I resonate deeply with what you've written here. I admire your courage and am grateful for your generosity in sharing what you have shared here. I have found that affirming to myself the worst thing about myself I could possibly bring myself to acknowledge (i.e. that I am fundamentally selfish) has been powerfully healing. I did not have a clever name of "anti-affirmation" for this maneuver, though. Thank you for providing one! I found great healing in reading a memoir by someone who has struggled mightily with scrupulosity, a moral subvariant of OCD. It's titled _Sin Bravely_ and it's by Maggie Rowe. Please forgive my mentioning it if you already posted about reading it. I am a new subscriber and have not (yet! 🙂) read all your posts.
Ah! Look up Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)--it's a key part of OCD recovery where you purposely allow yourself to think about those worst fears AND commit to not doing any of your compulsive responses--like rumination, arguing with the fear, reviewing past events to see if it's true.
I haven't heard of that book before, but I'm adding it to my list! It sounds like a great resource!
Thank you, Aly, for the succinct primer on the basics of ERP. You're helping me ease my way into thinking about thinking about (ha ha) doing a search on it. In recent days, since having contact with you, I have several times found myself experimenting with doing my own little self-directed ignoramus's version of ERP. It's scary to abstain from rumination, arguing, reviewing past events--but also seems promising. I can sustain it for, like, maybe five seconds. Five seconds is better than no seconds, though. Thank you for helping me start down this new path. Big, big gratitude to you!
I resonate deeply with what you've written here. I admire your courage and am grateful for your generosity in sharing what you have shared here. I have found that affirming to myself the worst thing about myself I could possibly bring myself to acknowledge (i.e. that I am fundamentally selfish) has been powerfully healing. I did not have a clever name of "anti-affirmation" for this maneuver, though. Thank you for providing one! I found great healing in reading a memoir by someone who has struggled mightily with scrupulosity, a moral subvariant of OCD. It's titled _Sin Bravely_ and it's by Maggie Rowe. Please forgive my mentioning it if you already posted about reading it. I am a new subscriber and have not (yet! 🙂) read all your posts.
Thanks for letting me know the post resonated <3
Ah! Look up Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)--it's a key part of OCD recovery where you purposely allow yourself to think about those worst fears AND commit to not doing any of your compulsive responses--like rumination, arguing with the fear, reviewing past events to see if it's true.
I haven't heard of that book before, but I'm adding it to my list! It sounds like a great resource!
Thank you, Aly, for the succinct primer on the basics of ERP. You're helping me ease my way into thinking about thinking about (ha ha) doing a search on it. In recent days, since having contact with you, I have several times found myself experimenting with doing my own little self-directed ignoramus's version of ERP. It's scary to abstain from rumination, arguing, reviewing past events--but also seems promising. I can sustain it for, like, maybe five seconds. Five seconds is better than no seconds, though. Thank you for helping me start down this new path. Big, big gratitude to you!