17. OCD Treatment - Doing ERP with 'Pure O'
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- CBT therapist Katie d'Ath explains how to do ERP when you don't have obvious compulsions. Katie offers individual therapy but you might also like to check out BetterHelp at betterhelp.com...
Compensation received using these links supports Katie's work in helping people overcome OCD.
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My pure o has been so weak now for months, all thanks to your advice. You are a wonderful person, much love and respect.
cameron clare Nice to hear, Good job dude!
@cameron clare can you give some advice.
Mine too but when i expose myself excessively, the anxiety returns but i am feeling better. A lot actually.
@@mayank66505 i know its gonna be hard at first and guilt may come with it but the more you expose yourself, the thought becomes less scary . You need to be the strongest when you are at your weakest. Expose yourself, talk to someone even to your family members about the thought you are getting. Believe me they will laugh. Keep pushing yourself. You will be free.
@@mayank66505 what particularly disturbs you just imagine that
I have been in therapy for my ocd, ten years ago. it was incredibly painful, but it worked and I was a long time free from my problems. Now I have had a lot of changes in my life, which creates OCD. I had forgotten what tools I had. This is a great reminder. Thank you again.
was your ocd completely removed by therapy treatment ? i am also suffering from ocd for almost 4 years ,it's a very painful experience .Hope can get response from you
I had the same kind, the orderly ocd or something. I always wanted the things to remain the same, in the exact same place otherwise it used to mess up my mind. I always avoided any kind of change in the setting of my room. Thanks to your vedio, it has improved a huge lot. Love and respect, may god bless you, Kate
Yeah exactly the same
Didn't have any issues for 10 years . I'm getting better but I think It's gonna take another 6 months to get better, I'm dealing with depression at the same time
Hey just wondering how you are now ? Many thanks
Same. I got over my ocd but i had a flare up last month after going thru major life changes (moving to a new city, starting college, doing risky things) and so im also reworking the steps and resharpening the tools. Ocd is chronic but we can always rmemeber how we got over it and apply the same steps 🙏🏼
Regarding the confusion of the difference between learning to not pay attention to your thoughts - e.g through mindfulness and deliberately making them worse. I'll try and answer as clearly as possible. What we have to think about is what is the ultimate goal here? It's to get to the point where the thoughts can come and go and you can not care too much about them. With this in mind there are different ways of achieving this. One way is practicing mindfulness of some kind - through this you can help yourself learn that thoughts are just thoughts and you don't need to do anything about them. In OCD treatment we don't recommend any kind of brushing the thoughts away as this is a way of being in contact with them - we would rather recommend just letting the thought take care of itself while you pay attention to other things. This video is about doing DELIBERATE exposure to the thoughts - i.e doing something that exposes you to them and then potentially making them worse so you learn that you can cope with them. This helps you get to a point of caring less about them in the long run. HOWEVER - this is something you choose to practice - like going to the gym - we are not suggesting you do this every time a thought comes in. So to recap - you are doing ERP - perhaps on a daily basis for 15-30 minutes to learn you can cope with the thoughts and the feelings that come with them and the rest of the time you are practicing refocusing your attention on things other than the thoughts and letting them take care of themselves. I know this is easier said than done. I will be uploading videos on this in the next week or two.
If the compulsion is to analyze the thought, engage with the thought, or otherwise ruminate, what would be the "opposite" thing to do?
Yeah that plan is good!👌
Excellent clarification thank you so much. I was curious what erp you'd recommend for intrusive suicidal thoughts? Intense self hatred etc. I know enough now that these are intrusive thoughts vs. that i will act on them but they really upset me.
@@alvin55531 perhaps tell yourself there is no answer? I think what gets me when I am ruminating or trying to solve a thought is the idea it will help, because the idea that I CAN'T do something to help is actually more anxiety inducing. Just a guess. I wonder this too.
@@jamielawrence4749 I'm pretty sure I've done a compulsion that's basically that before: telling myself there is no solution. I end up telling myself that over and over.
You are helping people like me with crippling ocd and I cant thank you enough for it.
thank you for you help psychiatrist tina fey, just subbed now x
I really like how you include examples about things OCD people consider to be taboo. Because a lot of the treatment process I feel is about overcoming or getting past the idea that certain intrusive thoughts are not to be talked about, and therefore, they must go away on their own. That is a huge issue I faced personally and this video was actually really reassuring. Thank you for your videos, Katie.
Hey just wondering how you’re getting on, cheers
I hope you know this video is still helping people 12 years later
8
@@scagliobest1612what the fuck your right
People, please don’t get confused: when she says “special ingredient” all she means is that in addition to not engaging in your ordinarily compulsion after being triggered, you should immediately engage in further purposeful exposure- so if your trigger is an image you want to get rid off, you should resist the avoidance behavior and further amplify the image; and if you’re thought is a doubt, you should leave the doubt unresolved and consciously enumerate and elucidate the possible consequences of leaving the doubt unresolved (e.g., perpetual confusion or being gay forever without knowing it or living with unrecognized urges to kill your loved on or never getting cured from ocd because you’re not doing the therapy correctly).
