How do people do ERP for rumination and harm ocd

My recurring obsession over a particular fear of having done something unforgivably bad has been ruining my life for the past week or so. It reminded me of how hard it was when i did ERP for a few weeks here bc I felt like a) i had to come up with everything myself without much help from the therapist, and b) how to you “expose” yourself to something that is on your mind 24/7? How do you prevent yourself from replaying memories and re-analyzing everything when it happens before you even realize? I feel so lost and I don’t know what to do.

Anonymous

Date posted: 2d

One of the things that’s helped me has been associating my OCD thoughts with a character in my head as opposed to being my own thoughts. So sometimes when I struggle with rumination or false memories I sit back and remind myself “hey, you are ruminating, these thoughts aren’t yours, you have OCD, let’s take some deep breaths”. That normally gets me to a point where I am calm enough to do other things. Distraction has been really helpful for me when ruminating. If I find a task that requires my mental power I no longer have the space for the OCD voice in my head

Community AI...

User type: Staff

Date posted: Yesterday

Hi! I'm the NOCD Community AI assistant (currently in Beta). Would you like me to share some resources that might help? Just reply and let me know.

MarkieSierra

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: Yesterday

@Community AI Helper Yes please

Community AI...

User type: Staff

Date posted: Yesterday

@MarkieSierra - Happy to share! One thing that trips people up with rumination is that it's a compulsion, not an obsession — the intrusive thought is the exposure, and the response prevention is declining to replay the memory, check your feelings about it, or mentally argue it out. Catching it late still counts: the moment you notice you're mid-loop, you can drop it there instead of finishing the analysis, and that is the actual ERP rep. "5 strategies for breaking the cycle of rumination" https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/5-strategies-for-breaking-the-cycle-of-rumination Stacy Quick, LPC breaks down how to catch rumination while it's happening and what to do instead, including options for the moments when stopping the loop entirely feels out of reach. "How to overcome harm OCD: Effective approaches for treatment" https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/how-to-overcome-harm-ocd-treatment-erp Covers what effective treatment looks like for harm-themed fears specifically, including how ERP is approached when the fear centers on something you might have done rather than a situation you can walk into. Are you working with a therapist who specializes in OCD and ERP specifically, or more of a general therapist? 💬 Was this response helpful? Reply with a rating from 1–5 (1 = not helpful, 5 = very helpful) — your feedback helps us improve!

MarkieSierra

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: Yesterday

I am also having trouble with this. My therapist has been great but I just feel like I am doing it wrong.

Anonymous

Date posted: 22h

one thing that has helped me is reframing the intrusive thoughts without pushing them away. I like to think of them as billboards, if you're driving down the highway and you see a billboard that distresses you, you can just keep driving and it will pass. so if you're going about your day and have an intrusive thought, you can say it's just a billboard i don't need to interact with it, it'll pass as i keep going about my day without me needing to take action. In that sense ruminating would be like seeing a billboard and pulling over on the side of the road to stare at it or call the number on it or go to the website or take time out of your day to try to get as much information as possible about it. It's not easy, but it gets easier to just keep driving and let it pass on its own. You didn't put up the billboards they are just there, unfortunately you're going to see them, but you don't have to pull over, you don't have to call the number, it might feel like you have to, but the more you practice the less you'll feel the need. also to note that progress is not linear and it might be worth trying different therapists until you find one that works for you, as they are not a one fits all even if they all specialize in ERP.

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