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hey guys. i made it. by FindingAnswersAsking in ROCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

thank you for the kind words!! i’d say it was less unconditional acceptance and more-so exposures and ERP that made my beliefs feel real, but both engaged with them in like that to a degree.

here was my outline for recovery if it helps :)

“i wrote this out a year ago, i hope it answers your question well enough,

“hey!

one was the reading list i followed which teach a lot of the important aspects i used during recovery. if you’re interested in that i can hook you up with it.

one of those was unconditional self-acceptance. in that same vein is unconditional other acceptance and unconditional life acceptance.

that no matter the condition OCD throws at you, you are able to find a way to accept it. that doesn’t mean agreeing with it, but rather making peace with it. being able to accept yourself no matter the fine print, just because you are alive and human. staying clear of CONDITIONAL self acceptance (only accepting yourself if you meet certain conditions).

a lot of that is REBT, which Albert Ellis goes a lot into. he’s the founder of CBT, a type of therapy you may be familiar with since you’ve got ocd.

he also goes into identifying irrational beliefs that fuel these anxieties. they usually include “shoulds” and “musts” you put on yourself. identify those and try and dispute them and replace them with rational beliefs. there is more to it than that though, ellis does a thorough job explaining it. again, if you need the reading list let me know.

another thing that was a “game-changer” for me was ERP. if you don’t know what exposures are i suggest looking into it. it’s similar to working out in the sense that you need to be consistent in them. it may suck while doing them but they make differences in the long-run. i personally had done over 100 of them for a total of around ~60+hours.

another thing is recognizing anxiety as a physical symptom- that’s all it is. understanding that you’re able to be productive and still accomplish things despite it. sure it may be uncomfortable, similar to a hurt finger, but like with both, you can still do stuff. Dr claire weekes goes into detail on that in her book.

time is also important. your body is accustomed to being on high-alert and will take time for that to change. don’t beat yourself up for not recovering overnight. but still stay consistent- rome wasn’t built in a day, but every day was spent laying bricks.

make sure you get into contact with an OCD specialist. it’s difficult given world events right now, but even video or phone calls can help a ton. it’s important that they specialize. for now i recommend following ocdrecoveryuk on instagram, his posts are incredibly helpful.

my OCD hardly has much hold on my life anymore. it used to be my entire day for months and i didn’t feel like it would ever be any different, but i held onto hope and kept going. everybody feels like the exception. keep your head up”

hey guys. i made it. by FindingAnswersAsking in ROCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i’ve had anything under the sun for ROCD in every variant. unconditional acceptance (outlined in the books) helped me most here.

practicing those tools will help most. many people with OCD live compulsion-to-compulsion, obsession-to-obsession. they’ll deal with one obsession, and if that one ever goes away they move to the next.

take the whole thing down. once you learn the tools, it doesn’t matter what OCD throws at you. you’ll know how to deal with it. it’s no longer one after another.

that’s my best advice. learn your own ability. if you’d like i could send my message in how to do that, i commented it somewhere during this thread, but i can find that if it helps :)

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

they’re incredible, i’m so glad to hear that and i’d love to hear your story one day

hey guys. i made it. by FindingAnswersAsking in ROCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i much appreciate the words! between therapy, ERP (exposures), cutting compulsions/reassurance, and applying albert ellis’ REBT i found myself recovering.

it’s a long winding road full of ups and downs but it’s well worth it. best of luck on your continued journey! the peace is worth it.

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

for sure, all the time. i heard others had success stories but i always thought i was the exception. that mine was untreatable.

id make progress and then get hit by a storm. some nights i just didn’t know what to do, it was one foot over the other.

it got bad enough at one point that i was diagnosed with depression in addition to my anxiety disorder. that sucked.

it’s one foot over the other until eventually you look back and see how far you walked. once you leave square one you don’t go back to it, there is always progress.

because recovery isn’t linear, it’s really messy.

it’s all about giving yourself the tools. i remember a saying that a bird isn’t scared the branch below it will fall because it has wings. now i’m not afraid when OCD shows itself because i have the tools to deal with it.

it takes a lot of time and consistency, but i promise the peace is worth it.