Yes thank you that's a good clarification.
Thanks Adrian, that's pretty useful explanation.
Really helps actually because when @Katie d'Ath says do the opposite of what the OCD wants it's slightly confusing, as the OCD obviously wants you to engage with it further. To do the opposite would be to ignore it. It would be clearer to say 'make the OCD worse' or do the opposite of what YOU want, ie resist your normal responses.
Katie your videos have changed my life althrough I have been fighting and almost Living most unsuccessful life , I wud run away from situations instead of facing them , OCD made me mockery in public and my life was not more than a joke , rituals , fear and anxiety now I can actually feel life changing
Please try to explain how to treat sexual ocd
It can be difficult to spot all compulsive reactions e.g. avoidance or mental argument. ERP, ACT, mindfulness are brilliant.
maam i cannot do it i feel like im gonna pass out
I am so incredibly grateful for this. You can not imagine how much it did for me today. All my gratitude to you.
You are an angel
I have a question about this... I have been practicing meditation and mindfulness to help me with Pure O and it has helped to the point where I am now able to research it more fully without being afraid (hence, finding your video... Which actually my husband found a year ago and tried to get me to watch it but the whole idea of it was too much for me)... In many of your other videos, you tell us just to ignore the thought and in my meditation I am told to imagine brushing them lightly away with a feather but in this video it seems that I should be trying to intensify the thought, which feels more like engaging with it more rather than just ignoring it and letting it pass. I guess it just seems contradictory and I think I might be misunderstanding.
I wanna say, doing the opposite of what your ocd wants is like going to a dark place when you fear it so much, and after you go there a few times, you won't fear it anymore. It's almost the same with ocd, when you do the opposite of the compulsion that ocd wants you to do, you discredit the ocd and you start to let it go
Claire_TheCrazy hello. I think it depends on the ocd . Like I know my compulsion is rumination so I force myself to focus on the present moment and ignore the thoughts no matter what.
@@mohammad81295 you're no make sense. you just explain one situation. you make people more confuse.
i explain. ACT and ERP are both best and only best for Anxiety i will explain precisely.
ERP is the hardest because it needs you to engage to the thought, at first it will give you sever anxiety attack but later on. the one thing you fear most will get weaken overtime.
Analogy: if you're watching a horror movie at first you will get afraid. very fraid of it. but try to watch it 50x. make sense.
ACT is acceptance to the thoughts. not only one certain thought but all types of thoughts. Mindfulness meditation will teach you to just observe the thought without analyzing it and not giving them emotions.
Analogy:
You're watching a horror movie but your full attention is not on what you're watching, you're just looking at the movie but you focus on other things. you will not afraid then because your full attention is not on the horor movie.
Summary:
ERP- is weakening the certain thoughts you fear most. and habituate.
ACT-you're strenghtening your life force against all types of thoughts.
Both are the only ways to defeat fears. and both techniques are existing when you're doing Meditation.
Example: sit and close your eyes. your greatest fear will come, practice not get react to it. just watch it. breath. ( ERP ) or focus on your breath everytime you wanders, back again to your breath. ( ACT ).
Dont get confuse. both techniques are best for fighting fears. and this both are the only ways. nothing else. this 2 technique same result. to HABITUATE.
this video just explain that the ERP is effective for intrusive thoughts too.
Hi there. Yes I can understand why it is confusing. So I'll try and answer as clearly as possible. What we have to think about is what is the ultimate goal here? It's to get to the point where the thoughts can come and go and you can not care too much about them. With this in mind there are different ways of achieving this. As you have been doing one way is practicing mindfulness of some kind - through this you can help yourself learn that thoughts are just thoughts and you don't need to do anything about them. In OCD treatment we don't recommend any kind of brushing the thoughts away as this is a way of being in contact with them - we would rather recommend just letting the thought take care of itself while you pay attention to other things. This video is about doing DELIBERATE exposure to the thoughts - i.e doing something that exposes you to them and then potentially making them worse so you learn that you can cope with them. This helps you get to a point of caring less about them in the long run. HOWEVER - this is something you choose to practice - like going to the gym - we are not suggesting you do this every time a thought comes in. So to recap - you are doing ERP - perhaps on a daily basis for 15-30 minutes to learn you can cope with the thoughts and the feelings that come with them and the rest of the time you are practicing refocusing your attention on things other than the thoughts and letting them take care of themselves. I know this is easier said than done. I will be uploading videos on this in the next week or two.
These videos are like a boon! Thank you so much for clearing out my doubts. Of course, It will take time for me to follow them but I'm gonna be strong! More power to OCD Sufferers like me!
