24. OCD Treatment: "Whatever OCD" - ERP ideas for obsessions about harming people
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- CBT therapist Katie d'Ath gives some ideas for exposing yourself to fears of harming.
Katie is co-author of "Dummies Guide to Managing OCD with CBT" and is passionate about demystifying OCD and helping people to access empirically based treatment.
Katie, you're great! Thank God there are people like you out there.
Hi Paul. Glad you're finding the videos helpful.
Your videos helped me learn so much about my OCD. For years I didn't know I had mental compulsions until you explained it so well. Thank you so much for helping me to manage my symptoms better.
Hey just wondering how you’re getting on? Cheees
@@jamesjohnstone1224 pretty well, still have thoughts and obsessions but they don't bother me as much
@@lijmoodo you suffer from Harmocd ? And you taking meds for it?
@@doublem6027 I was/am. No meds
How did you become aware of your mental compulsions and stop engaging with them?
My heart goes out to those that have pedophilia and harm to others thoughts. You'll often cry yourself to sleep at night. Agree with you Katie on OCD latching on to things from present or past. I pretty sure taking your vitamins and having overall good health will not take away your OCD.
I think they potentially can, God willing. Though ERP is the most important treatment for OCD
I m 14 and I think I might have ocd thank-you for making these videos
Hello!
I have one violent thought ( wishing harm on others) that keeps repeating over and over again. How can I do ERP for this?
Thanks for this video, Katie! It’d be really helpful if you can make one like this for relationship ocd 🙏🏽
No problem - it’s on the list!!
Hi, I was wondering if you could you do an OCD Treatment video on responsibility OCD please? Many thanks
How do you handle these thoughts differently if they show up as mental movies?
So glad you’re uploading more Katie! 👍🏻
Would love to see a video on OCD in the workplace.
If I am doing ERP my response is to not speak wrong in the public speech..Should my response prevention be to actually do the opppsite and make fun of myself..or hittong the other car if fear of hitting...or practically do the opposite.Please answer.
Katie, would you have any tips to when you have thoughts with urges? I mean like thoughts that pop up and feel very commanding. Like the thought 'punch that person' or 'crash your car into that wall'. Those for me are the worst because you not only have the thought but your body makes it so real as if you are in real danger and the thought really could happen any moment. I've been having harm OCD for 5 years, and the urges are the worst.
Thanks for your great video's.
how you been coping with this ?
@@luh4682 with ups and downs. In the end 'othing happens and that strengthen me to realize that next time will be no different. But believe me, it's still very upsetting when the thoughts pop in your head.
@@specialjeffreyke it sure is and very uncomfortable overtime you dont even know if theyre thoughts or you purposely thinking , and then the cycle repeats some days are good but the bad ones still there we will get through this though ocd is very unpleasant 😕
Hey just wondering how you’re getting on, cheers
This makes a lot of sense, actually. These aren't exactly my worries per se, but I recognize I have been avoiding a lot of activities I used to enjoy because I either associated them with intrusive thoughts or was worried of associating them with the things I enjoy. But this idea of purposely putting myself in these situations where I may have scary thoughts in order to learn that I am in control without worrying about them.
I will strive to incorporate this into my treatment!
Hey just wondering how you’re getting on with this .cheers
@James Johnstone Oh man, I almost forgot I commented here at all! It's very good news! Worked with my therapist and briefly took an SSRI (6 months of Citalopram, only 10mg). Weaned off nearly a month ago now and very functional! Sure, I still get moments, but with training, I can recognize that it's OCD now and just let it play itself out. I'll get a worrying thought, or a bad memory, or something, and I'll just let it be, and tell myself "Hey, if it's a real issue, I'll still care this much in a few days." It generally passes in an hour or less. OCD can be controlled! Videos like this helped set me on the right path!
@@Real_Iron_Smith that’s good news I’m glad you’re getting better, it’s just tricky at the start, are you confident you’ll make a full recovery..thanks so much for your time man
@James Johnstone It really is a tricky start, and I'm not gonna lie. When you start fighting it, it feels bad because you're doing the opposite of what the brain wants... but when you come out of the other side and your brain processes, "wait, my fear didn't come true" or "Wait, I'm not dead" or whatever it may be... it starts to realize that these panic signals may not be as necessary as they think. Then, it gets easier and easier each time.
@@Real_Iron_Smith that’s really kind, thanks for your reply, any last tips before I start my journey.thanks
Hi Katie, is it normal to not only have thoughts of harming others but also having urges to hurt others ?