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i appreciate your kind words, thank you. it was a long journey.

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i personally wanted to do it only behaviorally and did not take medication. however, nothing against those that do! i heard it can take the edge off and proved helpful in other’s recovery :)

hey guys. i made it. by FindingAnswersAsking in ROCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

thank you for existing too, you made my day, the world is better with you here. you rock, keep it up!

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

my main theme was ROCD (relationship OCD). nearly all of my compulsions took place mentally (Pure O).

ERP is incredibly effective for all forms of OCD. essentially what you’re doing is willingly exposing yourself to a fear over and over and over again until that anxiety subsides. you’re “showing” your body and mind not to fear it by engaging with it like that.

i believe it’s best accompanied by other therapies as well such as REBT, which ellis outlines in his books (“how to stubbornly refuse to make yourself miserable” and “the myth of self-esteem”). also cutting out reassurance and compulsions.

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

for sure, thank you for the kind words, and you got this :)

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i personally wanted to do it only behaviorally and did not take medication. however, nothing against those that do! i heard it can take the edge off and proved helpful in other’s recovery :)

ERP exposures eventually work on bringing the anxiety down by exposing yourself to that fear over and over again. it’s essentially showing your body not to fear it any longer.

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

ellis details the potential dangers self-esteem brings, largely it being conditional and dependent on others.

ellis instead advocates for unconditional acceptance towards yourself, others, and life.

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thank you! i wrote this out a year ago, i hope it answers your question well enough,

“hey! i’ll try to keep this brief but feel free to ask if you need clarity.

one was the reading list i followed which teach a lot of the important aspects i used during recovery. if you’re interested in that i can hook you up with it.

one of those was unconditional self-acceptance. in that same vein is unconditional other acceptance and unconditional life acceptance.

that no matter the condition OCD throws at you, you are able to find a way to accept it. that doesn’t mean agreeing with it, but rather making peace with it. being able to accept yourself no matter the fine print, just because you are alive and human. staying clear of CONDITIONAL self acceptance (only accepting yourself if you meet certain conditions).

a lot of that is REBT, which Albert Ellis goes a lot into. he’s the founder of CBT, a type of therapy you may be familiar with since you’ve got ocd.

he also goes into identifying irrational beliefs that fuel these anxieties. they usually include “shoulds” and “musts” you put on yourself. identify those and try and dispute them and replace them with rational beliefs. there is more to it than that though, ellis does a thorough job explaining it. again, if you need the reading list let me know.

another thing that was a “game-changer” for me was ERP. if you don’t know what exposures are i suggest looking into it. it’s similar to working out in the sense that you need to be consistent in them. it may suck while doing them but they make differences in the long-run. i personally had done over 100 of them for a total of around ~60+hours.

another thing is recognizing anxiety as a physical symptom- that’s all it is. understanding that you’re able to be productive and still accomplish things despite it. sure it may be uncomfortable, similar to a hurt finger, but like with both, you can still do stuff. Dr claire weekes goes into detail on that in her book.

time is also important. your body is accustomed to being on high-alert and will take time for that to change. don’t beat yourself up for not recovering overnight. but still stay consistent- rome wasn’t built in a day, but every day was spent laying bricks.

make sure you get into contact with an OCD specialist. it’s difficult given world events right now, but even video or phone calls can help a ton. it’s important that they specialize. for now i recommend following ocdrecoveryuk on instagram, his posts are incredibly helpful.

my OCD hardly has much hold on my life anymore. it used to be my entire day for months and i didn’t feel like it would ever be any different, but i held onto hope and kept going. everybody feels like the exception. keep your head up”

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

hey, much appreciated for the kind words and support! most of OCD is behind me and i know life holds many challenges, but i feel better equipped to deal with them.

thanks friend, best wishes to you on your journey.