Yeah did you?
Yup, I did!
Where r u from? India?
Hey just wondering how you’re getting on cheers x
You should've carried on with your channel. It's amazing.
How do you not do mental compulsions?
They just happen and are so automatic.
Saying to yourself "don't think that" could become another compulsion on its own
@Νικόλας Σεργάκης I agree with this. In fact I actually ask myself for more anxiety. I know that seems weird. But I just think, okay this is just a temporary irrational state. Give me all the anxiety you can and I will take it and let it pass. Give me some more. Over time I will recognize there is nothing to fear here and it will go away. It really really sucks at first but I have found it helpful.
@Νικόλας Σεργάκης thanks so much man. God luck to you as well!
@Νικόλας Σεργάκης thanks man, fight compulsions not obsessions
@Νικόλας Σεργάκης i just watch the thoughts? what do i do with the thoughts? give them emotions? or just watch it? please reply.
Can I do exposure for pure O just in the mind? Do I need to mark every time I do a compulsion on a piece of paper? This seems to be very difficult for me because it's so difficult to track mental compulsions, I'm doing them all the time!
Action Potential I’m sure it would help to mark a tally or something every time you do a compulsion during erp. As you go on with erp you may notice you do it less and less. So it can help you in recovery. Keep track of dates and when you do it. Try NOCD if you can’t afford therapy. ERP in an app and is totally legit and reliable. You just have to know how to do it.
Hey just wondering how you’re getting on cheers x
I usually witness that the ocd epands upon the images and makes them worse and worse to tzz he point that they're traumatizing when exposing to them. It adds level after level of horror. Is that really helpful to stay in that case? Getting carried away by a story that gets worse and worse ?
Do you know why do you have anxiety?
You are lighting up again, the blown away candles. thanks Katie.
I hope u r aware of how many people you are helping with these videos. I am very grateful to you.
I finally overcame this in just 1 month, I appreciate your help for people like us
How plz explained
@@kanakchaturvedi939 when thoughts arise, even it feel like hell of uncomfortable. let it pass dont interact with it
@@mkmllrc how I don't knw
Greattt
Hiya mate, did you get over this fully just need a bit of reassurance, cheers
May God protect you and your family Katie...
My compulsions are reassuring myself in my head and rationalising away the thoughts. How do I do the opposite of this?
I think, whatever it's rationalising about (has to be some fear-based thoughts or worries), imagine it has happened to you, immerse yourself in that situation, and stay there, feel every feeling and emotion arises in your body, at the same time keeping on breathing deeply, until it passes. Your mind is likely gonna try to rationalise it even more, try your best to bring your focus back to your body and breathing. If you do it right, the anxiety level should go down naturally, and you find yourself still alive and the world still the same. With time, you'd fear it less and less.
Maybe stop reassuring urself and do not engage with them.
I find saying ‘ok thanks brain for bringing that up, maybe that is the case, maybe it isn’t. I’m going to take the risk that there’s a problem but I’m still not going to engage’, then immerse yourself in doing something else / make mood indep decisions (like if you were planning on doing something do it even though you feel bad). Feel the wave of anxiety but be mindful in the moment (I find noting 5 things I can see helpful in anchoring me in the present). Then over time your brain habituates to these feelings of stress/anxiety and stops presenting you with the anxiety inducing thought.
Hey just wondering how you’re getting on cheers
@@jai598 everyone gets some sort of intrusive thought. It’s just that people with ocd/pure o engage with this thought instead of brush it off. So telling someone with pure o to not engage with it is like telling someone with depression to just be happy. That’s the whole point. The more u try to brush it off your think about it more and it doesn’t stop.
Isn't this contradict ignoring the thought and let it go without giving it any sense? Im confused.
ERP is not the same as that.
ERP is just observing the thought and not satisfying it with any compulsion, if you try to avoid the thought,then it’s gonna come back again
Also how are you suppose to put this method into affect when your thoughts are trying to make you believe that they are true? That's a big thing for me.
Very good question
That's the whole case with OCD. Do You think anyone would pay any attention to thoughts if they were adamant that they are untrue? No. Whole idea is to see them as thoughts, allow the possibility that anything can happen, do not ritualize, hold on in the fear and let it drop.
My recent findings is don't give meaning to them, cause you give meaning to belive in them
@@dzarko1 hey just wondering how you’re getting with this cheers
@@daisy890119 hey just wondering how you’re getting on with this cheers
Man i defeated pure o actually by not thinking of it i just treat it like its not common sense to think like that and then i made myself to not think all the time when studying and little by little i developed ways to control it yeah i didnt cute and plan to do so in future as i cant right now but surely i will get rid of it no matter what just believe your brain like it knows everything and your thought is just a thought
Okay, please explain the "magical ingredient" part further. I don't have scrupolisty OCD, but as a human being who is a human being, I'm not going to trick myself into loving the Devil either...This goes over my head. It should be enough to accept uncertainty that you COULD (keyword COULD) love the Devil and move on. This is why I kind of hate ERP, because it gets in the way of being a human being with individual interests, Faith's, belief's, etc.