Yes that is very common.
@@23katied thank you so much you have no idea how much this helps
How do you know so much about OCD? It is like you're reading my mind..
Hey just wondering if you’ve gotten over this, many thanks
Your lipstick 💄 😉 amazing
I’m too scared to do exposures like this. 😭
That's ok. Maybe you can break it down into really small steps. See the video about making a hierarchy. It will always be scary because if it wan't then the problem wouldn't be there. But you need to teach yourself that you can handle the fear.
You really should write a book on OCD
Hi Katie, what about fears of whether I’ve harmed other people? I don’t have thoughts of whether I will harm someone in the present or the future, just exclusively around an occasion where I thought I could have harmed someone. Does that make the theme harder to treat? I don’t avoid potential weapons but I do a lot of mental reviewing and seeking reassurance online. I even turned myself in to the police twice, only for them to turn me away.
Yes you can treat this in the same way. You need to get clear on all the things you do like mental reviewing and learn to respond to the thoughts differently and also see whether you can find a way of doing some deliberate ERP to triggers so you can teach yourself to respond differently (see other videos on this)
@@23katied Thanks, Katie! Treatment over in my country is expensive as hell so I am not sure if I should privately expose myself to triggers. Those crime documentaries/unsolved murders really scare the Jesus out of me. Sorry for the language but it was so terrible! They are like at the top tier of my hierarchy I suppose...
Mam thank you very much. you have saved lot of lives ❤️
Hello, Katie and thank you. Could you make a video on ERP for sexually intrusive thoughts, too?
Yes I’m going to do one very soon.
Hey just wondering how you’re getting on with this
@@jamesjohnstone1224 Hello and thank you for your interest.
I had very strong intrusive thoughts to the point of obsession back in 2020-2021 during the harshest lockdown times in my country. I must note that I wasn't diagnosed with OCD, since I never visited any expert and I mainly got my information on this by people like Katie and Nate from the "OCD and Anxiety" channel. I can't see how I could suffer from anything else, though, since those days, once I had a "bad" thought I couldn't stop ruminating over them, create awful scenarios over them and would just suffer all the time during the day due to the most minor triggers.
My OCD wasn't exclusively about sexual thoughts, though. This was the starting point and, I guess, the main focus of my obsessions, since I would often think about enjoying some of the most disgusting sexual acts (p*dophilia, inc*st, r*pe) and this would terrify me as a result. However, after a while this whole thing spiralled out of control and I reached the point of obsessing over the possibility of me becoming mentally ill beyond cure and suicide. This was hell and it just seemed to never stop.
Anyway, as you perhaps understood from my first sentences, I'm well now and I have been this way since the summer of 2021. I can't say intrusive sexual thoughts have completely stopped, they still come up occasionally, but thankfully, I have never become obsessed over them in that time. I think what contributed to my recovery at that time was the relaxation and eventually end of the lockdown and my ability to engage in more activities that I had been unable to. There is the common advice that you shouldn't engage with your intrusive thoughts, and this is absolutely correct, however this was impossible to do when I was spending most of my day at home. Once I was able to meet more people, go on holiday, parties, all sort of fun activities, I could finally disengage from the intrusive thoughts and focus somewhere else and finally I stopped caring about them.
I can't say my reaction to this was ideal, in fact from it. My decision to not visit any therapist or psychiatrist and to not tell anyone in my life what I was going through (I only did later) could have been destructive. However, that was my experience and I'm only sharing what happened to me.
Sorry for the long comment, however this was a traumatising and very important time of my life and due to this I feel like expressing my thoughts and my experiences very thoroughly. If you're dealing with any of this, I wish you courage and the best of luck. I don't know if my experiences are helpful at all for you. However, believe me, recovery is more than possible. At my darkest times, I could never imagine that I would be free from these obsessions for one and a half year now.
@@GreekHouseEffect thanks so much for the time and effort you’ve put into this reply ! I’ll absolutely take on board everything you’ve said. The biggest thing for me is knowing that people can get this recover fully ! Reassurance is important to me. I think it would be fair to say it wasn’t easy put in the end you got there ? Many thanks
@@jamesjohnstone1224 I'm glad I can help, although don't rely on reassurance too much, because it can be a way of engaging with your obsessions, which is generally something you want to avoid. Yeah, it was very difficult for months, it seemed completely hopeless, it felt like a constant headache. Please, don't think about the recovery process too much, because when you don't see immediate results, it may make you feel worse and start obsessing over this. Just focus on what is going on outside your mind, act independently of what your thoughts tell you. I know it's extremely hard, especially if not much happens in your life, I personally experienced it and it makes me feel uneasy just thinking about it, but it's the only way. And please, tell someone trustworthy about your struggles if you haven't already, because sometimes I feel lucky I survived.
