Before Overt
After we moved to this new place, I started having terribly gruesome nightmares that would wake me up and developed intrusive thoughts about the images I would dream about. I was deeply disturbed as violence and gore were not ever part of any media or books in my life. I sought after answers since I had only had nightmares occasionally as a child and discovered that it could possibly be OCD which some members of my extended family also suffer from. I saw a counselor for a few months , who was amazing, and he suggested that I do EMDR to start healing from these images and nightmares I had become haunted by. I switched counselors and my new one is incredible and I have had so many breakthroughs with her. I really feel at this time that I need to continue with EMDR to continue processing disturbing memories and healing from the nightmares and intrusive thoughts that have come through OCD.
For over a year I worked full time at a non profit called The Family Place as an Administrative Assistant and Receptionist. One of my main duties was to answer the phones, which rang on average 80-100 times a day. They are a crisis call center so often times the call would be an individual in extreme emotional or physical crisis. I loved this job and was reluctant to leave because of my love for the people and the work. However, I finally realized that answering calls from victims of serious crimes was greatly contributing to the disturbance I was experiencing in my mental health and was becoming detrimental to my progress in EMDR with Skyler. Kind of like two steps forward, one step back.
My current working position does not even cover all of our monthly expenses, this has become increasingly difficult and I can’t continue falling back on our small savings for very much longer. I really hope you will be able to help me, I really feel that I am getting closer to mental healing and a freedom from horrifyingly disturbing thoughts and dreams.
During Overt
During my first session it was very helpful to talk through my current anxieties about giving birth, specifically the few things that my OCD had latched on to. Since the session and being able to process my fears and learn how I can gain a bit more control has helped with the amount of intrusive thoughts I’ve been having.
My latest sessions have been really good. My therapist is so amazing we talked a lot about moving forward from therapy and using the remainder of our time together to build up a solid list of my triggers and coping skills that I can refer back to.
During this most recent session, we were able to pick right back up where we left off with identifying my strengths over the past few months as well as what and how to move forward with OCD recovery. I like that my therapist does not push me too hard with dealing with my intrusive thoughts. She helped me separate me from the thoughts and give me a positive outlook and hope.
I liked most that I was able to completely resolve some false ideas about myself and feel great leaving. My therapist and Overt have been great:).
Post Overt
My symptoms of ocd are gone. I’ve improved in every category and feel much happier and more fulfilled than when I started. I’m quite satisfied with my life now and am hoping to continue to go therapy and become my best self. I have learned to just keep going and persevering is the key to recovery.