Did any of you accept without ERP?

[dabro]

I was just wondering if any of you accepted your obsessions without therapy because to me it's seem's as tho the more my obsessions try to flare up I just ignore them is that therapy now I don't know if I've really come to the place where I've accepted my obsessions do to the fact that I practice ignoreing them and when I heard about ERP you go thru this peak of obsessions stress anxiety etc... so am I doing what is to be done when you conquere this fear because some times I get little spikes that temp me to ruminate and all I do is not feed it so is that the healthy approche to helping yourself please any advice.

 

[Jayangel81]

ERP is a type of exposure and response therapy. One way as an example would be like:

If I had blasphemous and intrusive thoughts about Christ every time I saw say a picture of Him. One way of doing it would be purposly taking a "picture" of Him and making yourself look at it.

Basically it is exposing yourself to what you are afraid of it..

And some people will probably not like my oppinion on it either...

While I am not against exposure and response techniques, if a person is not "ready" for this type of exposure, a person can get really messed up even traumatised by it. Like me...

I had certain fears about hell and God and so forth, I ended up watching a movie (full exposure), and well..The exposure from that movie screwed me up so bad...well lets not go there

Dabro what are you afraid of? I mean.. what is your OCD fear? You can PM me if you do not feel comfortable or afraid of triggering someone.

All I am saying, is that our brains are very fragile, exposure and response therapy or Exposure response preventive (ERP) IF used needs to be taken on different levels. This is a very delicate process.

There are some doctors who are against ERP probably for the very reason I just said, we do not know how much we can handle as a patient and if we overdo it, we are going to hurt ourselves more than help ourselves.

Those are my thoughts..

 

[dabro]

okay thank u jay angle that is exactly the answer I was looking for because I don't like talking about my obsessions either do to the fact that it will cause a spike but I noticed if I don't feed it by countering the thought's of something that proves my obsession wrong I go thru a little axiety for a little while and my mind focuses on something else but thank you agian for the response I thought you would be the right one to talk to about this....

 

[keryakos]

Jay is absolutely right some of us are not read y for that and i agree it makes some people worse ..it makes me worse ..each time i try to do this it only feeds the ocd . for me .its like lighting a lighter in a gas filled room ..its not a good idea

i think what the problem stems from is that we often often allow others to determine what is best for us instead of doing our own research , testing the waters a bit trying to find what works for us ..and in spite of what some believe that is not a dangerous thing ,,the dangerous think to do is to allow others to think for you .

Dabro i pray God will lead you to the help that you need .whatever that is .

i

 

[Jayangel81]

I really need to say something though. Exposure and response therapy something like Seajoy talks about it NOT what dabro is speaking about either. This is Exposure Response preventive.(ERP)

I actually want to give you 2 cases where ERP could be performed. Without getting into too much detail, because of possible triggers..

1. I used to have terrible thoughts every time I prayed to God. Every time I tried to get some alone time with Him, I would spike.

I forced myself to pray reguardless of knowing what would happen, because it is a very dangerous and vital part to not engage in communion with God. So reguardless of how painful it was, I did it reguardless, but God was able to sustain me.


2. This one cannot be stressed enough. Reading my bible. I used to get really bad images in my head just by reading it or even looking at it. I cannot stress on how important it is for us to read Gods Word. How vital it is for us to renew our minds with HIS Word.

So I did force myself to do this reguardless of my thoughts. (I actually resorted more to audio lol..)

My point is, we cannot let our thoughts,images,obsessions etc etc keep us from doing important every day things such as these. Even if we spike during them, we just can't. However, we should know our limit.

A person who is having problems reading Gods Word, isnt going to do a 24 hour straight session, but he will build himself up more appropriatly.

And it is important to learn to use the power and authority that Jesus Christ gave us, to set us free from this.

It is wise to ask the Lord to lead you into being set free from this. Keep praying and He will lead you, He already gave us the capability. But many of us do not really understand how to be set free. Let the Holy Spirit lead you, and He will

 

[keryakos]

im confused ...but i still stand by what i said lol

 

[Jayangel81]

im confused ...but i still stand by what i said lol

I just woke up when I wrote this, was I really that confusing?

