I’m Sam, a 20 year old from the UK. I’m sharing this today to give OCD sufferers hope, especially sufferers similar to me and my age, and to highlight there is a way out of the vicious cycle of OCD that you probably find yourself in now reading this post. Mine was predominantly POCD and Real Event/False Memory OCD.

Roll it back to late 2018. OCD had such a firm grip on me. I had nowhere to turn, I was at crisis point. Amazingly, I still managed to go to work even through this, however it was negatively effecting everything of my daily life – ranging from socialising, going to sporting events, my relationship with loved ones and so on. At this point I had no hope, just dragging myself out of bed, going to work, and crashing back to bed as I had nothing left to give – the mental torture in my brain was battering me.

OCD has no limits, it’ll beat you when you’re down, but let me highlight this, only if you let it. You might be unable to see what I mean by that but let me explain. It’s down to you, no one else. Rob, other therapists, family members, books, fellow OCD sufferers can guide you, but only you can recover yourself.

Through regular work and sessions with Rob and trusting the process is crucial. Keeping in touch and going over things that you’re struggling with. Also, the group chat with fellow OCD sufferers was a real game changer for me. You’re not alone, others are going through this with you. When you’re at rock bottom, nothing else to give, pull yourself out of bed, please, your future yourself is thanking you. Every difficult day you get through, where it feels you can’t do this another second, is an achievement. Something to be proud of, and like I’ve said previously, your future self is cheering you on, begging you to not give up and get through this.

Let me go into some more detail with what worked for me, and what I hope can work for you (if you put the work in).

First thing, stop all avoidance. Feel that discomfort, feel that confusion. Uncomfortable maybe so, but get through it. Do all you can. Your future self is very grateful, you just can’t see it yet. Freedom awaits.

Exposures worked well for me. Showing your brain, and not just telling it, that whatever you’re fearing isn’t scary in reality, it’s only our perception and thinking making it so. Exposures alone won’t recover you – don’t get me wrong they are crucial in the recovery process, but as will go onto in my next point, it’s the underlying belief and irrational thinking largely causing the suffering. Getting under that by disputing and challenging the belief is where recovery begins. Back to exposures, don’t bottle out of them, face them and do them with the mindset that your life depends on them. Trust the process. Freedom awaits.

Most importantly and the real game changer for me was adopting unconditional acceptance – this is self-acceptance, life-acceptance, and other-acceptance. Accepting yourself, others and life itself no matter what. Liking and disliking acts, events, deeds, performances etc. but never rating yourself, never rating you. For me, I’d be still stuck in the same 0CD loop if continued to rate people, myself and life. With the help of Rob, Albert Ellis, Paul Hauck, Paul David, just to name a few, you can truly get to a point where you can accept yourself no matter what.

Let me explain why this is so crucial, OCD breeds on what we fear, yet if we take out all fear and knowing and firmly believing that we could accept ourselves no matter what, OCD fades, it has nothing to latch on to. It has a tantrum and then will gradually loosen its firm grip. Freedom awaits.

Cut out all compulsions, each compulsion you engage in, OCD holds a firmer grip. Do all you can. Don’t beat yourself up if you do perform a compulsion though, it’s not the end of the world, life goes on and you pick yourself up and go again. Freedom awaits.

Bringing it for the ride. No matter how you feel, what sensation is running through your body, do what you had planned. Do it. Get on with it. Don’t let anxiety or depression keep you from achieving your goals. It’s done enough of that. Bring it for the ride, no matter how uncomfortable. Your future self is thanking you. Freedom awaits.

Disputing and challenging irrational beliefs. It took me a while to get to grips with this. That’s fine. There’s no rush nor urgency to nail it first time. But can’t stress enough, put the work in now, don’t wait until tomorrow or when you’re ready because ‘ready’ will probably never come. OCD wants to keep you in that same cycle whilst you feeding it with all the bad habits it drags you into. You may ask what do I mean by disputing and challenging irrational beliefs? Read the books, especially How to Stubbornly Refuse to Make Yourself Miserable by Albert Ellis. This is a great starter for this. After reading that book, you will more than likely come across many shoulds, musts, and “I can’t stand that” etc. in your thinking. Dispute and challenge them vigorously, follow the guidelines in that book. This takes plenty of work and practice. But can’t stress enough how crucial this is, if you change your thinking, you change your life. It’s as simple as that.

As l’ve said before, OCD feeds off irrational thinking, it thrives on it. Change your thinking, OCD has nowhere to turn. Go at this the same energy OCD goes at you. Committed and dedicated. Freedom awaits. Enjoy life now. I wake up and look forward to facing the day. I have OCD. It doesn’t just disappear, but when you change your thinking, it has nothing to latch to. I have written this to give people hope. Don’t ever hesitate to drop me a message if you’re struggling.

Put in the work and freedom awaits. You’ve got this. Work now, and your future self that I mention will become closer and close. Take care.