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 in vivo exposures, - read last weeks’ blog to learn more; today I will be talking about imaginal exposures.
Imaginals are used when an individual’s obsession cannot be directly exposed in a behavioral or tangible way, whether that is because it is impossible by space and time, it is illegal, or it can work as a stepping stone to assist someone if they are truly stuck on an obsession before performing an in vivo exposure.
These exposures can be done as a written script and/or a spoken story. The whole point of this exposure is to get the deepest darkest OCD fears out and explained in detail with the scary or disgusting outcome.
Obsessions possibly used for exposures might be (and are not limited to): Fear of killing someone, Fear of poisoning someone and them dying as a result, Dropping your child causing them harm, Causing a catastrophe because you did not pray, Suddenly “snap” and commit a mass crime; the primary purpose of an imaginal is for the person to imagine their fear being realized all because the compulsion was not performed. The purpose is not to create a desensitization to the content of the story, but to not allow the story in of itself to not birth a reaction.
You CAN in fact have these thoughts and just allow them to be present without OCD being in the driver’s seat. ERP is best when it is under the supervision of an OCD specialist.
Since next week is the 5th Monday of the month- I will be answering some questions about this month’s theme so feel free to ask away! Have a gorgeous Tuesday and remember- stigma and shame die where communication and validation live.
Questioning my therapist
Is a Core Fear Fueling our OCD or is OCD Undermining our Self-Confidence?
Checking behaviours
Struggling with OCD and Anxiety, I am new here
Logic doesn’t work on OCD
