- Date posted
- 7y
Hello with everyone, as you know people with HOCD, generally consume great deal of our time questioning about our sexual orientation, having intrusive thoughts and suffering with this disorder. All of us, search information that can help us, and in some cases there isn't relevant to share but I found something that tells about the therapy EPR. I hope it could help you in any way. Some of these techniques include: Listening to 2-3 minute audio tapes or tape loops about the feared subject. Leaving cell phone voice-mail messages for yourself about the feared subject. Writing 2-page compositions about a particular obsession (and then taping them in your own voice). Writing feared sentences repetitively. Hanging signs in your room or house with feared statements. Wearing T-shirts with feared slogans. Visiting locations that will stimulate thoughts. Being around people who will stimulate thoughts. Agreeing with all feared thoughts and telling yourself they are true and represent your real desires. Reading books on the subject of your thoughts. Visiting websites that relate to your thoughts. These are some typical exposure therapy homework assignments I have assigned to people over the years: Reading books by or about gay persons. Watching videos on gay themes or about gay characters. Visiting gay meetings shops, browsing in gay bookstores, or visiting areas of town that are more predominantly gay. Wearing a T-shirt at home with the word ‘gay’ on it. Wearing clothes in fit, color, or style that could possibly look effeminate for a man or masculine for a woman. Looking at pictures of good-looking people of your own sex and rating them on attractiveness. Reading magazines, such as Playboy, if you are a woman, or Playgirl, if you are a man. Standing close to members of your own sex. Doing a series of writing assignments of a couple of pages each that suggest more and more that you actually are gay or wish to be. Making a series of three-minute tapes that based on the writings gradually suggest more and more that you are gay, and listening to them several times a day changing them when they no longer bother you). Some typical response prevention exercises might include: Not checking your reactions to attractive members of your own sex. Not imagining yourself in sexual situations with same-sex individuals to check on your own reactions. Not behaving sexually with members of the opposite sex just to check your own reactions. Resist reviewing previous situations where you were with members of the same or opposite sex, or where things were ambiguous to see if you did anything questionable. Avoid observing yourself to see if you behaved in a way you imagine a homosexual or member of the opposite sex would. Some typical exposure homework for those with doubts about their own sexual identity might include: Reading about people who are sexually confused. Reading about people who are transgendered. Looking at pictures of people who are transgendered or are transvestites. Telling yourself and listening to tapes telling you that you will never really know what you are. Some corresponding response prevention exercises to go along with the above would be: Not checking your reactions when viewing members of either sex. Not acting sexually to simply test your reactions. Avoiding reviewing thoughts or situations you have uncertainty about. Many of the above therapy tasks can sound scary and intimidating. Obviously you don’t do these things all at once. Behavioral change is gradual change. Recovering from OCD is certainly not an easy task. We rarely use the word ‘easy’ at our clinic. It takes persistence and determination but it can be done. People do it all the time especially, with proper help and advice. My own advice to those of you reading this would be to get yourself out of the compulsion trap and get yourself into treatment with qualified people.