Aaron Daves hey man i struggle with the same exact thing. how are you doing with it now?
Amen bro
Hey just wondering how you’re getting on with this now,cheers
Hello Katie. Does it help if you sarcastically agree with your intrusive thoughts?
It can as long You don't make it into another ritual. Agree with their presence, that's the cure. It can be sarcastic.
Wel said
Yes it helps but you need treat this technique as detaching ocd. Another detach technique is inner laughter
I am in China, and there are many OCD patients here, but CBT and ERP treatment are not popularized in China. Many patients have been ill for more than 10 years, have not received effective treatment, and have given up their studies and jobs.
Hi Katie, are you aware of any link between Pure 'O' and perfectionism?
I'm sure there has to be.
Perfectionism is a reaction to fear that one is not good enough. It's commonly a result of screwed childhood. Ocd and perfectionism are wrong ways for brain to cope with uncertainty. The only way is to accept.
How does this apply to religion, scrupulosity and Pascal's Wager? Accepting that you might go to hell for the eternity after death?
Kururugi Suzaku well I think all of those things fall under the same umbrella if they’re obsessive
@@dzarko1 and what if you didn't have an screwed childhood? 🤔
I have an intense fear of swallowing pills, which then unfortunately started to make me develop phagophobia with food in general. I've been exposing myself to food and it's definitely worked somewhat, but not completely yet. I still get pretty bad anxiety when I'm eating with lightheadedness, which makes me afraid to swallow food. what kind of ERP technique could be used against phagophobia???
You're a life saver ❤❤
Thank you so so much for all of your videos, they are really touching and improving people's lives, I found them very helpful and found myself thinking of bits in them over and over again, even as someone who has researched this stuff loads before. Thank you!
The problem that most OCD patients will find with this I'm sure is: ex. Harm OCD, be careful to not push your family off the stairs, (this ERP) pushes family off the stairs to make it feel worse (that's the opossite that OCD dictates). I can't be the only one finding this wrong, I think most people find ERP difficult to apply because of this thoughts.
The video is misleading for many people with Pure O because ERP is difficult to apply for them. CBT is better for people who struggle with rumination and bad thoughts.
The opposite technique is misleading. For all OCD themes, therapy should be about Experiencing the Obsessive Thoughts & Resisting the Compulsion NOT doing the opposite of what OCD wants you to do. This "magic ingredient" of doing the opposite is problematic and I don't blame you. We really shouldn't be doing anything with the intrusive thoughts.
Hey just wondering how you’re getting on cheers? X
Watch the video before this. She explains that the actual fear you're experiencing in harm OCD is the fear of the urge / want itself, NOT actually doing the thing. So in that case, you would then expose yourself with the statements of urge & want, over and over, through writing or voice recordings, and then following through with the rest of the ERP protocols by avoiding compulsions.
I have suffered from severe ocd which entirely ruined my life. I have never experienced such a hell, that felt like a never ending song being played on a vinyl that won’t stop spinning. The strangest thing now is sitting in the thoughts and letting them subside. Originally, they were so out of control and dominant that i had no breathing space at all, i stopped getting out of bed and stopped existing. I had no other room for any other thoughts, only the pure ocd thoughts. After years of hell, I was finally diagnosed and started researching ( i had hit rock bottom). I started exposing myself to the thoughts on purpose and at the start, this was HORRIBLE. IT WAS SO BAD and the thoughts were even LOUDER / more of them !!! But, after non stop weeks of extreme Exposure therapy, my mind started to get sick of it, sick of me constantly exposing myself etc. I started medications as well ( sertraline) which has helped so much so far. I believe in myself as i’m fighting for my life.
Keep up the good work
if I have the OCD thought of guilt whenever I doing something misappropriate, I feel like confessing to any person.
Should I just bear with the guilt and ignore the urge to confess?
is confessing a bad thing because that what my OCD want me to do?
How do I deal with guilt OCD? even if a guilt is on very small issues?
Very good question.
I think it's easy to say not to picture something if that's what your OCD wants you to do but it's not easy to prevent thoughts from happening at all lol. It's like telling someone "Don't think about an angel," well, the first thing I thought of was an angel when you mentioned that in your example lol
Thank you for your helpful videos! Can you please talk about scrupulosity OCD, since it is more spiritual and hard to know the outcome of our fears. For example, it would be blasphemous to say the bad intrusive thoughts about religion/God out loud and so one might not be able to do the ERP therapy with this kind of OCD.
I think the best way to faight is with God's Word. His Word is truth, His Love is truth. So just praise Him, YAHUSHUA, Jesus for what He did at Cross for us. May He help you.
