Past OCD themes affecting your life

[mindy9898]

sorry for back to back posts. This is sort of related. I currently struggle with only a mild version of “pure O” OCD because of taking lexapro now (I think).

But in the past I’ve had all different sorts of OCD themes: incest, harm, other sexual related ones, and more. Even though they don’t acutely affect me today I still feel like the past themes haunt me — make me still nervous/disgusted about certain interactions with family members, make me uncomfortable sexually — even though these obsessions and mental compulsions don’t completely take over.

[IStillHaveHope]

Hi again

This may have been covered in my last response, but if you feel that your OCD is negatively affecting your day-to-day, it might not hurt to see your doctor and/or ask to see a therapist who specializes in OCD. In my experience OCD is never "cured" it waxes and wains over or life as we experience new things. The therapy and medicine make it more "stable" meaning that there aren't those devastating lows; at least that's been my experience.

Some other people on this site have asserted that the work we do on OCD is like exercise. If we get lax with our coping techniques OCD has a way of worming itself in. That's okay though since all we need to do is start practicing again.

I do hope that helped a bit and that you find the peace you deserve. God bless my friend.

[mindy9898 in reply to IStillHaveHope]

Thanks so much for your replies IStillHaveHope . I really appreciate them I see a therapist now but she doesn't specialize in OCD. Last year I saw a therapist that specialized in OCD but because my OCD is so mild currently I felt like the work she was doing with me was really basic and not actually helping me. To be fair, she didn't use ERP, she believed in ACT and values based treatment .... so maybe doing a little ERP would help me.

[IStillHaveHope in reply to mindy9898]

I'm glad you found them useful

I'm actually seeing a therapist right now who specializes in ACT and I've found it useful. I still do ERP myself when I find my OCD acting up. The idea is easy, but the practice is hard. Initially when I first stared going to therapy, my therapist recommended going through this book:

amazon.com/s?k=the+ocd+work...

It's a work book on OCD and gives you info about the disease and exercises to help manage it. It really helped me develop and understand the logic behind the coping skills. It might be worth mentioning to your therapist.

Good luck on your journey my friend. I hope you find what you're looking for