Question:
I am wondering how treatment for intensive thought OCD relates to a person with fears of having a personality disorder?
More specifically, if the person is afraid that they are a narcissist/manipulative and are going to harm other people psychologically. How could this person approach this? What exposures can one engage in?
Light On Anxiety Answer:
Thanks for your question. While we can’t give specific clinical advice, some ways to play around with the fear of “I am a narcissist” or “I am manipulative” is to engage in exposure and response prevention (ERP) around common compulsions such as reading about these disorders online, reviewing your experiences to assess if you’re only caring about yourself and not caring about other peoples experiences, viewing others reactions to you and obtaining reassurance from other others. In addition when you find your brain scanning and trying to figure out, “am I a narcissist?” you can do an exposure where you tell yourself over and over again “I AM a narcissist… I AM a narcissist” instead of trying to prove to your brain that you are not one. The more you try to prove to yourself you are not a narcissist the more uncertain you will feel, causing you to experience more anxiety.
If you have a similar questions or concern, please schedule a call with Light On Anxiety to explore effective treatment for your anxiety or related conditions.