The problem with religious scrupulosity, OCD there is the fear of God, so the person with this kind cannot go and say the intrusive thoughts that anger God. The opposite of saying, for example, a prayer to neutralize the thought, would be to say a curse which is blasphemous. How do you go about with this therapy in this case?
if god knows everything he 'll understand.
I don't think that ERP is a therapy for everyone.
Very good Katie. My fears have revolved around contamination. It could be exposure to HIV, Asbestos, Radiation or any other hazardous agent and the prospect of doing the opposite of what my OCD tells me to do may genuinely cause harm. I believe that the majority of people are simply not aware of the hazards which permeate our lives and that my concerns are reality and need to be heeded. I suppose it's a matter of perspective but once you know a hazard exists, how can you ignore it? I've always been very sensitive and aware - perhaps that's why I'm so troubled . I'd appreciate your views (anyone!)
I would like to share a problem i have. It all started few days ago when panic that i have something in my trachea or something stuck in my esophagus...so to calm down i started to breath heavy and went to bed continuing to do it, after that it all came ''that awareness of breathing and the thought that if i don't control my breath i will stop doing it'' yea super dumb and illogical i know but still i have that fear and anxiety and that is a huge pain in the *** to fall asleep... any help please .(i'm aware of it , almost all the time except while i magically manage to sleep or rarely when i'm engaged with people.
Brother, Did you recover ? I'm suffering from the same , it LL be helpful as to how you overcame it.
But it'll not work for someone with health anxiety, can't expose themselves to actual diseases and get comfortable, I don't understand how a person with fear of a certain diseases when logic also supports it - like I take finasteride for Alopecia and I read that it can cause PFS which is incurable - so my ocd kicked in and so did anxiety, how can I use ERP in this case? As I won't be exposing myself to the actual PFS and get comfortable with it. The more I read about it the more paranoid and anxious I get thinking I've already taken the dose, I can't undo it and logically it can happen. So its not a fear of something that is logically impossible; which makes it more real and threat.
many people don't understand the point of this,you all seem to be so worried about the thought and worried that the thought will continue to stay in your head.It's not the problem in the thought itself it's the anxiety connected to the thought,by relieving the anxiety from the thought , the thought doesn't feel dangerous anymore.if you are worried it's going to stay,ask yourself this. "does it matter if it stays if I don't feel any emotions towards it?"
This is the worst advice ever for someone with pure O OBSESSION not compulsions. I’m about to have a panic attack from this video…
Thanks for this. I think I have resorted to self-inducing brainfog in order to escape from the anxiety my Pure O causes me. Like on some level, I am deliberately dumbing myself down so that the intrusive thoughts can't register properly in my brain. Does anyone have any information or resources that address this? I haven't been able to find much.
Sounds like a protective mechanism from your brain. The best way of dealing with this is to educate yourself about how to deliberately expose yourself to the things your brain is trying to protect yourself from. This way your brain will learn it doesn't need to resort to brain fog and instead start to realise that the things you have been trying to avoid aren't as alarming as you thought. I'd suggest watching the videos about doing ERP for 'pure O' and seeing if you can come up with some ways of exposing yourself to your fears. Good luck.
@@23katied Appreciate your reply. I agree that it is a protective mechanism and am looking into pure O ERP.
ERP reminds me of the book by Susan Jeffers . Feel the fear and do it anyway
Perez Elizabeth Williams Barbara Robinson John
After watching these videos, I am wondering whether it is possible that if you apply exposures with the wrong dynamics, it could turn into a compulsion itself. So let’s say someone is afraid of some type of devil imagery that pops up in his mind. If this person now starts to think “wow, the devil imagery came to my mind, I MUST start drawing a cartoon of that imagery, otherwise I am scr*wed” then that does also not seem quite okay to me.
The ultimate goal is to get the person “not to care” about the imagery or thought that pops up in his mind, right? And basically in order to reach that goal, you should apply ERP probably in the right way...so my question is basically whether there can be a "wrong" and "correct" way
of applying ERP
My compulsions are all arguments in my head about something i heard someone say or something someone said to me or even a social media post from a year ago. How do i do ERP i have no idea.
What if one of your obsessive intrusive thoughts is your fiance betraying you? She hasn't done anything to give me a reason to worry about it, but I do.
I remember as a 10 year old boy, I watched the 1979 Amityville Horror movie, and it terrified me to the point where I could not shower alone or go to the restroom alone lest the black ooze came out of the sieves. Even going down the stairs was terrifying as it evoked the scene where George Lutz falls through the basement stairs into a pit of black ooze. But for some reason, I still liked the movie and watched it again,and again, and again, until it did not scare me at all but fascinated me. I even drew my parents nuts as allI could talk about was Amityville. I drew the house on my school notebooks, rewrote the story, and even researched more about the story and the case. So instead of avoiding the movie, I might have done ERP without knowing.