**note to self** Do not write long posts when just waking up

Back to sleep me thinks

 

[keryakos]

no i think the clarification of terms was needed thats all ... but i still stand by what i said because i was speaking from personal experience about any form of exposure that i have tried ...and the rest is what i firmly believe no one has the market on this stuff lol

But jJimmy that was very irresponsible of you ...YOU'RE GROUNDED ...
jI bet you haven't hear d that in a while LOL

 

[Jayangel81]

no i think the clarification of terms was needed thats all ... but i still stand by what i said because i was speaking from personal experience about any form of exposure that i have tried ...and the rest is what i firmly believe no one has the market on this stuff lol

I was trying to (perhaps in a confusing way ) say that just because we have OCD spikes about certain things, things that are important for example praying and reading the bible should not be avoided simply because it causes us spikes

Maybe that was just a better way of saying it

But jJimmy that was very irresponsible of you ...YOU'RE GROUNDED ...
jI bet you haven't hear d that in a while LOL

You have just have no idea LOL

 

[keryakos]

No Further Questions Youre Honor Lol

 

[keryakos]

No Further Questions Youre Honor Lol

 

[gracealone]

Hi Dabro,
Practicing ignoring your obsessions is a form of ERP so you're doing a good job. You are allowing exposure to the thought, but your response to it is to ignore it rather than to feed it by ruminating.
What has happened to me when I do this is that I can begin to check or examine whether my emotional response to the therapy is the correct one. If I don't have enough of an anxiety response when I ignore the thought I begin to question if this means that I'm really believing in the thought as valid. I can get freaked out that I'm not sufficiently freaked out which leads me right back to my original fear. OCD is really good at getting us to ruminate in one way or another.
I agree with Jay that it's important to work into ERP gradually especially with the really intense obsessions. Also that avoidance or pushing away the thoughts is counter productive.
I treat my OCD obsessions like allergens to my brain. My exposure to them is gradual. I try to get my brain used to them in ever increasing small increments in order to eventually desensitize/extinguish the anxiety response. Too much too soon will cause a bad reaction just like too much too soon in an allergy shot would cause a bad reaction.
Any how... keep up the good work.
God Bless,
Mitzi

I was just wondering if any of you accepted your obsessions without therapy because to me it's seem's as tho the more my obsessions try to flare up I just ignore them is that therapy now I don't know if I've really come to the place where I've accepted my obsessions do to the fact that I practice ignoreing them and when I heard about ERP you go thru this peak of obsessions stress anxiety etc... so am I doing what is to be done when you conquere this fear because some times I get little spikes that temp me to ruminate and all I do is not feed it so is that the healthy approche to helping yourself please any advice.

 

[seajoy]

Hi Dabro,
Practicing ignoring your obsessions is a form of ERP so you're doing a good job. You are allowing exposure to the thought, but your response to it is to ignore it rather than to feed it by ruminating.
What has happened to me when I do this is that I can begin to check or examine whether my emotional response to the therapy is the correct one. If I don't have enough of an anxiety response when I ignore the thought I begin to question if this means that I'm really believing in the thought as valid. I can get freaked out that I'm not sufficiently freaked out which leads me right back to my original fear. OCD is really good at getting us to ruminate in one way or another.
I agree with Jay that it's important to work into ERP gradually especially with the really intense obsessions. Also that avoidance or pushing away the thoughts is counter productive.
I treat my OCD obsessions like allergens to my brain. My exposure to them is gradual. I try to get my brain used to them in ever increasing small increments in order to eventually desensitize/extinguish the anxiety response. Too much too soon will cause a bad reaction just like too much too soon in an allergy shot would cause a bad reaction.
Any how... keep up the good work.
God Bless,
Mitzi

Thanks, Mitzi. Excellent post.

 

[seajoy]

I really need to say something though. Exposure and response therapy something like Seajoy talks about it NOT what dabro is speaking about either. This is Exposure Response preventive.(ERP)

May I ask you to describe what you think I mean about OCD therapy?

