#erp therapy

[fangsup-cobrastyle]

I've always had a very hard time being happy and living in the moment. Years and years of therapy and tools haven't helped at all. You know what did? Exposure response prevention (ERP) therapy. I tried being happy today - despite a lot of negative things happening - using the methods I've learned in ERP, and it worked!!! Turns out the other methods haven't been working because they were targeting my anxiety and depression, not my OCD, but my OCD is why a single bad moment can ruin my day.

I can't find it but someone in my OCD memes group made a meme of "Wait, it's all OCD?" "Always has been." And I can't stop thinking about it because I never would have imagined my bad attitude was OCD. I feel like 90% of my psychological problems have actually been OCD this whole time.

Seriously, I know everyone is different and the same methods won't work for everyone, but if you have access to ERP for your OCD, you should at least try it. It's been like a miracle for me. It's giving me a life I never thought was possible before.

#not sponsored but i will sponsor nocd anytime they want #erp #erp therapy #exposure response prevention #actually ocd #ocd #obsessive compulsive disorder

[exclusivelyhomosexual]

That moment when your therapist introduces a new treatment modality you’re gonna try with an acronym that makes it sound like you’ll be getting an electric shock through the head that is going to fix your entire brain,

but then you find out you’re literally just gonna be feeling the feelings and remembering the remembories that you spend every day trying to NOT feel or remember

#like I know it does actually work #(hopefully) #but that doesn’t mean I have to like it #why the fancy names #just name it what it is ‘another way to feel and remember exactly what you don’t want to feel or remember’ #please just zap my brain #erp #erp therapy #exposure response prevention #ocd #living with ocd #actually ocd #ocd brain #emdr #emdr therapy #therapy #mental health #struggling mentally #mentally tired #mental illness #neurodivergent

[beauty-grace-outer-space]

This is a very specific request, but does anyone have any information about ERP Therapy for Pure OCD?

I don't fully understand how it's supposed to work given that there aren't physical compulsions...

#ERP #erp therapy #OCD #Pure OCD #mental health

[queercatcave]

Most therapists: I had my client identify their emotions and decide on a coping skill to practice this week.

Exposure therapists: I had my client cover themself in dirt and threaten to hurt me.

#I did have to threaten people in erp #truly the Wild West of therapy #exposure therapy #exposure response prevention #ocd

[tacit-semantics]

It’s 3am which means it’s finally time. Dirk OCD posting under the cut. cw for in depth descriptions of compulsive behaviors regarding scrupulosity (moral), violent intrusive thoughts (alluded to, non-graphic), and contamination, as well as mentions of self harm. If you’re prone to picking up obsessions or compulsions through reading about them, I would suggest skipping out on this one

So first of all I wanna say that this is not intended to function as a set of assumptions/inferences that point towards dirk having ocd in canon so much as a set of ways in I, as a person with ocd, saw myself in him. It’s a very… enthusiastic headcanon of mine though so this switches back and forth between long winded babbling and then its canon inspiration depending on how excited I am at any given moment. Also, disclaimer: ocd can manifest in a whole bunch of ways, and a lot of them are super specific to the person in question, which is to say that I’ll be drawing a lot (but not entirely, on account of the fact that there’s very much a limit as to what I’m willing to discuss regarding me specifically) from personal experience for the sole reason that that’s how I best understand the disorder. Now, getting into it!

- first things first: he’s got scrupulosity obsessions, I think, specifically moral. Very, very afraid of hurting the people close to him, which in turn manifests as a sort of hypervigilance in everything he says and does. I think that in this context the knowledge of Bro would be equally devastating and necessary in that he’s concrete proof of the worst case scenario, and acceptance of that possibility is necessary to overcome ocd, but also like. I don’t think theres much in the way of mental health accommodations on post apocalyptic earth (much the same as current earth actually), so in practice this would just be Bad.