But how do we prove we did the right thing this is what plagues me like how does someone who's terrified of blaspheming actually blaspheme 😢
I wanna smash the dislike button; this is very poor and simplistic explained; just common sense;
Thank you! Your videos really help me:)
Can you make a video regarding ocd and thinking you are going to die of a heart attack and correlating high heart beat stress and panic attacks to dying
Just to add to this evidence based video. Please remember that these obsessional thoughts in pure o are called Ego Dystonic. That means the obsessions are totally opposite to an OCD sufferers morality. That is why they are so distressing. If they weren't, they would not attend therapy, because they would not be distressed by them
Yes this is true. However, in my experience when people focus on this idea that can unwittingly use it as a form of reassurance.
By opposite morality, do you mean total self VS self image?
My Pure O doesn't involve fear. For me, it revolves around dutifulness and guilt. I had high expectations thrust upon me by a religious mother with anger issues. I feel like I have to justify my worth. How, if I'm not afraid of anything, am I supposed to confront my fear? I get online for hours without realizing it in an effort to contribute and feel like I've accomplished something (I suppose). I waste entire days on here. It's disturbing. What am I supposed to confront when this happens? Am I supposed to rip in half a picture of my mother? Am I supposed to slack off and accomplish nothing? Play a video game? How do I use exposure therapy?
This is a helpful post as of course it does not always manifest in something that feels like fear. Guilt is a very typical alternative emotion that people experience with OCD. The likelihood here is that what you don't want is to feel guilty or bad about yourself or having to justify your worth and therefore you either avoid things which you worry (fear) will make you feel like this or you overcompensate by doing lots of good/worthy things because you worry that if you don't you will feel guilty/bad. You say you feel you've achieved by contributing when you spend hours online - I would say this is a compulsion or strategy that you use to avoid feeling bad. So if this all makes sense to you then what you need to do is expose yourself to the sorts of things you worry will make you feel bad about yourself/guilty - for example - do something self-indulgent like take a day to yourself and binge watch your favourite show. (this is just an example it may not be something that would make you feel bad). In my experience people with this kind of presentation will do all sorts of people pleasing behaviours like always getting super thoughtful presents for people, contribute to society thorough charitable causes etc (nothing wrong with this and you can go back to doing it once you are doing it out of choice rather than to avoid feeling bad). I hope this helps give you a bit of direction about how to work with your OCD.
@@23katied, Thank you so much for responding.
I'm actually kind of surprised about how I phrased my question. I wrote that I get online to feel like I'm accomplishing something. The byproduct of being online so much, of course, is that it keeps me from what I want to accomplish most. It's incredibly ironic to me that my mind views what I do on here as being productive but that's exactly how I feel about it. I feel like I'm doing something meaningful when I write so much online. I feel like I'm staying busy and being productive. Writing online is my, "obsession."
My, "compulsion," (like you said) must be the bad feeling I get when I don't do what I truly want to do. You've helped me a lot here. I need to schedule some down time doing neither thing. It seems like a good game plan to help me hit the reset button.
Jones Daniel Smith Mark Hall Nancy
excuse me? Expose myself to the fears? Wtf 😂😂 is this woman okay
you’re so so helpful ;)
So rearranging furniture is my compulsion so do I just not move the furniture when the compulsion to move it Is really strong?
I'm worried about future about Can I recuit in a job ? Or can I marreid ?
I'm worried about future about Can I recuit in a job ? Or can I marreid ?
How can i get the full series serially?
Please help me
None of this works for me. My OCD turns exposures into a compulsion.
It Works Bro
@@ashishtigga3088 Yes I know it works for most ppl, but not for me. I've been doing ERP for months and I'm currently in the Rogers partial hospitalization program and it's still not working.
Erp is extremly dificult st begining
Thankz Katie for the Golden Rules of ERP😍 Definitely going to try.. Thank you very much again!❤️
The only problem with ERP for internal OCD is that exposer can become the compulsion. It becomes a cyclical problem in the end. Constant testing of reactions to the images - are we disgusted enough? Are we aroused? Do we like it? I don't know, I better put the image back in my head to find out! And on and on it goes...This is all common among those with internal OCD. For example, contrary to some bad info online, many if not most people with sexual OCD at times feel arousal from the thoughts or they feel on some level that maybe they like them and other constant doubting. So people "test" or expose themselves over and over to their obsessions (now a compulsion) in their heads until they get bored, no longer feel the sensations, no longer can take it, or find another mental compulsion. For me, the "cure" is more about changing the belief systems underlying the OCD. I don't believe in God so I will never have any scrupulosity OCD. But I love art so I will have artistic OCD at times - does art really have meaning, does some art mean more than others? etc, etc. SO getting back to sexual orientation OCD - I believe that if I get aroused by something, surely that means deep down I want it. It all goes back to the Freudian idea. Even though my therapist says people get aroused by all sorts of taboo, forbidden and just weird things, I still don't believe it. So the good and the bad of it is that until I believe I can be aroused by something and that has nothing to do with my sexual orientation or desire, I will be stuck no matter how much I "expose" my self to the thoughts.
