medicine vs erp

[Granolawaffles]

If you are doing/have done both, which made the most difference in your ocd symptoms—medication or ERP?

[Littleducky5]

Definitely ERP. Medicine might lessen the anxiety but ERP gave me the tools I needed to actually stop the thoughts from happening altogether. Wish I would have done it 20 years ago

[joleb]

Hello there,

I have been doing ERP for over a year. It works to reduce the anxiety. Medication has definitely helped me .I started it almost 2 months ago. It reduces the thoughts significantly!

[madame-souris]

Medication. Definitely. Without it I couldn't use any of the coping tools I've collected over the years to control my OCD further. Without meds, I'd still be where I was 20 years ago.

[MothFir]

Probably ERP (including learning how to not ruminate, and to break the OCD cycle). However I do believe that meds (fluoxetine in my case) have made the ERP and cognitive techniques a lot more doable. I think meds and ERP are both essential for a lot of us.

[aparente001]

In watching my son's experiences, I would say that the medications helped in the short term more than the ERP, but in the long term, the ERP helped more. Every two weeks, his therapist gave him a different assignment to work on at home. After about a year he started working on his specific phobia. About a year later, he didn't have the specific phobia any more. I don't know if others' ERP therapy goes as slowly as my son's. But he was a preteen and teen, and the pace we adopted was just right for him.

[Sallyskins]

It doesn't have to be either-or - it can be both! Medication certainly damps down the OCD, and makes it less of a challenge. But it isn't enough on its own, usually - CBT in the form of ERP is necessary to really make a difference.

Having said that, ERP is difficult, and medication makes it much easier to do. So it's best to go with both if you can.

[Granolawaffles]

Thank you so much, everyone! Your replies are so helpful!