- speaking of hypervigilance: his attention always being split between his physical body and his dream self reminded me a lot of how a solid chunk of my brains processing power is always devoted to various bullshit, even if the rest of me’s working on autopilot. I also think he’d be the sort to assume that not anticipating a threat to his loved ones counts as a failure, so he’s always on guard/trying to stop things before they start/jumping at shadows, effectually. For me this manifested as a contamination fear but I don’t think that would track here I think he’d be more along the lines of trying to predict his loved one’s actions and putting out imaginary/preemptive fires accordingly

- this would also work well with his fear of manipulation I think. Like he’s so worried about his actions being controlling that he tries to prod at THEIR actions to ‘protect’ them from him which ends up as a sort of bizarre self fulfilling prophecy

-information hoarder. He’s taken the tests, he’s read the articles, he knows what’s wrong with him (he thinks) but also doesn’t want to use it as an excuse (he thinks) and also gets thrown into spirals when his actions don’t match up exactly with the information he’s gathered. I also think it would be fun to try and puzzle out mental health bullshit through the juggalo-internet. Not fun for him, but for me thinking about it

-hal is basically an extended study in rumination. Dirk needs definitive proof of himself and his motives, and well. Hal is not that, but I can see how he might have been intended to serve that function

-reassurance seeker but like in the way where he continually asserts to other people that he’s bad. In his mind this functions as a warning so that they know to be on guard around him. He worries about this being a sort of manipulation too, of course. Nothings ever easy.

-this gets more difficult when he goes from living alone and isolated to living with other people, I think, because now there’s an added layer of ways he has to worry about hurting them.

-if you didn’t know, a super common way for ocd to manifest is (unwanted and frightening) intrusive thoughts about hurting others in one way or another. I think it’d make sense for him to develop obsessions like these once he starts sharing physical space with other people. Like meals and the like he’ll just be sitting there zoned the fuck out because he’s monitoring every single urge and thought he has so he can ‘restrain’ as necessary

-also think he’d still be Constantly Aware of Everything, Always, even when he’s no longer splitting his consciousness in the literal sense. The thought process might start with something like noticing a chair is slightly wobbly and immediately having to fix it because otherwise it might fall, and if it falls when another person sits in it it’ll be his fault because he knew it was wobbly and didn’t do anything to fix it, and then he applies that thought process elsewhere and it escalates

-the thing is is that all this escalation happens pretty quickly because it’s a very intense set of feelings that you’re sitting with 24/7 so like cut to a month later and he’s pushing cups of water to the center of counters because otherwise they might spill and someone’ll slip and it’s HIS job to make sure they don’t, he’s repeatedly checking food over to make sure nothing’s wrong with it, he’s mapping everything he’s touched in the past week to see if he’s done anything bad or wrong, etc etc. these just keep getting increasingly more disconnected and bizarre like shit gets weird and frankly it might not even register for him that what he’s doing is irregular like from the inside things can seem as reasonable as they’re not

-that said, once you take that hyperawareness and ramp it up in reference to like everything, you realize that it just… isn’t sustainable, which means that at some point he inevitably‘fails’ and that goes as well as you think it does. Like on a good day he dismisses an ambiguous dot on a piece of bread as an obsessive quirk (maybe because he’s tired from other compulsion sets or something it happens) and then two days later someone accidentally eats a bit of bread before realizing there’s mold on it and well now dirk can’t get up from bed for the next three days sorry

-I think there’s a lot of really interesting things to say in terms of control here too. It’s all a bit ironic of course, as in something out of your control making you feel in control even if just for a second, fear of imposition taking a turn into imposition with a different motive, the distance between motive and action for that matter. I am getting off track.