I agree with most of what you said.
You are constant testing the reactions and what you said because you can stay in uncertainty.Ocd is anxiety and uncertainty.And now it tries to catch you with doubt.You want to figure that problem with sexual arousing and that is a compulsion. The more you will do that the more ocd will strike back with doubt and you will never find the answer.You don't need to figure if you are aroused by something because this is what ocd wants from you.
@@georgeSud7ok so I have h ocd and I've had an intrusive thought of hurting my teddy which scared the crap out of me. Do you think it's normal that I actually did it? I just wanted the thought to go away and I also wanted to see if I can do it and if I'll like it. I didn't like it at all! Makes me so uncomfortable and even more afraid cause now I just acted on a freaking intrusive thought and all the therapists say you would never act on it. I literally wrapped my hands around the teddy's neck and squeezed it. And I did it twice, but in different days. Now I don't now if it was a compulsion to just figure out stuff or if I'm actually going to loose control and perhaps start liking it and then... 😢this is so exhausting. I've been crying and having mild panic attacks. Nobody has ever experienced this side of OCD.
That's such a bizzare example...
great video keep up the good work
Mam I'm suffering from hyper awareness of breathing blinking swallowing how to overcome from this from 6 years I don't want to live like this it's horrible 😭😭 help me
Bro accept and surrender to the thoughts... That's what helped me ✌️
I know that in erp therapy you have to focus on the fear or stimulus, but how do you establish the fine line between that and obsessing over it?
justin nguyen really great question. I'd love to hear the answer to this. I'm trying to help my husband with Harm OCD and he's concerned about obsessing about it.
Is it possible that as you are spending time obsessing over it you are performing the neutralising either behaviourally or internally? trying to reduce the fear....responding. But with exposure, you are accepting the threat, letting it in fully, minus any attempts to resolve your discomfort. Obsessing, like rumination is our attempts to problem solve our way out of the discomfort?? therefore habituation cannot occur. Exposure is purely exposing to it until habituation (or getting used to it) naturally occurs..after a while the brain sees it as irrelevant/ non threatening... less need to focus on it. What do you think? Good question!
Yes, this is my question as well. I feel that trying to isolate it and make it more intense just makes me think of it more and then it is more difficult to let it go.
Vicky Campbell me too! That's exactly what my dilemma is. I obsess about my unwanted thought all day, and then when I'm just too tired to think about it any more, it becomes that much more harder to not think about it because I have thought about it so much
thats because your trying not to think about it you say it yourself in the text , the key is to accept the thoughts , be kind to yourself and dont try to do to much at once , little steps toward the goal , also learn to shift your focus to the present and have a break
The moment I stop doing the repeated rituals to cut the obsessions things starts slipping out of my hand
@@sns595 I lose track of things as if some order has been broken
@@sns595 Anxiety triggers and then I lose vigilance over the things
@@sns595 I am badly fighting with Intrusive Thoughts while Checking something, so if I am locking something and a thought pops in the OFC 🧠 I have to redo but ERP says do the opposite what is this opposite in this case? pls help
@heeyoou meaning
but I don't have compulsions at all
yes I used to seek reassurance a lote, now I don't do it as much because it made me waaaaaay worse
Do you know why do you have anxiety?
It took me a year to buy into what you taught in this video. I finally listened closely & applied it & i feel hopeful. This may help. Thank u so much.
How did you get on with this just starting my journey
You are the best .
Not sure how to put this but the scary ''pure o'' ocd thoughts i was having were so distressing that I consciously asked my mind to replace it with the stuck music syndrome as this was less scary to have. The only thing is, the stuck music syndrome has truly stuck and now the obsession/compulsion with the music has become daily. What does one do now
Hi there Lisa. I have been trying to understand that syndrome for a long time. It is really hard to solve this issue (Stuck Music Syndrome) with conventional techniques. Because you never recall the 'music' as 'thoughts' but the music is always, already there... Medical help seems the only solution rather than a therapeutic approach.
What if my obsession is that I am not showing that I am paying enough attention when listening to someone, and my compulsion is to try to look more interested and examine the person's non verbal cues to try to determine if they think so too? I guess I should just close my eyes and ..leave? :D
What if someone else had an obsession that they will kill someone? Should they do it as a means of exposure therapy? 😅 it's tricky when what I am afraid of is about doing an actual disservice to someone.
What you need to remember is that the issue is about how you are processing the worry. When someone has obsessions about harm the fear is less that they will actually do it and more that they will have thoughts or urges to do it and this is what people will try hard to avoid. So in all cases the idea is that you find a way of exposing yourself to the thoughts, images, urges etc whilst not engaging in any safety behaviours - like trying to look more interested!
my obsession is breathing so am I to stop breathing?
