Josh, 29, describes his relationship OCD improving after three exposure-focused sessions. His panic dropped to near zero during the day, intrusive thoughts persist but bother him less, and he emphasizes seeking professional help over relying on videos alone.
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So, Josh, so we've had three sessions together so far. Tell me a little bit about your experience this far in.
And how it's helped with your relationship ocd.
Well, so far it's been a very pleasant experience. Um, I've definitely feel like within the three sessions I've learned a decent amount about the ROC OCD cycle and even, you know, myself a little bit and then also learning, you know, the expo, some of the exposure techniques we've gone over and, you know, we continue to work on. It's been very nice. It's definitely.
I would say when we started I was an extreme panic.
And within the three sessions, you know, I'm down to almost little to zero panic throughout the day.
Definitely still have, you know, thoughts, but I feel like that comes with just the fact that it's still present in my day to day life with something we're still. I'm continuously working on. So that keeps, you know, that process still in the mind, but it's not as empowering or affecting of my day to day life.
Yeah, definitely. It's still early too, so. And it's a process. What did you try before this and how successful was it?
Plus, I did and I mean, I still kind of do therapy once a week with a licensed therapist, but we did more of the CBT therapy style and we worked a lot on like traumas and depression. And for that side of me, like, I've become my. I feel like a much better partner. I communicate much better, but it never really helped the OCD side of things. Like, I would still find myself in downward spirals. I would still find myself stuck ruminating on the relationship itself and putting probably a lot more meaning than it needed to have. Really?
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. And so what have you liked so far in this process? What do you feel like has helped you the most?
I would say definitely in this process the most is just what's helped the most is just a lot of the exposure. Just exposing yourself to the uncertainties of relationships and really just life in general.
You know, you can't. If you sit there and just keep questioning and doubting your relationship, well, of course you're never gonna feel like you in a good relationship anytime. It doesn't matter if it's the partner you're with now or anybody. You gotta be able to retrain your mind to think more positively, be more present in the moments to experience the most those times that you don't really feel connected with your partner. Because as we all know, life is tough and it won't give you a lot of those options, you know, a lot of those chances to feel what your mind is ultimately hooked on feeling. In a sense.
Yeah, definitely.
For the people who maybe haven't reached out to get help yet.
Is it something you feel like people can do on their own by watching videos or joining a group or.
No, no, I tried that.
I've had OCD and anxiety since I was in fifth grade. So I'm 29 now. So you got to think that's 17 to 18 years.
As a little kid, obviously it was much easier to kind of.
Get through because there's so much going on, you're so distracted with friends and school and all this stuff that like. And of course I was on different medication at the time. I was on a lot of. I was on Zoloft, but I was also on Klonopin, which was, I thought was very helpful for my anxiety.
But you know, I was able to stop taking my pills and was off of them for the longest time growing up because it was just as a kid it's much easier. You don't have the.
Life distress, you know, the life stress as you do as you start getting older and it. And if it wasn't for, you know, my girlfriend now and stuff like that, I still might be out there trying to do it myself. But you can't. You're going to get stuck these cycles every time. You're going to keep looking up, watching videos and eventually it's just going to come a compulsion and it's going to strengthen that anxiety.
Yeah, absolutely. Yep. Is there anything.
So tell me what you would want to share with people who might be struggling with either relationship OCD or any other form of OCD that might be thinking about reaching out to me to get help.
I would say do it, do it now.
I feel like the longer people start waiting, the longer it's just going to strengthen the anxiety and you're going to deal with this much longer in your life. And then when it may, you know, and it may go away, you may be able to get a go away and you might be like, oh, I don't need therapy or I don't need counseling or coaching and something's going to happen and it's going to get stronger and it's going to hit you harder. That's just from my experience, you know, as a kid, I got rid of it, but I did it with no.
No real help.
And I'm now, I feel like it's been the most debilitating thing in my life for the last year. I don't. This whole past year, year and a half, is kind of like a giant blur to me.
Yeah.
I more I'm discovering more and more every day, even every week.
How much I'm actually really not seen or missed because I've been trapped in my head.
Yeah. Yeah. So common. And you're right. The longer people wait, the more you're basically doing the same habits, compulsions, staying in those same cycles and.
Reinforcing the ocd. And again, it doesn't mean that if you had OCD for a long time, that you can't get better, because you can't. But. Awesome. We still have more to learn, more to do. But you're doing amazing. And thanks so much for sharing this with everybody.
Absolutely.
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