4 Steps

[Gerard]

Just letting you all know that I am embarking on my first real, persistent and sustained effort to work the 4 steps!

I will keep you posted.

Huge love and support,

Gx.

[Guest Recoveryyy]

Just wondering if you could tell me what the four steps are?

[taurean]

Step 1 identify the issue as OCD intrusions.

Step 2 reattribute the thoughts images urges feelings to OCD as the perpetrator and that they are not your thoughts and say nothing about you as a person.

Step 3 leave them alone now (except if you are carrying out an ERP (exposure and response prdvention) exercise.

Step 4 revalue. If the OCD had turned one of your core values on its head, remind yourself you are not bad and your true core values remain. OCD is a lier and a purveyor of malicious untruths.

And there you have it.

Roy xx

[Guest Recoveryyy]

Thank you. Would you say that these steps help to reduce OCD? I keep trying not to do compulsions and to let the thoughts come and go, but my mind keeps thinking about it. Letting the thoughts go and trying to ignore the thoughts reduces anxiety but the thoughts are still there and they make me feel like a bad person.

[taurean]

When you get good at applying the four steps you may find it easier to refocus away and detach from the thoughts.

Let the thoughts be there, don't pay any attention to them - they are mental dross, and it's only the meaning being given to the thoughts by OCD that - if you buy into it - will make you feel bad.

So don't buy into it - observe the thought - but note it is OCD and not your thought, and don't listen to the false meaning being given to it.

Leave it in the background and eventually it will lose its power and fade away. It will "die of apathy!!!".

[Guest Recoveryyy]

I am trying to do that but I think that if I don't have any anxiety, but still have the thought, that I somehow approve of it. At the same time, if I have anxiety, it still makes me think that I approve of it. I keep reading that this is what we have to do to improve though, so I know that it must be part of the process.

[Gerard]

Thank you all so much for your wonderful responses and support. It's early days for me in this process and I don't think I'm getting much beyond the "Relabelling" stage at the moment. But I think that, already, I am starting to feel the benefit.

Gonna stick with this.

You're all so wonderful. You're my mental health angels.

Night night,

Gx.

[OCDCanuck]

Stick with it!! The refocusing step is difficult but gets easier over time. Also make sure you aren't checking for those thoughts during times where you're feeling better.

[Handy]

They are from the book, Brain lock. About $10 on Amazon for a Kindle. The boom sets some rules on how you can deal with ocd.

[Andrea]

Hi Gerard,

If you are reading Brain Lock book :book: ... the following video is really helpful to have a better understanding of the 4 steps:

An introductory overview of the Four Steps treatment method for OCD by Dr Jeffrey Schwartz

http://www.ocduk.org/four-steps-video

big hug, Andrea

[Gerard]

Hi Andrea,

Thanks for that. I've just watched it and it was excellent.

Huge love,

Gx.