Danielle Jhiani describes the lifetime recovery stage for OCD: when intrusive thoughts stop being debilitating and you handle uncertainty without compulsions. She explains how to get there: stop all compulsions, even small sneaky ones, treat ERP as a lifelong habit, stay aware of negative patterns, and ask for help when you need it.
Did you know that you can live a life free of ocd? Stay tuned so you can learn more about what the lifetime recovery stage is and how I got there.
As many of you know, my lifetime goal is to help as many people as possible recover from ocd. I used to wonder if it was even possible. I didn't think that I was going to get there until I was able to achieve it. And then I've seen so many others do it as well. So what is the lifetime recovery stage that my programs teach you how to achieve? Essentially, when you're at that lifetime recovery stage, OCD doesn't bother you anymore. You no longer get intrusive thoughts. You understand how to deal with life's uncertainties, life's imperfections, when stressful situations arise, when somebody in your life isn't acting exactly the way that you want them to, or when you have doubts in your life or relationships. And you're also no longer afraid of OCD coming back. You understand that we can't predict the future, but no longer being afraid of OCD coming back is actually going to help it to not come back, remembering that life is uncertain and imperfect. And when you learn how to respond to these situations in a healthy way, you're no longer going to have a disappropriate amount of anxiety and discomfort with life's regular uncertainties and risks. In the lifetime recovery stage, you are going to feel confident in dealing with life. You are going to feel confident in dealing with your emotions, and you're going to be very confident with all of the things that used to cause you a lot of discomfort. This all comes in learning what's going on in the brain and why you're experiencing so much discomfort right now, learning how to respond differently. And when you take the time to do both of those and you take the time to get yourself to that recovery stage, you will eventually experience all of the things that I just talked about. I've been in the lifetime recovery stage. And you can get there, too. So how do you get there? I mentioned learning what's happening right now and what's keeping you stuck, Stuck. And one of those things is the compulsions. A lot of us know what our compulsions are, but where people make a mistake is that they don't work with somebody that can help them identify every single one of the things that they're doing that's compulsive. Because compulsions are tricky. They're sneaky. A lot of therapists won't teach you what your compulsions are. You're going to learn the top ones. You're going to learn about reassurance seeking and checking in room. You're going to learn about all the big ones. But there are a lot of little ones underneath there that are sneaky compulsions that if you don't understand that they're compulsions, you're going to keep doing them. And if you keep doing them, then you're going to continue to feed the OCD cycle, stay in the OCD cycle, and to some extent, OCD is going to stay a part of your life. We have to stop doing them completely. I used to engage with some of my compulsion just maybe 5% of the time. Most of them were at zero, but there were a few that I was engaging with about 5% of the time. I was experiencing OCD symptoms about 5% of the time. It wasn't until I completely stopped all of them that I was able to no longer experience symptoms of ocd. Now, for those of you that think that it's not possible or that it's going to be too hard, I promise you it's not. You're going to reduce your compulsion by little over time. But where people make the mistake is they either don't get help doing that or they're not specific enough in identifying all of their compulsions and then slowly bringing them all the way to zero. And these are the things that I do in my programs and I help you with in my programs. If you need that support, the next way that you get to that lifetime recovery stage is you look at ERP and the other recovery skills as a way of life. You make them lifetime habits, not just something that you do today and then you quit doing when you feel better. It's no different than our physical health, right? If I eat healthy today and I exercise, I'm going to get results and I'm going to look and feel better. But if I stop doing those things, my body is going to revert back to not looking and being as healthy because I'm not using the skills that need to keep it that way. So mental health, just like physical health, requires regular practice and good healthy habits that you do for the rest of your life. Number three, you are aware. You're aware of when life becomes uncertain or imperfect. You're aware of what your negative coping mechanisms and patterns are and behavioral patterns that take you back into the OCD cycle or anxiety cycles. And if you can be aware and catch those things really early and apply these new skills versus the old coping mechanisms that weren't Helping, you're not going to spiral back down. You're going to keep yourself in that recovery stage because you're aware of your patterns, what works, what doesn't, and you're not letting yourself slide backwards. And lastly, you're willing to get help when you feel stuck or you can't do it on your own. If I was to start struggling with anything in my life, I'm going to try to use the resources and the tools that I have to be able to make that thing better. But if it's not working with what I currently have and know, then I'm going to reach out and find somebody who does know that, that has experienced it, who has accomplished that, so that they can help me get to where I want to be. Because we all need help sometimes. Sometimes we just don't have the knowledge or the tools or the support to get to where we want to be on our own. So we reach out for help. You wouldn't be where you're at today without school or college or parents or friends or all the ways that you have learned how to get where you're at today. So doing it on your own, if it's working, wonderful. Some people can do that, a lot of people can't. So reaching out for help when you need it is going to help you so much. Just remember, ERP always works when it's done properly. I've never seen it not work. So if it's not working for you for some reason, there is a little tweak that you need to figure out how to do in order to get it to work. It's always a really quick solution. You just have to find somebody who can help teach you what you're doing wrong, make that tweak, and it's going to start working for you. So you too can live a life free of ocd. You can get to that lifetime recovery stage. Just where I have. Where there is no ocd, there are no intrusive thoughts, everything is essentially turned back to a normal level, which means you may have a little bit of anxiety from time to time, or you may be uncertain about certain decisions, but you don't stay stuck in those places. You make a decision, you move on. You feel confident, you're able to eliminate anxiety from your life. You no longer get caught back up in those cycles of doubt and needing certainty and needing perfection. And you're happy. You're happy with yourself, you're happy in your life, you're happy in your relationships, and I promise you, you can all get there so if you want help doing this, click on the link in the description of this video. And also please unsubscribe, letting me know that this type of video is helpful for you, and we'll talk to you very soon.