 

[seajoy]

I was just wondering if any of you accepted your obsessions without therapy because to me it's seem's as tho the more my obsessions try to flare up I just ignore them is that therapy now I don't know if I've really come to the place where I've accepted my obsessions do to the fact that I practice ignoreing them and when I heard about ERP you go thru this peak of obsessions stress anxiety etc... so am I doing what is to be done when you conquere this fear because some times I get little spikes that temp me to ruminate and all I do is not feed it so is that the healthy approche to helping yourself please any advice.

You are doing a terrific job. You are doing the therapy, you just didn't know it.
God's continued blessings to you.

 

[kaykay9.0]

Hi Dabro,
Practicing ignoring your obsessions is a form of ERP so you're doing a good job. You are allowing exposure to the thought, but your response to it is to ignore it rather than to feed it by ruminating.
What has happened to me when I do this is that I can begin to check or examine whether my emotional response to the therapy is the correct one. If I don't have enough of an anxiety response when I ignore the thought I begin to question if this means that I'm really believing in the thought as valid. I can get freaked out that I'm not sufficiently freaked out which leads me right back to my original fear. OCD is really good at getting us to ruminate in one way or another.
I agree with Jay that it's important to work into ERP gradually especially with the really intense obsessions. Also that avoidance or pushing away the thoughts is counter productive.
I treat my OCD obsessions like allergens to my brain. My exposure to them is gradual. I try to get my brain used to them in ever increasing small increments in order to eventually desensitize/extinguish the anxiety response. Too much too soon will cause a bad reaction just like too much too soon in an allergy shot would cause a bad reaction.
Any how... keep up the good work.
God Bless,
Mitzi

I think that is a perfect analogy about the allergy shots, Mitzi.

 

[Jayangel81]

May I ask you to describe what you think I mean about OCD therapy?

Well from what I read from your posts, part of what you describe as OCD therapy would be acknowledging such thoughts as OCD and just letting such thoughts be in their place. Not countering it with anything else. At least that is what I got from your posts.

But the point being made was there are different "types" of OCD therapy and ERP which is purposly and delibratly exposing yourself to fears, which as I said in my post is not healthy if you overdo it, If you do not know how to do it, in ways a person can handle, it can create trauma. And really create a problem. Letting the thoughts be is fine, but when we do ERP, the person better know what they are doing


Of coarse if I read how you do OCD therapy wrong than I appologise.

 

[seajoy]

Well from what I read from your posts, part of what you describe as OCD therapy would be acknowledging such thoughts as OCD and just letting such thoughts be in their place. Not countering it with anything else. At least that is what I got from your posts.

But the point being made was there are different "types" of OCD therapy and ERP which is purposly and delibratly exposing yourself to fears, which as I said in my post is not healthy if you overdo it, If you do not know how to do it, in ways a person can handle, it can create trauma. And really create a problem. Letting the thoughts be is fine, but when we do ERP, the person better know what they are doing


Of coarse if I read how you do OCD therapy wrong than I appologise.

You mentioned that what dabro was doing (in his first post) was not what seajoy would call therapy. That is not true....I very much think it's therapy, and a wonderful way to start. Mostly, that's all a person can handle at first. Sorry if I misunderstood you on that.

The second thing you mentioned (deliberately exposing oneself to our worst obsessions) is something that I think should only be done with a psychiatrist. They know how much a person can handle. At first, that's not very much. As my psych used to say "slow and steady wins the race."

Again, sorry if I misunderstood.

Like has been said before - "If only we could sit in a room together, we would sure understand each other better."

Carry on.......................

 

[Jayangel81]

No need to appologise at all Seajoy, Words when put in a post can be misleading, I was just stating my thoughts on purposly exposing ourself to fears in a dangerous way.

There are different kinds of exposure and response, In no way am I disagreeing with you. I think things got mixed up and for that I am sorry

Like has been said before - "If only we could sit in a room together, we would sure understand each other better."

One day, when the Lord comes

 

[seajoy]

One day, when the Lord comes

Indeed