I have been only diagnosed with OCD at the moment. I had posted a couple days ago that I am having a really intense OCD theme of Bipolar Disorder right now. Well, after talking to my OCD therapist I am trying to overcome it. I am primarily afraid of going manic. I am worried that I will get really elevated and totally lose control.

Anyway, I am trying to just allow my feelings and thoughts and urges to pass through while I just focus on my school work. The therapist told me that this was a good enough exposure for this theme because the stimulus is already present. I fear my own feelings and keep getting stuck on each feeling and sensation. So she told me that the biggest exposure for me right now is to have those feelings while not actively focusing on them and focusing on something else entirely and not trying to control or track or research the feelings. But this is really really hard. I feel like this exposure is making me lose control.

I have been feeling all kinds of weird feelings and sensations. I felt a really intense sense of thrill while going against the OCD. I feel jittery and kind of elevated and it feels like I will lose control any second now. I feel as if I can fly right out of my body. I have this wild and reckless energy. I feel like I am going Manic as I do the exposure. The thoughts, I can sort of let pass by but these feelings are really intense. I don't know why I am having so many positive thoughts and emotions and feelings when I should be feeling distress during the exposure. It feels like I will be going full blown manic any second.....there is also this sort of pleasurable tingling I am getting throughout my body. It all feels so real. I mean it is real but I wish I knew exactly what was going on in my brain. It really does feel like the beginning of maybe a mild mania.

How does one deal with feelings and sensations increasing during ERP, especially when they feel real? How can I know when I need to really worry?