She's not perfect but I won't say no to free therapy.. can't afford it and this has been pretty helpful
No-one is perfect
Wow after nearly 5 year s good to see you
Hello Katie dath, Can u make a video on checking OCD as it's a comman obsession that people with OCD normally go through... Thanks !!
Hi there. Checking is a compulsion which you’re right we commonly see in ocd. it’s about doing deliberate exposure so that it makes the checking redundant, however, I’ll add this to my list of videos to make.
@@23katied Thank you 😀
Has anyone been successful doing erp on their own? I dont know if it's safe to do it on my own.
Learning to take risks and live with uncertainty is one of the most important things in treating ocd so arguably if it feels scarier doing it on your own it could well prove even more effective!
Hey just wondering how you are getting on with this? cheers
Hello katie d'ath please help me out....i have pure o when ever i get a intrusive thought i try to disregard it by refocusing on whatever i am doing at that time but again i am caught in a thought of disregarding that intrusive thought and refocusing and it goes on sometimes i win but sometimes it gets worst....what am i doing wrong....please tell me
Sounds like you are on the right track but OCD is very tenacious so you have to keep doing it time and time again. Also important to notice whether you are giving the thoughts any meaning - if you can also learn to not give them meaning then the refocussing will be easier and more effective.
Hey there just wondering how you’re getting on with this, many thanks
Yeah but what if someone will expose himself to these situations and really harm someone? Will you take responsibility what you're telling people in this video?
Thank you
In doing an ERP script, should we avoid self-flagellation? Should we write "I leave the door open and I get robbed" or "I leave the door open and I get robbed because I can't do anything right"? Is the real fear getting robbed or being incompetent or both? Does it ever make sense to call oneself incompetent in a script if that is one of the things feared?
Imagine Ted Bundy saw this...
Kite if ihave feeling of harming my self even some time loss reassurance of what i do so need to pure compulsion
Hello, I think you are covering the topic in a great way, just enough explanations, not too little, not too much. Thank you for your effort. I have had some OCD behvaiour that started almost 30 years ago, but somehow I managed to put it under control and attach no or little meaning to those random thoughts. It took me probably 10 years to reach that place, though, because I did not go to any therapy... Now I am having the feeling that OCD is back, although different and with different intensity. I have 2 questions if you are willing to answer - do you think I should be dealing with some of the fears I had back then (and I can still remember them, but with much much less intensity)? Second question - do you have any piece of advice for the people living with the people with OCD - spouses, kids, ... ? It is definitely not easy for us with OCD, but it is also not easy for our family members to understand us and ideally, be the support for us.
Does this apply for Harm self OCD?
This is really helpful thank you
Hey Mam
Intrusive unwanted sexual thought of partner with strangers is this ocd thoughts or not
Pls help me answer
Why don’t you try treating it as if you think it’s ocd and see what happens?
If my mind says I’ll find peace if I harm my family
What can I do about this ?
How are you doing now?
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Hi Katie! You're doing great work
I get the same harm thought when my head hits the pillow to sleep, and I don’t sleep. I try to think something positive at the time, but it doesn’t work.
Yeah...ocd ruins sleep I have nightmares
Hey just wondering how you’re getting on with this, many thanks
Hi
I don't even have OCD but this is kind of exciting lol
I kind of have an obsession of going mad, not so much of hurting someone or causing something Illegal but doing something stupid as in, smashing my computer monitor with my hand or shouting really loudly when I'm suppose to be quiet because everyone is at sleep, saying something that I don't want to say... Do you have any good ideas how I can do exercises for these issues? Thank you so much :)
Hey me to, just wondering how you’re getting on with this many thanks
@@jamesjohnstone1224 well, literally nothing, just trying to live my life. Its still there but not as much as it was before.
@@thekadju2450 so it’s gets a bit better with time ? I guess you just try and carry on as normal right ? Thanks
@@jamesjohnstone1224 yes, I mean, trying to meditate and do different stuff helps a lot. But the less attention you give it and less time you spend trying to deal with it and to figure it out, the less anxiety it gives you
@@thekadju2450 thanks for your time
Thank you so so much