It's not so easy if you're losing sleep over it. Lack of sleep causes anxiety.
Try being tired when you sleep, If you want.
Same problem here,what to do with sleep
Hey just wondering how you’re getting on cheers
Ms. A'th thank you for your help. I'm 23 and I've been having this since I was 12. It's been over a decade. I hope it's not too late LOL. BTW I subscribed :)
Never too late to improve
Do you know why do you have anxiety?
These videos are working as a complementary therapy for me! And they are doing wonders!
Okay British Tina Fey
My biggest things are 2 types of pure O: harm OCD and hyperawareness of my thoughts and body. I know it doesnt matter which type of obsessions someone has, but are there people over here who have the same obsessions ?
Yes, I have these same obsessive thoughts...
yes…my obssesions change pretty quickly tho….for example now I have harm OCD which I didn’t have before and I have obssesions of going mad and losing my mind and control( which I had for the long time but it’s always about different topic for example thinking I damaged my brain from pills or asking myself why did the “this doesn’t make you happy” thought occured when some things that I did in the moment do make me happy and then I start having mental compulsions over it because im scared of depression and hurting myself lmao..it fking sucks…
Hi just wondering how your getting on with this, many thanks
@@msbgr8 hey just wondering how your getting on, could do with some reassurance
@@msbgr8 hey just wondering how you’re getting on with this cheers
I didnt relate to that
Allie Underpass
Nick Dale
How do you do ERP if you told yourself you are going to force yourself to harm yourself or someone else, and no matter what you do, you have to act out even though you don't want to? Or, you tell yourself and fear you will force yourself to stay stuck on a thought permanently until you do act out and you purposely just keep thinking the thought which keeps it going? Basically, I have this fear that just because I said I have to force myself to act out that I will force myself to act out no matter what whichnterrifies me and keeps the thought going... that is really confusing and hard too explain...
You can't do ERP if you just have bad thoughts.
You can't do ERP if you have bad OCD thoughts like I also have. In this case CBT is better.
What if my fear is having depression and talking my own life? How am I going to expose ?.. also my other fear is going crazy and thinking stupid things imagining crazy things and going crazy.. how do I do ERP for that?
Thank you for sharing, this is an aspect of ERP not spoken about much so thanks for bringing it forward :D
You are a life saver, Ms. d'Ath, I owe you my FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey just wondering how you’re getting on cheers ?
Brendan Grove
I have a question about the "magic ingredient" - how does it apply to sexual/incest/rape/violent thoughts? Should I force myself into imagining that I rape and torture my beloved mother? ...Great...now I'm stuck in the toxic shame and guilt and I feel an urge to confess what I've done in my mind to my mom...B-E-A-UTIFUL...Just great...Now I'm in hell...
Will you become whatever you fear by doing ERP?
Like if you have POCD, HOCD or Scrupulosity , wont you become a Pedophile, Gay, and an Atheist since you're now forcefully thinking these things and , well " you are what you think"?
Im fine with some thoughts - others not so much. I ERP'd them ( the ones im openly mentally fine with now on command ), but then theres other thoughts that are sooo bad and annoying that i cant get rid of them. So, should i try ERP? My anxiety doubts ERP for certain thoughts, idk if its cuz of the theme of the thought, or just my anxiety fckin with me lol. Please lemme know what I can do 😓
Thanks Katie, you're wonderful.
Thank you for this video. OCD is a horrible affliction, but as I age the grip it has on me lessens more and more; your advice helps a lot.
For many years now, I've been so engrossed and lost in my pure O thoughts 24/7 that I completely forgot my past and obsessions seem real now a days. Plz help😭
Try a plant diet. Walking can help, If you want. Do you know why do you have anxiety?
@Love Yourself Try to ignore it, i am better today.
@@brenosantana1458 hey man just wondering how you’re getting on x😊
@@jamesjohnstone1224 Hi. I read my comment, waking, I think, it is focused in the underlying cause, but can provide a relief.
I fell after that previous comment, but I am trying to recuperate. It is not perfect yet, but I am going. Not giving up is important, and I was, in a way, recently.
@@jamesjohnstone1224 I have a lot of work to do.
I have thoughts in my mind I cannot get rid of, they keep showing for at least every 10 minutes. They are causing me tremendous stress and anxiety, it's one single thought that has been repeating in my mind for the last 2 years nearly every day, something happened 2 years ago that triggered it, it's very difficult to explain it as the situation that happened sounds trivial and really doesn't deserve to give me this kind of hell I'm experiencing. I'm not sure if what causing those thoughts to keep appearing are lingering emotions?
what can I do to resolve this? I tried everything
I'm not sure how this will help me overcome my fear of my child drowning in a pond? Please advise because generally speaking I am finding your videos very helpful.