Dave is the creator of OCD Life and has been living with OCD for 40 years. He is a freelance writer and author of False Memory OCD: What it is and how to recover from it, The Little Book of OCD and Truth be Told: A journey from the dark side of OCD. He regularly updates OCDLife.ca and has amassed more than 16,000 posts on online forums, helping OCD sufferers struggling with their disorder. He talks privately with sufferers in Peer Support Sessions booked on OCDLife.ca
I appreciate the information you make available on your website. My name is Justin, I have “Real Life” OCD and have been in and out of therapy since I was 25 when I was diagnosed with OCD, I am now 40. My OCD has come and gone through out my life (mostly during the stressful times). I understand OCD, I know and understand my compulsions through my years of therapy but still have a hard time with rumination and asking for reassurance. I was reading one of your posts and you said it took you about 18 months to recover from OCD. Sometimes I feel like I am so set in my ways that I will not be able to overcome this disorder.
I have recently relapsed pretty bad and went on medication about 2 weeks ago. I am having a hard time managing my compulsions (rumination, asking for reassurance, reassurance seeking online). I wanted to see if you have any advice on recovery? Did you have any relapses during your recovery? This is the third relapse I have had and they are very hard to overcome. Any advice would be much appreciated.
My advice right now is you have to push yourself to do more, every day. You can delay doing compulsions a little longer. You can reduce how long you spend doing compulsions. But whatever you do in that regard yesterday, you have to do a little more today.
It helps a lot to have faith in recovery, too. I know it’s axnxiety provoking to not do compulsions, but you need yo have faith that is temporary. It does get better.
Hi Dave,
I appreciate the information you make available on your website. My name is Justin, I have “Real Life” OCD and have been in and out of therapy since I was 25 when I was diagnosed with OCD, I am now 40. My OCD has come and gone through out my life (mostly during the stressful times). I understand OCD, I know and understand my compulsions through my years of therapy but still have a hard time with rumination and asking for reassurance. I was reading one of your posts and you said it took you about 18 months to recover from OCD. Sometimes I feel like I am so set in my ways that I will not be able to overcome this disorder.
I have recently relapsed pretty bad and went on medication about 2 weeks ago. I am having a hard time managing my compulsions (rumination, asking for reassurance, reassurance seeking online). I wanted to see if you have any advice on recovery? Did you have any relapses during your recovery? This is the third relapse I have had and they are very hard to overcome. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Hi Justin.
My advice right now is you have to push yourself to do more, every day. You can delay doing compulsions a little longer. You can reduce how long you spend doing compulsions. But whatever you do in that regard yesterday, you have to do a little more today.
It helps a lot to have faith in recovery, too. I know it’s axnxiety provoking to not do compulsions, but you need yo have faith that is temporary. It does get better.
Thanks Dave. I appreciate your quick response. I will do my best do with your suggestions.
Regards,
Justin