Is it a good idea to just quit OCD cold turkey? (Merged Topics)

[Ryukil]

Is it a good idea to just quit OCD cold turkey? I think I may do just that...just stop giving into compulsions...say screw it and just ignore it completely.

[helen10937]

I'm trying to do that but it's not working think cbt is the answer

[taurean]

I haven't heard of anyone who has managed to do that. 

 

[Pikachu]

Oh it would be so good if you could do that. I definitely wouldn't have managed it but if it could be done it'd be amazing. But I think realistically as Helen said CBT is probably going to help more. Plus you'd feel so guilty if you relapsed. 

[St Mike]

I would use mindfulness rather than just ignoring thoughts. In my experience it is more effective than just ignoring thoughts.

[snowbear]

In my youth I repeatedly tried going cold turkey on my OCD. The longest I ever lasted was six weeks before it crept back and took over my life again. (Mostly it was a less than a week, sometimes less than 24 hours.)

CBT, changing how you think and behave, is the only long term solution to OCD. And it gives you the tools to stop OCD creeping back.

[Wonderer]

Wouldn't it be amazing if we could just go cold turkey? If we could, I don't reckon it would be a disorder! CBT is definitely the way forward for any kind of long term solution xx

[Ashley]

1 hour ago, Ryukil said:

Is it a good idea to just quit OCD cold turkey? I think I may do just that...just stop giving into compulsions...say screw it and just ignore it completely.

If you can do that, then go for it.....   you will have stumbled on the miracle cure many of us have dreamed of for goodness knows long!

[taurean]

OCD is a clever foe - and of course it works through our own brain - so I consider that, possibly, it knows what we think 

We have had people on here saying " OK tonight's the night I am going to settle that OCD". Then, like a boxer, they state their battlecry

But guess who wins the contest, and usually after only a few rounds? 

Edited June 17, 2017 by taurean

[Ryukil]

What exactly is the difference between CBT and ERP? I mean, quitting compulsions cold turkey is ERP, isn't it? Not that ERP has to be cold turkey...I'm just saying stopping compulsions = ERP, whether you do it gradually or quickly.

In general, I think I keep missing something here. The way to treat OCD is to stop giving into compulsions, right?

[Ashley]

6 minutes ago, Ryukil said:

What exactly is the difference between CBT and ERP? I mean, quitting compulsions cold turkey is ERP, isn't it? Not that ERP has to be cold turkey...I'm just saying stopping compulsions = ERP, whether you do it gradually or quickly.

In general, I think I keep missing something here. The way to treat OCD is to stop giving into compulsions, right?

I really encourage you to spend some time understand how OCD works and about therapy.  I think I have said that in the past, because if we don't understand the basics we can't do the big stuff.

Do you really think you could just quit compulsions?  If you could then you would not be here, you would not have OCD. 

 

8 minutes ago, Ryukil said:

The way to treat OCD is to stop giving into compulsions, right?

As above, you need to understand this stuff if you want to get better.  That sort of thinking suggests that only the C part of OCD, the compulsions are the problem.  In my experience, the O part, the obsessions are the far bigger problem, because they drive the compulsions. 

[PolarBear]

1 hour ago, Ryukil said:

What exactly is the difference between CBT and ERP? I mean, quitting compulsions cold turkey is ERP, isn't it? Not that ERP has to be cold turkey...I'm just saying stopping compulsions = ERP, whether you do it gradually or quickly.

In general, I think I keep missing something here. The way to treat OCD is to stop giving into compulsions, right?

You're not understanding how the key therapies for OCD work. 

CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy,  a combination of cognitive and Behavioral therapies. Cognitive Therapy looks to change the way you think. Behavioral Therapy looks to change the way you behave.

ERP is a type if behavioral therapy. When doing it, sufferers repeatedly expose themselves to their obsessions while practicing not doing compulsions.

To me, there are three key components to recovery: Cognitive Therapy, stopping compulsions and ERP. 

If simply stopping compulsions was successful, that's what we would promote on this forum. We don't. We promote the whole package, CBT.

[Ryukil]

What I mean is...just ignore all my compulsions. Just decide that I'm going to do that and ignore all my compulsions. 

[Ashley]

You have asked this before haven't you? 

Of course, go for it.... but if you think it is that easy I am afraid you are in for a shock. If people could quit OCD cold turkey, this place would be empty because nobody would have OCD. 

 

[Ryukil]

I don't think it will be easy, but what's the alternative? Keep giving into my obsessions? But there, as you see, is my very rigid, black-and-white/all-or-nothing thinking. What would be a better idea? To target certain types of obsessions, or target obsessions one at a time?

[snowbear]

6 minutes ago, Ryukil said:

But there, as you see, is my very rigid, black-and-white/all-or-nothing thinking

Yep. The all-or-nothing thinkers (I used to be one) hold themselves back from recovery by imagining recovery is possible in a single cold turkey episode. Or they wait for the 'ideal' circumstances to begin and of course the ideal moment never comes, or they expect to do a bit of CBT and start feeling better about the things which trouble them without having to change the way they think about those things.

The good news is that through cognitive therapy you can adopt a more flexible approach to thinking. Instead of thinking about 'the day when I give it all up' you accept you'll go through a grey stage where some things are fixed and some trickier obsessions still linger. 

I don't think it's helpful to target one obsession at a time as OCD just shifts to some new obsession. But if you can identify patterns in your behaviour (this happens and I typically respond by thinking that) then you can challenge the typical response and so begin to change the way you think and respond.

[worriedjohn]

I think targeting cold turkey is good thing. Your target should be quitting compulsion all together. Although it may not be possible, you will fail and slip into compulsions few times. But every-time take a goal that "this is the last time I am doing compulsion and never again". By this time start working on your cognitive side and begin ERP with a good therapist to make it successful.

Your goal should be strict. Like addiction to drugs.

[Taffy]

I think at best you can stop the compulsions briefly through sheer exhaustion in my experience but it's amazing how BDD/OCD can always find you that extra bit of energy!

Better than any energy drink you will ever buy.

[Horsey]

On 17/06/2017 at 23:07, Ashley said:

 

 

As above, you need to understand this stuff if you want to get better.  That sort of thinking suggests that only the C part of OCD, the compulsions are the problem.  In my experience, the O part, the obsessions are the far bigger problem, because they drive the compulsions. 

^^^^this. The obsessions are awful. I am just starting my journey. I'm still fairly blurred as to what is an issue and what is not. And OCD feels like a toxic friend that you can't live without it. I'm worried I'll miss it. That I won't be me anymore. I won't have my magical thinking. But i also hate it so much I just want to be rid of its ridiculousness. If I could flick a switch I would. But I can't.

[efes]

To an extent, I'm addicted to OCD thoughts or something, and that's why ignoring them feels fake. 

[efes]

Like, it feels numbing to ignore my thoughts.