Treatments for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

wheretheraingetsin · ‎04-08-2013

Hello,

Could anyone please recommend any treatments (ANYTHING!) that they have had good results (or even just marginal improvements) from using?

Any help would be much appreciated 🙂

I should say I am a checker!

geoff · ‎06-08-2013

dear Wheretheraingetsin, hi, can I ask you a few questions before I get back to you, this only helps me so that I can give you an answer.

How long have you had it, and what type of habits/rituals do you do.

Is depression a large part of your condition, I know that anxiety is involved.

Are you married and what age are you, I'm 58 and had OCD for at least 54 years. Geoff.

lzeukial · ‎06-08-2013

Try to identify anything from childhood and adolescence, relationships, life pressures, personality traits or issues around mortality and ageing, that might be causing unconscious painful and threatening feelings. Also identify situations where you are angry or annoyed, but can't express it. Then write an essay about these things. The OCD is a diversion from unconscious emotions.

When the OCD happens, realise that it is an unconscious decision, accept it, and go about your normal activities.

wheretheraingetsin · ‎07-08-2013

Hi Geoff,

Thankyou for replying 🙂

I have had OCD for about 17 years. I think I developed it as a result of alot of instability during my childhood. I have to check doorlocks, electrical outlets etc. I am afraid of leaving things unlocked and/or unsafe. Yes, it can be very depressing as it makes it hard to leave my house and sometimes I run late. I am alot better than what I used to be but there is always room for improvement!

geoff · ‎08-08-2013

dear Izeukial, do you or have you had OCD.

When you say ' realise that it is an unconscious decision, accept it, and go about your normal activities', yes this is true, however it's not as simple as what you say.

I've been trying for 54 years to mentally train myself to stop, I know it's not normal.

It's like a train it has to follow it's tracks,same as OCD, whereas a car can take any route it wants to. Geoff.

lzeukial · ‎08-08-2013

I know what you mean.

They key is accepting the diagnosis. That's what the essay writing is about - becoming comfortable with unconscious threatening and painful emotions, which removes the need for repression. You also need to think a bit about why your unconscious mind might be doing this. There is a lot of resistance to the diagnosis. Once you are past this, the OCD should be much less of a problem.

The exact strategy might vary from case to case. If you are checking the locks, the answer might be to just go about your normal activities, i.e. not resist the checking. In other words, you are accepting the checking, like you would accept a limp, and go about walking, as an analogy. If the purpose of the OCD is to distract, then maybe focusing on it too much is a bad idea, because you are buying into the distraction too much.

To be frank, you should purchase the books that I mentioned, in my opinion.

geoff · ‎09-08-2013

dear Wheretheraingetsin, ' I am alot better than what I used to be', I agree but when someone else says that it brings a point to mind, I wonder because we have had it for so long whether or not there are some habits/rituals which we just take as being natural so we don't classify them as being OCD. Geoff.