u think ocd therapy is impossible to do yourself and that it's all too big to start but you can get workbooks or even just try small things.
a lot of my ritual behaviors are "checking"
self-guided ocd exposure therapy can be as simple as resisting the urge to check if your door is locked more than once and sitting with the discomfort until it passes without engaging in any reassurance rituals.
it can look like sending an email and resisting the urge to re-read it over and over again obsessing over your wording, sitting with the discomfort until it passes without engaging in any reassurance rituals.
some of my rituals are also "avoidance"
in which case it can look like checking your email inbox you've been obsessively avoiding because you're anxious about receiving a specific email you don't want to see.
and YEP! ☝️
sitting with the discomfort until it passes without engaging in any reassurance rituals.
it might be hard to believe, but learning distress tolerance for things like "checking" with emails and door locks actually prepared me for the Big Ones like harm and sexual OCD themes.
I think this article from 2007 is a good introduction to the basic concepts of exposures:
Self Directed Treatment for OCD The Irony of Doing the Opposite By Paul R. Munford, Ph.D. I remember a movie in which one of the char
that SAID, a lot has changed since 2007! the idea that exposure therapy can (or even should) prevent fears from every happening has come into question!
now the conversation about OCD exposure has turned to training distress tolerance:
...rather than aiming for the decline of anxiety (habituation) during exposure, the inhibitory learning approach to ERP teaches people how to be open-minded toward experiencing anxiety and fear when these experiences inevitably show up.
Indeed, fear and anxiety (and other emotions in OCD such as disgust or guilt) are universal and even adaptive experiences, not something that need to be “fixed” or gotten rid of. Most importantly, even if they can be unwanted, intense, and distressing, these emotions and thoughts are safe.
From an inhibitory learning perspective, fear extinction (and long-term improvement in OCD) depends not only on learning that feared stimuli are safe, but that it is also safe to experience the emotional response that is triggered by these stimuli.
It should be noted that all of the following procedures are still currently being researched. While there is evidence to suggest that they c
And remember at the end of the day I AM NOT a specialist. I am discussing my own OCD journey and referencing the available material on OCD exposures.
I'm not always right, and I can't know what's best for you.
Which is why I haven't recommended any of the old workbooks I've completed, because some of them are old enough that there are better ones to follow that I haven't gotten to trying yet!
I recommend doing your own reading from OCD-aware organizations:
The mission of the International OCD Foundation is to help those affected by obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and related disorders to li
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder that causes unwanted intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and mental or physical ritua
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