Social anxiety ≠ lack of desire to socialize
Panic disorder ≠ wanting to live in a small world
OCD ≠ wanting to live your life according to a rule set
Are you working for your anxiety and/or OCD because it offers the false promise of keeping you safe? It can start with one rule or avoidance and then suddenly years go by and you no longer recognize yourself to the disorder. What happened to the adventure, spontaneity, fun, enjoyment, zest, and all the things that once made you feel fulfilled?! Maybe you still do the things that once made you feel alive but you’re enduring it with so much anxiety, all you can do is think of ways to turn it off. If you’re tired of working for your disorder, this is a good place to be in for treatment.
The reality is, avoidance is driven by fear, not your desires. It’s easy to confuse the two because you start to treat your symptoms as if they are your personality. For example, someone with social anxiety who avoids social situations because of the distress it causes will often label themselves as an introvert to make sense of their actions. Anxiety, panic, and OCD trick people into adopting safety behaviors that are often mistaken for personality traits. These disorders hijack your logic through emotional reasoning, and you believe because you feel this way, it must be true. Meanwhile it doesn’t mean a lack of interest, your nervous system is just setting off a false alarm and it’s misinterpreted.
If your mind has you tired, years of talk therapy haven’t worked, the relationships in your life are strained from it, you’re not living the way you want to, and you’re overall frustrated with the disorder—it might be time to consider ERP (exposure response prevention). Exposure therapy is the gold standard in treating OCD and is highly effective for panic disorder and social anxiety. A Little OCD Treatment Center specializes in the treatment of these disorders using evidence-based treatment methods. It’s an outside of the box facility that has helped many people reclaim their lives and “drop the disorder.” We teach our clients how to sit and live with uncertainty without the safety behaviors. If you’re curious about ERP, are ready to lean into the frustration of the disorder, learn about how the anxious/OCD mind works, and do some brave things with the help of an anxiety disorder specialist, give us a call! We are committed to helping you live the life that aligns with what you value. Do you remember yourself without the disorder? Let’s take the chance to see if you can get there and we will be cheering you on every step of the way!
