What is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)?
OCD is a chronic mental health disorder. It consists of two distinct parts: obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are repeated, persistent and unwanted thoughts, urges or images that are intrusive and cause distress, anxiety or disgust. Compulsions are repetitive actions, rituals or routines (either overt or mental) that the individual feels an urge to perform in order to get rid of obsessions and/or reduce distress.
People with OCD often suffer for many years before receiving help. The good news? There is an effective, evidence-based treatment for OCD called Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). ERP is a type of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) specifically designed to treat OCD. If you suffer from OCD, our experienced ERP therapists can help.
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Signs That You Might Benefit from OCD treatment:
- you often feel anxious or on edge
- you feel uncomfortable with uncertainty or doubt
- you have "sticky" intrusive thoughts
- you get stuck in thought loops or rumination
- you have routines, rituals or compulsions that you feel the need to perform
- obsessions and/or compulsions are getting in the way of your daily life
Treatment for OCD
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy works by disrupting the cycle of OCD. In OCD, obsessions trigger feelings of distress. The sufferer attempts to eliminate their distress with compulsions, a behaviour they feel an intense urge to perform. This usually provides temporary relief, but it never lasts for long. Engaging in compulsions reinforces the OCD cycle by sending the signal to your brain that the obsession was important, that something needed to be done to get rid of the thoughts or the anxiety. It teaches your brain over and over again to respond to obsessions with compulsions, even if this is not helpful for you long-term. In fact, this constant cycle of obsessions and compulsions makes OCD worse.
What is Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) Therapy?
Over time, eliminating compulsions from your life will teach your brain that the anxiety from obsessions will dissipate without any intervention from you. You don't need to do anything. When your brain and body learns that important message, intrusive thoughts and obsessions won't feel so important anymore. They won't feel so urgent. You won't feel as intense an urge to do something about them.
If this scares you and sounds totally awful, you're not alone. That's almost everyone's initial response after learning what ERP entails. After completing ERP treatment, you may wish you had done it sooner! It's effective, and taking your life back from OCD is powerful stuff. Treatment is challenging, but so is living with OCD! You deserve to take your life back.
ERP is the gold-standard treatment for OCD, and all of our Grounded Minds therapists are skilled in helping you overcome OCD with this technique. Even if it feels impossible, recovery from OCD is absolutely possible. We see it every day.
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What You Could Expect After Completing OCD treatment:
- once scary intrusive thoughts will feel less important or meaningful
- feelings of anxiety, distress, or disgust don't feel so strong
- less of an urge to complete compulsions
- the things that used to lead to distress and compulsions won't bother you as much or at all
- you'll have more time, energy, and feel calmer
- you will be able to tolerate more uncertainty and doubt
- you'll know exactly how to respond to intrusive thoughts or obsessions when they do occur
- you will be living life according to your values instead of what OCD dictates
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