Hey everyone,
I realized that writing down OCD thoughts can be really helpful. I made up this 'design' of a journal that fit my needs for carrying out ERP for OCD. Hopefully it'll continue to work for me.
So what I did is this:
Day 1 (I write the day down)
Thought 1 (I write the thought number)
CD (I write down the initials of the compulsion. For example, 'CD' stands for 'Close Door'. And you can be more specific, for example, writing the amount of times which you wish to close the door.)
Goal: Day 2 (Set a goal. Say to yourself, I am going to resist this thought until Day 2. If the thought persists until the next day, then write the same thought down in Day 2 and set another goal until Day 3, and so on.)
Thought 2
Thought 3
etc.
(And then)
Day 2
Thought 1
(Write initials of compulsion)
Goal: Day 3 (If you want, you can set the goal to a farther day. But I believe that resisting it for one day is a big success in and of itself, because it really can be energy consuming to resist even if only for a single day.)
Thought 2
Thought 3
etc.
Day 4
And so on.
I'll keep you updated on how it works for me.
Until then, I guess all I can say is that we should stay strong, and carry on.
With love,
Tareq
