hi everyone! i hope yâall are having a good day/night. this is gonna be a really long introduction text, with some questions iâd like you to answer at the end if you have the time :).
my partner recommended me this app two months ago, when we found out i have ocd. i installed it right away, but procrastinated even opening it until now, always finding a new excuse, like i do when it comes to anything related to actually fighting âthe voicesâ - as they like to call my ocd thoughts in an attempt to make them lose power.
however, this week has been extremely hard, my partner and i have been constantly fighting for a week now over my ocd, as it keeps ruining the relationship, so here i am.
i mainly struggle with relationship ocd. however, iâve seen most people struggle with wondering if they truly love their partner or if they will fall out of love, while i struggle mostly with an intense fear of being abandoned, that has led me to entirely avoid my partner.
weâve been together for 5 years, on and off since until 5 months ago we were doing long distance, and that was extremely hard. we now live together, yet unless they initiate it and ask me if i want to join them, i avoid everything that has to do with them. i have become fully incapable of starting a conversation, entering a room theyâre in, asking them anything, etc. planning dates and kissing them is unimaginable. itâs gotten to the point where iâm so in my own head that i donât see them at all, hurting them over and over again by not catering to their basic needs. i cross clear boundaries in fear of asking them for something, i disregard their own pains and struggles due to being so focused on my own. i donât listen to what theyâre saying because iâm constantly reading between lines to see how what theyâre saying relates to me and how it means that they donât like me and will leave me. iâve even started falling asleep on the couch because iâm so scared of going to bed and them not wanting me there. i compulsively lie all the time in an attempt to hide my mistakes and compulsions. the list can keep going forever, the fear of abandonment always takes over no matter what, and i always have a âreasonâ (excuse) for it.
theyâve begged me to get help so many times, and at this point i donât think weâre gonna survive this, as i donât think im gonna get better enough to stop hurting them this badly in time. if it wasnât me in this relationship, as their best friend, i wouldâve told them to break up with their partner already, because this is no way to live for them.
i started taking fluvoxamine 50mg two months ago, and im just now starting to see an ERP therapist, weâre gonna come up with an exposure plan next tuesday.
iâm not fully sure what im looking for in this app as i feel like itâs mainly therapy focused, but i could use some advice, on both how to stop listening to the countless excuses ocd keeps coming up with to avoid stopping the compulsions, and to fully commit to ERP for it to be efficient from the start.
and also - how long did it take for you to start noticing actual results with ERP? what are some things you would tell someone thatâs just starting? any advice to do this as efficiently as possible? whatâs something you wouldâve done differently?
and an extra question for those who started off in a similar place to me - what did your exposure plan look like?
i donât really know what to expect (though maybe sitting with that uncertainty is good) and really need this to work.
if you made it to the end - thanks for reading, and you got this! youâre doing amazing <3