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Tips for Succeeding In Your OCD Therapy


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Hi everyone,

I remember there was a post a little while ago highlighting tips from Fred Penzel (a world expert in OCD) on succeeding in therapy for OCD.

I thought I'd create another post about it as they can be very helpful. All of them are extremely useful, but I found some bits (in bold) that really stuck out and helped me focus during high times of anxiety during exposure therapy when it can be hard to focus and keep straight what will be helpful to making progress in fighting OCD.

22. Never forget that you have OCD. This means that you will not always be able to trust your own reactions or sensations, especially if they seem to be telling you very extreme and negative things. If you are unsure if something is really a symptom, treat it as a symptom. Better to err on the side of doing a bit more exposure than not enough.

23. Remember that in OCD, the problem is not the anxiety -- the problem is the compulsions. If you think anxiety is the problem, you will only do more compulsions to get rid of it (which will only create more anxiety). If you recognize that the compulsions are the problem, stop doing them, and stay with the fearful situation, then the anxiety will eventually subside as you build up tolerance.

I would recommend reading all the tips (you can google "Fred Penzel 25 tips") and see if you can find ones which will be helpful to remember in the moments of anxiety when it's very hard to focus and think clearly.

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23. Remember that in OCD, the problem is not the anxiety -- the problem is the compulsions.

I would suggest the problem is not the compulsions, but it is how we allow our feelings, our emotions to interpret some of the thoughts. That problem leads to higher anxiety and the compulsions. I may be wrong, but I don't think OCD treatment is about treating the compulsions, it is about changing how we deal with the unwanted thoughts.

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Hi Ashley,

I agree with you. I didn't mean to imply that compulsions are the only problem in OCD. I think it's important to do cognitive work so you recognize that the interpretation of the thoughts is being skewed because of our feelings. I meant more to highlight that on the behavioural side, it's important to keep in mind the compulsions are feeding the fire. Personally, it helps to remember this tip because the anxiety instinctively feels like it needs to be dealt with via compulsions. Keeping in mind that anxiety isn't the issue that needs to be dealt with but rather how I respond to it has been helpful.

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The main thing I found helpful was to remember the thoughts do not define OCD. Its the false anxiety and meaning we attach to the thoughts which is the problem.

Accept the thoughts as junk and OCD has nothing x

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