I’m looking for an OCD clinic that understands intrusive thoughts instead of treating them like hidden wishes or something I need to analyze endlessly. Mine can feel disturbing and completely against my values, which makes the anxiety worse.
I’ve tried explaining this before and felt brushed off. I’d really like a therapist who uses ERP and knows how to handle pure-O symptoms without giving constant reassurance. If you’ve found a clinic that actually gets this, what made you trust them?
The thing that helped me trust a therapist was asking directly how they treat mental compulsions, not just visible rituals. They could explain that rumination, checking my feelings, and seeking certainty were part of the cycle, and that ERP would involve allowing the thought to be there without analyzing what it “means.”
I also asked whether they’d avoid reassurance while still helping me stay grounded. That answer told me a lot. A clinic that lists ERP is worth checking, but I’d still ask about pure-O specifically before booking.
@Lauren_Harris, asking about mental compulsions before booking is such a useful filter. I once asked a therapist for examples of what ERP would look like when the compulsion was replaying conversations in my head, and their answer told me much more than the clinic’s website did.
The therapist I ended up with helped me label rumination without debating the thought’s content. One concrete thing that helped was writing “mental review” on a note and returning to whatever I was doing, instead of trying to reach a feeling of certainty.