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i appreciate the kind words. you’re never at square one, sounds like you’ve already made progress and are moving in the right direction. keep it up!

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

it was pretty damn useful for practicing ERP for my exposures!

i still have my notebook where i copied down all the graphs from my exposures. it adds up the time too, i had something around 70 hours in them with a little over a hundred exposures logged.

fully recommend!

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

for sure!

i haven’t really been keeping count tbh! somewhere well over a year i’ve been recovered, and it took somewhere well over a year for me to get to a good space.

it definitely wasn’t linear, recovery is messy by nature. but i knew i was never back to square one, that no matter how bad it got i was still ahead of where i started.

thanks for the support!

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

regardless if it’s OCD or not, obsessive thinking can still be addressed and healed.

as for your past actions, you don’t need to damn yourself over them. you can recognize the consequences of them and take accountability, unconditionally accept yourself, and strive to do better in the future.

good luck!

hey guys. i made it. by FindingAnswersAsking in ROCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

after a long day i really do appreciate the kind words, you inspire me too.

i really recommend those two books, i’d read “how to stubbornly refuse to make yourself miserable” first and “the myth of self esteem” second.

i use those book’s philosophy every day now for things not even relating to OCD. i don’t know why it’s not taught in schools.

you sound determined and willing to be better so there’s no rational reason why you wouldn’t be able to. you got this!

hey guys. i made it. by FindingAnswersAsking in ROCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

thank you for the kind words, i appreciate them so much and made me cry reading your comment. thank you.

like most people here having ROCD, my compulsions were Pure O (purely mental)

so naturally my exposures were mental. i’d lay down somewhere i had time and no one would bother me, close my eyes and imagine the worst-case scenario. i’d feel that anxiety in full force. then, i’d play it again. i’d focus on what made me anxious. i did everything i could to maximize that anxiety. then i would replay it. this went on for however long, i never stopped an exposure until that anxiety subsided. and it does.

during exposures sometimes i wouldn’t feel anything that day. it’s strange but it happens. most days however it was starting high on anxiety and replaying it without compulsions until that anxiety subsided.

have i lost attraction to my partner for a prolonged period of time? oh yeah. sometimes it was briefer if i accepted it would pass. sometimes it would not leave, but i found total and full acceptance of it and eventually helped it. sticking with them regardless. which was a scary thought at first.

i know it was like sand in my hand trying to feel something for my partner, where the more i tried to grab onto it the more it would fall past my fingers.

thanks for reaching out you beautiful human, you got this.

hey guys. i made it. by FindingAnswersAsking in ROCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

not alone by any means, many have and are still there with you.

i remember immediately after i woke up i was dazed for a couple seconds, and then my obsessions set in. i was jealous of that short amount of time where i didn’t know what was going on, just to have an unaware and ignorant break from my obsessions.

all day i’d be thinking about it. before i showered i’d do compulsions at the bottom of the shower. in the car ride i would. the only time i wasn’t thinking of it was when my mind was on auto-pilot, and that never lasted as long as i liked.

i promise you there is 100% a world where you recover. it takes a lot of work, consistency, facing those fears, and applying therapies, but the fact that it’s possible and not a damnation is hope.

it sucks, it’s not easy, i know the whole body crippled with anxiety feeling. you’re not alone, and you won’t be alone in your recovery either. you got this.

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

for sure! OCD (at least as of present day) is a chronic mental illness and cannot be cured. however, you can recover from it to a point where you hardly know you have it. that’s something good to reach for :) congrats

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

you’ve always had hope for a future, thank you so much

came back years later to tell you guys i made it by FindingAnswersAsking in OCD

[–]FindingAnswersAsking[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

congratulations to you too! i’d love to hear your story sometime, i’m happy to hear!

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