-also dirk strikes me as the sort to have a comprehensive list (either written or mental) of every bad and ‘bad’ thing he’s done, ever. Regularly combs through his memories to see if he can think of others, and considers them obsessively both within and outside of context

-also just. That one convo he has where he’s talking about drowning in himself. I love that one

-physically, think he might scratch himself during panic attacks. Lot of self harm urges (head banging, eye trauma) but those don’t bother him nearly as much as his fears of hurting others. He’s unsocialized as fuck, and I think that as such he might not necessarily realize that he processes distress and anxiety in harmful/irregular ways

-I also wouldn’t be surprised if there was like this super noticeable gap between how he perceives himself and how other people perceive him too that’s pretty common. I don’t think he would have a fear of people finding out that he’s ‘bad’ by his standards though for the sole purpose that he assumes they already know

-Anyways from there it’s just like a various grab bag of related bullshit/uncategorized neuroses and obsession/compulsion sets. I think he has trich and maybe dermatillomania too. Autistic, definitely. Probably some other stuff. Comorbidity king. Sometimes he has to finish a compulsion set to sit down but he just finished a different one and is too tired to start again so he just stands on his phone for an hour. Has weird stress dreams. Bites his nails.

-all in all, ocd tends to latch on the things you care about- hence why so many intrusive thoughts are so ego dystonic, hence the fixation. Dirk, in canon and in this spiel here, loves the people he loves very much and just does not want to see them hurt and- unfortunately- sees himself as a threat thus. Well all of this.

-this concludes OCD dirk hour. If you have anything to add, please feel free! But also please be respectful about it, especially considering the subject matter.

EDIT: wrote a sequel to this, found here. It's not as put together as this one, but it's definitely a thing that exists

#let’s get INTO it #gotta produce content for an audience of me myself and I #seriously though dirk lends himself well to natural extremes which means he also lends himself well to UNnatural extremes #extremes is what I’m getting at the boy has no chill at all #dirk strider #homestuck #headcanons #tacit rambles #unsanitary #ocd headcanons #granted I do often wonder how they would go about like. dealing with this post canon. like they’re all what 15 what are they gonna do #therapy of choice for ocd is erp and that’s like you need a specialist right so what then. what do you do #I’m an unfortunate optimist in the ‘where there’s a will there’s a way’ sort of way but even I’m coming up short #well severity does tend to fluctuate but like it’s so so pervasive and frankly an absolutely ridiculous way to live #so like ????? #food mention #ocd dirk

[sydmarch]

might have a mutual breakup with my therapist tomorrow sigh

#its so hard to find good ones & i like her & shes helped me a lot but i think its run its course #like for the most part theres been 3 main issues we work on and 1 im now on adderall for 2 im seeing an ocd specialist for and 3 we continue #hitting a wall with even after going at it from different angles & even during last week she said she might just not be the person to help #w it bcus its not something shes an expert on & all week ive been wondering if theres anything else i actually need therapy for and not #really. so maybe thatll be it unless i find i need the extra support while going through erp outside of those sessions but otherwise #ill probably just find someone new to work with after that months long process has been tackled #agh!!!! so annoying i wish she could just help me it sucks to have to search & rebuild that relationship esp when id be looking for #something fairly specific #texticles

[petrichor-moss-and-lightning]

being neurodivergent and constantly being surrounded by other neurodivergents is such a vibe. like,,,

*different and conflicting forms of stimming* "can you PLEASE stop pacing for one moment?? i'm trying to hear this song i've had on repeat for an hour and you keep distracting me"

"where the FUCK are my keys?!?!?" *30 minute group search*

"that's your masking smile. what's wrong??"

*floor time*

*body mirroring/doubling as the only way of getting anything done*

"let me infodump about the Peruvian Nazca Lines!" "okay, but then you have to let me talk about Korean phonetics."

*abandoned hyperfixations as far as the eye can see*

"i'm in hell" "you can do this. just try not to tap your foot. it's called exposure and response therapy for a reason! it's going to be uncomfortable." "i'm going to scream"

#i'm not even kidding all of us are neurospicy #i don't think i have one singular nt friend #i didn't intend it to happen that way. it's just that we sort of all clumped together and then we were all late diagnosed lmao #adhd #ocd #autism #actually adhd #actually autism #actually ocd #neurodivergent #we do not romanticize neurodivergencies in this household. this is not meant to glamourize any of our disorders #if u romanticize mental illness or neurodivergency i will steal all your bones #erp is evil i hate it so much #just kidding -- erp and other forms of cognitive behavioural therapy are all extremely valuable #it's just that i hate them and i want to cry

