i feel lost. My ocd has even latched onto pumpkin carving - scared i will do something bad. Now my OCD is just being like “ maybe your avoiding is all fake and your trying to cover your a bad person” “ what if u actually want to “. “ I want to “ “ You arnt actually trying to hard from harmful objects “ its TERRIFYING. please may someone reply - I’m terrified right now its like an intrusive FEELING is in my body. Sorry guys. I NEED reassurance at this point, I don’t know what to do.
- Date posted
- 15w ago
I have contamination OCD that causes me to excessively wash my hands/clean items with disinfectant wipes. I know I just need to start with small exposures but how do I do that without spiraling? I tried a while back by just touching the outside of my dishwasher and not washing my hands after and it led to me being unable to even exist in my house. I basically lived on my couch for three weeks as it was the only 'safe' space that I had not touched with my dirty hands. I had to take a week off work to clean my house to make it somewhat liveable. I still haven't got round to cleaning everything though so things like my kitchen are still no-go zones that I don't enter. I just don't know how to start ERP without it making everything worse. Any advice would be appreciated. I am not seeing a therapist at the moment due to financial constraints.
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