Ashley

Hi Lauren, I do understand and hopefully we're not confusing things for you. My gut feeling from what you describe is the therapists understanding of OCD is not there, OCD saps peoples confidence and self-esteem, but it's the actual OCD that is the problem. You could give her a couple more sessions as you suggested to see if things get better, but my thought is it may be time to ask for someone with more experience of treating OCD (seeing she's not labelled OCD). Good luck whatever you decide to do

I think this is the beauty of the C part of CBT, whilst it doesn't make facing our fears any less easy, it does ensure we understand the beliefs behind our thoughts and why we need to do the exercise and in theory should help with the anxiety post exercise. I also would argue nobody with OCD should ever be 'told' to face their fears. Good therapy is a collaborative effort between patient and therapist who agree therapy exercises together at the right time and at the right level of exposure for that person at that time.

Hi Lauren, of course give it a couple more weeks if you feel more comfortable to do that. I can't tell you what to do of course but I can tell you what I would do (I did actually do something similar last year). This immediately strikes me as someone with insufficient understanding or knowledge of OCD, so I would certainly think about changing if this was my therapist. I assume this is through a local IAPT service? If so, asking for another therapist is easy enough, although a tad awkward. They should be able to assign you a new therapist, although you may have to wait until one becomes available.. feel free to blame me if you like "Ashley from OCD-UK suggesting I ask for a therapist with knowledge of treating OCD". Where in the country are you, are you near one of the specialist NHS clinics? Happy to advise further if you need me to.

Then maybe it's time to find a different, a better therapist. There are many OCD specialists here in the UK (via the NHS) who I would recommend long before I would recommend working with a US therapist remotely. Yes you could. Could you be someone with just severe OCD? Yes you could. Is it ok to have thoughts we might be gay? Yes it is. Does that mean we might be gay? No it doesn't. Is it ok for someone to ask you if you are gay? Yes. Does that mean you might be gay? No it doesn't. I think I have said this to you before, forget being gay or not gay, forget the H part of HOCD it's 100% unhelpful, you have to focus on the fact you have OCD, that's the problem, not if you are gay or not.

Hiya Loz, Welcome to the forums I am sorry you had problems this morning, try and stay strong, bad days do pass The first thing I would say about that is to question the therapists comments, did she actually say you have OCD or just above that you have intrusive thoughts? Whilst most of us tend to self-diagnose our OCD, I am always wary of therapists that fail to actually be clear that a person is suffering from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. So next time you see her, ask her if you do suffer with OCD. If she's not prepared to say that formally, I would question if she is the right person to treat you. Obviously I can't say if today's setback was because of ERP, but yes badly done therapy (by the therapist, not you) can make things worse. However, good therapy should prepare a person for any behavioural exercises and in my experience when done right any exposure work the anxiety is fleeting (few minutes), partly because we have chosen to do the exercise and prepared for it. In terms of OCD therapy we don't actually recommend ERP alone, we do suggest CBT (including ERP) which is a more thorough treatment approach. Is your therapist through the NHS or private? Ashley.

* Can sometimes for some people. Please be careful how you word things when it comes to meds.

Schofield, as annoying as he is, isn't a fraud though. I read that he knew he was gay before he married his wife all those years ago, but back then being gay was still not widely accepted. Your problem seems to be not so much that you are gay, but that you 'might' be gay, which is what OCD is all about, worrying about the possibility of something. The fact is that you are constantly checking and carrying out compulsions if you are gay and doubting if its OCD is what reinforces the fear and worry and doubts. Until you take proactive steps to cease the compulsions/checks then nothing will change and the obsessions will get worse. I am not suggesting for one minute this will be easy, but some people can make life easier for themselves and some people make life harder for themselves by their actions. If you want change, you have to make change happen.

Have a word with yourself man, nobody is discriminating against you. For years we have offered practical advice and support based on how we know OCD works, and for years you have ignored all that. Now I accept it's the OCD that may be part of the reason you have ignored that advice, but at some point every single one of us with OCD have to accept responsibility for our recovery. This means reading the right things, saying the right things and listening to the right people and not blaming people for saying things which you (your OCD) does not want to hear. Part of recovery from OCD is accepting uncertainty. Accepting you might have thoughts you are gay sometimes, that does not mean you are gay, but learning to accept you might get the occasional unwanted thought. The same applies to those with contamination fears, those afraid of being attracted to children and those worries about their sexuality.

Actually, that is what we do tell people with that obsessive fear to tell themselves (obviously not touch a child, such a comment is actually rather silly). But we do encourage people with this fear to write down words like 'I am a paedophile' and to verbally say that to themselves.

Because if people post unhelpful or offensive comments, then people are likely to be offended. Instead of telling others to let it go, perhaps we should all be a little more understanding and empathetic when we write our comments.

This is where the CBT will help you explore the significance of the grease to your fears and ultimately what it would mean if you do get 'grease' on your belongings. I had contamination OCD and as I made progress working towards recovery I found observing other people (without OCD0 helped guide me to a range of 'normal', pretty much as Polarbear mentions. To access CBT, in the UK you would need to speak to your GP and request a referral.

It does make sense, obviously as I guess you realise, this is an OCD compulsion, I would never say anybody's obsessions and worries are going nuts because to them, and this to you, feels very real, it feels like the over-powering urge to do the compulsion will make the uneasy feeling of anxiety will ease. The 'not caring' is the hard part, and as Polarbear mentions, this is where we promote CBT as the treatment of choice for OCD. It won't get rid of the intrusive thoughts, but it will help you feel differently... and when that happens the frequency of the thoughts dissipates. Good luck

Another OCD comment in Corrie last month (I was catching up at the weekend). What do you think? It's better than before with Craig's storyline, but I am still not sure the language is helpful to our cause with the 'what if she is OCD' comment, but the bottom line is helpful to the cause of helping people understand it. Coronation Street, broadcast Friday 10th January 2020 (8:30pm showing) Cathy to Brian talking about Yasmeen: Cathy: Everything we arrange to do she cancels, she will be cleaning again, it’s all she seems to do these days. She had calluses on her fingertips the other day from going at the skirting boards. Brian: There’s nothing wrong with a positive attitude towards domestic hygiene Cathy: What if she’s OCD? Brian: You know your problem, you watch too much television, not everything has to have a label. Cathy: It’s an illness Brian, like hoarding, it’s not something to be scoffed at or swept under the carpet.

The soap that would have a small OCD feature that I teased about last year was BBC Casualty which was screened this evening. Tweet I made tonight. Sorry I couldn't pre-warn, but they sore me to secrecy. It will be on catch-up. If you do watch it get the tissues, a really sad episode