Hey Pandas, I’m a psychiatrist and often work with patients dealing with anxiety, PTSD, and OCD. In your experience, what methods have been most effective?

I’ve suffered from extreme anxiety and OCD. It’s hard to help someone who isn’t completely in control of their actions. It’s incredibly hard to reason with fear.

I think the most important part of breaking the OCD habit is that the person who is suffering WANTS to take on the challenge to break the cycle. I’ve wanted to get control of my life for a long time, but sometimes the fear is too strong to change, even if you REALLY want to.

I’ve had two bouts of really bad OCD and anxiety, and each time I’ve only been able to get better if I first put my all into it. That being said, the tiniest setbacks in getting better can make it seem impossible and destroy your confidence.

That being said, for a therapist helping a patient with OCD, I found that in-person ERP (exposure, response, prevention) was the most effective for me. It’s hard to do ERP exercises on your own, because it’s either too scary, or you don’t want to put more stress on your body and mind. If you’re doing it with a therapist, it’s a bit more like you don’t have a choice but to do the scary stuff. For me, my anxiety and OCD revolved around germs. When I touched scary things with my therapist, she also didn’t allow me to wash my hands, each time delaying the washing longer. If you can prove to yourself that you will be okay without doing your compulsion, it’ll be much easier to get a grip and continue your recovery.

Hope this helped. And all the best to your patients 🩷 I believe in them

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