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11emilygrace

Bulletin Board User
  • Posts

    6
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Previous Fields

  • OCD Status
    Sufferer
  • Type of OCD
    Pure-O, Contamination

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Female
  • Location
    United States
  1. I am working on my obsessions and compulsions with ERP. I've gotten to the point where I am pretty disciplined about ignoring my thoughts whenever a trigger occurs. But I spend much of my time anticipating triggers. An example would be that if I had germaphobia, I would spend much of my time worrying about being in contact with germs, but once I am triggered, (say, by touching a doorknob or stepping in dirt), I ignore the thoughts and feelings and go about my business. How do I stop anticipating/worrying about being in a triggering situation? Will this worry go away on its own as I continue labeling and ignoring my obsessive thoughts?
  2. Let's say I have germaphobia. Not only do germs make me uncomfortable, I think germs are evil and contaminate the world and I desire to live in a cleaner, less germy world. This belief is probably just a rationalization of my fear of germs. But it is a belief. In addition to the intrusive thoughts is the belief that germs are bad and contaminate the world irrevocably. Another example could be religious OCD. I think God should condemn people (and me) to Hell for not following His word. In addition to the intrusive thoughts and ruminations (compulsions) is the belief that blasphemous behavior is worthy of condemnation. The above examples are not beliefs I actually have, but my actual nonsense beliefs are harder to explain and would make this post much longer. I'm also ashamed of them. Will CBT/ERP alone help me get rid of nonsense beliefs over time, or will it help to talk about my beliefs with a therapist as well? In other words, do I need talk therapy too? I ask this because the therapist I have is not very good at helping me dispel my beliefs. I'm still struggling with CBT but I'm in a better position now to keep up with it. When I try to ignore the triggers and thoughts, the nonsense beliefs are still in my head. If I ignore them long enough, will the beliefs go away? Will my perspective of the world change?
  3. @ChristopherH I am trying out Brain Lock first, because it offers strategies that look to be applicable to all types of OCD. Break Free From OCD looks like it dedicates much of the book to what OCD is and how it develops, which I am not interested in--I just want strategies. I'm also a bit wary of CBT workbooks, as they tend to be too general, but I might try an OCD workbook.
  4. Thank you for your post, @dksea. I'll definitely look up the first two books. I agree that there is no such thing as "Purely Obsessional OCD". I used the term to emphasize that my compulsions are only mental, as people with only mental compulsions might require slightly different therapy methods.
  5. Hello, I don't have any good CBT therapists in my area, so I am going to try reading a book that teaches CBT for OCD sufferers. Does anyone have any book recommendations that would be useful for someone with Pure-O OCD? If you have read an OCD self-help book that can be useful for all types of OCD, that would be great too. Or, if you know of a website, other than this one, that teaches CBT/ERP, that would be helpful. Thank you.
  6. My OCD: I get irritated when I hear someone ask another to repeat themselves because that person could not hear the other. Questions like “What?” “Huh?” “Hmm?” “Pardon?” and so on trigger my OCD and make me feel depressed and angry. The reason why these incidences of “miscommunication” bother me, or at least the reason I tell myself, is because these incidences are so ubiquitous. Several times a day I will hear someone ask another to repeat themselves, and it angers me every time. Why do we live in a world where we struggle to understand each other? Usually, I will get angry at the person who could not hear what the other said. I will have thoughts like, “That person’s a ******* moron!” and, “They deserve to be tortured!” I wish this didn’t bother me. I call this OCD because OCD most resembles my condition. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to stop getting angry every time someone can’t hear. I perceive these incidents of miscommunication as polluting to a conversation. If I notice that someone couldn’t hear what another had said, I view them (or my obsessive mind views them) as impure and contaminated. I’m twenty years old. I’ve been dealing with this for five-and-a-half years. I will admit that I have not done much to cure myself. I tried OCD medication, Luvox, but it doesn’t work for me. I am considering meditation as another treatment. I don't want to get angry at people for such a stupid reason, but I can't help it. Please help.
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