its not impossible to get fully cured. nothing is impossible. but if you dont have the resources to make it happen, then yeah, it's pretty hard to get some where. especially if you dont have a therapist who specializes in ocd, its even harder.
>>��>>I don't know that a gay chat room would be particularly effective for exposure therapy, because the assumption would be that you're there to strike up a romantic relationship. You may be fending people off.
>>��Then again, you'd be in the privacy of your own home. No one is going to come hunt you down. If you can get over the anxiety of being hit on by a gay person other worries would probably seem smaller.
>>��No exposure to what scares you is going to be comfortable. Exposure therapy says that you fight through the anxiety level until it's no longer uncomfortable. Then you move onto something else until nothing fazes you. That's the idea anyway.
>>��A more practical approach might be -- and this isn't an original idea by the way -- to intentionally make a gay friend and allow that friend to introduce you to other folks. You would give no indication that you're "interested" in any of these people unless that's what you really want. I doubt anybody here really does or they wouldn't obsess about being gay -- they'd just go out and do it.
>>��This board is sometimes a little frustrating in that people want to assure each other and pass on encouragement but when it comes to actually doing the work to get better everybody freaks out. There's a difference between talk and action.
>>��Talking with someone will temporarily make you feel better. You may even eventually push the thoughts to the back of your mind but if you don't perform exposure exercises -- even modest ones -- that beast will come back stronger than ever.
>>��I know from experience. Not until I decided not to be afraid of the gay subject did my situation improve. I say improve. I'm not all the way better. Probably never will be. OCD waxes and wanes but really never leaves.
>>��You have to accept it as part of you -- not a flaw or weakness but just part of who you are. And you need to take a closer look at what's scaring you to truly decide just how frightening it is.
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>>��>>��Don't do it. They are filled with aggressive homosexuals out to make the whole world gay.