Its time for Taboo Tuesday! I am Krista Reed OCD specialist in Wichita, KS and IOCDF advocate here to give you taboo only topics!Let’s continue with this month’s theme: the fear of causing harm to others.Last week I discussed compulsions, - watch/read last weeks’ episode to learn more; today I will be sharing some in vivo (real life) exposures that individuals in treatment may practice doing. These are exposures that are tangible and/or can be done behaviorally.Exposures are typically best when they are valued based; exposures are not here to shock our clients just for shock value, they really are to allow the person to get their live their life!Fear of stabbing someone, maybe a family member?- plan an evening to cook with a family member and chop vegetables near them. Afraid that you might accidently hit someone with your car? Drive in an area with a lot of pedestrians; perhaps that area is area your kids’ school. Fearful of strangling someone? Hug a loved one. The list is endlessThis kind of therapy is NOT called Exposure therapy it is called “Exposure AND Response Prevention therapy. Response prevention means to prevent the response, prevent the compulsion so while performing these exposures, one can use non engagement responses like “maybe”, we’ll see”, “cool story bro” when the OCD comes back saying that something bad might occur. The more you resist this work, this more OCD will persist. So do the exposure, don’t do the compulsion, and lets see what happens!ERP is best when it is under the supervision of an OCD specialist. Check out next week’s Taboo Tuesday and learn about imaginal exposures! Have a gorgeous Tuesday and remember- stigma and shame die where communication and validatation live.
Krista Reed, LSCSW ❤️
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