Hey friends, here’s a text I just sent my IRL friend explaining the goal of therapy when it comes to decreasing intrusive thoughts. Don’t underestimate the role of a doctor in this process, and medication can be super helpful too. Check out the wiki for more info on why medication is usually important.

“If you already know this then hopefully it doesn’t sound condescending I’m just trying to lay it out in a direct way.

So pure-o themes attack you with things directly contrasting with your actual thoughts, it only works to make you obsess if it’s a topic you feel strongly about. It’s “ego-dystonic” so it’s the opposite of your real feelings.

It can be tempting to push the thoughts down and try to fight them and stuff but it actually doesn’t help in the long run. The point a therapist would try to get you to is a point where the thought doesn’t make you scared, you just get to shrug it off.

Part of that requires self-esteem building (so you have high enough self esteem you aren’t willing to consider you’re something you think is bad),

part of that requires acknowledging whatever the thoughts are distracting you from (for example, if you are afraid you don’t deserve love, ROCD is actually a way to cope with that fear),

and part of that requires willingness to risk being whatever your fear is and trust you’ll come out on the other side. So if your fear is that letting the thoughts happen will turn you into a pedophile, you have to be willing to let the thoughts happen and risk that to learn that that’s not possible.”

What do you think about that text?