[freakinhorse123]

my ocd brain, upon hearing the lyric ‘you don’t have to believe every single though that runs through your head just ’cause it sounds like you talking’

#that entire song sounds like an ocd therapy session it’s brilliant #i adore it #like ‘sometimes all you can do is tuck your demons into bed because they’re not worth fighting’ holy SHIT thats like half of ocd ero #sorry erp #like oh my god #its an ocd song ive claimed it now #the crane wives

[narutosfrogwallet]

nothing makes me feel like more of a badass than being able to recognize when my body is starting to have physical anxiety symptoms and instead of letting my brain spiral and go into a panic attack, i can just sit with that anxiety and let it be there instead of trying to make it go away (which always makes it worse)

#personal #walking around a hot antique mall with no airflow is a recipe for an anxiety attack for me #but i did it without spiralling! #and even had fun! #thank you therapy! #erp works!!

[fangsup-cobrastyle]

When your therapist is helping you through your real event OCD but also acknowledges that you might have legit trauma from the event and it's not just your brain making it up

#ocd #actually ocd #trauma mention #erp therapy

[e77y]

Sometimes cooking in a 90 degree car is good for the soul (it’s not) (I’m just trying to save gas bc I wanted to sit in my car instead of the library)

#I would’ve just stayed inside #but I was scared that I lost my headphones so I had to go out to my car and check #good news: they were in my car! #bad news: got a bad grade in ERP 😔 #<- joking. I’m not in therapy 😝😜😛😋😚😎🤓 #SOON. #okay ​I’ve been saying ‘soon’ for like 4 years #but fr #I was putting off scheduling a psych appointment until after all my breast ultrasound stuff was done #and now it’s been like a month or two and I have just totally forgotten about it #until last night when my mom reminded me 😭 #I guess I should schedule an appointment tomorrow… bleh. I hate phone calls I will explode and die #but it’s worth it ig #I’m so nervous ahhh #okay SORRY FOR THE RAMBLE #it’s almost time for me to go anyway so I can turn the car on now. yay. sweet sweet AC #ellyposting

[notabled-noodle]

did an exposure and now I feel like I’m going to be sick. OCD isn’t a joke. it has me feeling physically ill over something honestly so tiny and ridiculous that I would be ashamed to share. hell brain

#tw ocd #ocd #ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhj #tw emetophobia #to be clear I’m kind of self-administering ERP. I started ERP with a therapist and then stopped going so I’m continuing to do the homework #but without the therapy #it’s the best I’ve got at the moment and it is kind of working so. yeah

[pleuvoire]

it’s funny how the main effective psychological treatment for ocd is “simply don’t do that. just stop.” but the hard part is actually acting on that and weathering the aftermath

#you call it ERP i call it ‘’just dont’’ therapy

[nightwardenminthara]

i received a good grade in therapy consultation and now have therapy scheduled lads

#gonna try act therapy instead of erp #which I think will be more applicable to my brand of ocd anyway

[zappedbyzabka]

Just a notice that you are allowed and encouraged to send fics—even your own-to me if you think I’ll like them or you just want someone to read.

#But you also are not obligated #I just rarely go through ao3 anymore because I’m worried I’ll click on a big no that didn’t tag it #but erp is therapy so heyyyy #but I should go on there again and hope filters work better haha #if you wonder ‘hm this is bottom Johnny but that one bottom johnny page hasnt freaked over it’ yeah I just dont check so i dont know #but doesnt have to be sexy for me to enjoy

[eggwhiteswithspinach]

It's so counterintuitive that often with OCD, the way to tackle these obsession/intrusive thoughts is to tolerate/expose yourself to them and not do the ensuing behavioural compulsion. Like for some people the compulsion makes no sense, but for others the compulsion "neutralizes" the behaviour in their mind, so like it must be so hard to just work around it. Kudos to anyone going through ERP / therapy / exposures with OCD right now because damn, you are GOING through it and still hanging in there.

#OCD #ERP #therapy #54416