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Ouija board as therapy.


Guest Tricia

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I have mentioned this briefly on another thread, but am wondering if anyone has ever attempted this for magical/religious obsessions. Personally, it worries me. I am not intending to start a controversial thread about religion. I simply want to know whether anyone has actually used this as therapy and, if so, did it help?

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I should explain my reaction

When I was a child me and some older kids did one in an old monestry ruin alter,we asked if it was a bad spirit and the coin moved yes we then asked is your intention harm,again i t went yes,everybody got there hands flung back but to this day I swear my finger was stuck to the coin,i was the youngest,later in life I went through a serious breakdown where I thought I needed an exorsist,i partly blamed this experiance

Edited by battlethrough
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Gale, mine involve believing (strongly!) that if I say, do (or don't do) certain things, harm will come to a loved one.

I also have a 'thing' about the colour black and, despite wearing it, the fear remains. Every time I put something black on I have a fear someone I love will die. All this is magical thinking, but obviously there are many themes.

Edited by Tricia
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Dont,plain an simple,you dont know what your dealing with

Who on earth suggested this as therapy?

I do fully agree, just wondered if I was overreacting. David Veale and Rob Willson suggest it in their book Overcoming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The book is a good one, but I have to admit that advice horrified me.

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Guest Gale1982

Gale, mine involve believing (strongly!) that if I say, do (or don't do) certain things, harm will come to a loved one.

I also have a 'thing' about the colour black and, despite wearing it, the fear remains. Every time I put something black on I have a fear someone I love will die. All this is magical thinking, but obviously there are many themes.

Thanks, That really does sound horrible though...

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David Veale and Rob Willson suggest it in their book Overcoming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The book is a good one, but I have to admit that advice horrified me.

:eek: ..............can you post the context/paragraph Tricia?

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Can someone give an example of what magical obsessions are and how they play a role in OCD? I've heard them mentioned but don't really understand how they work.

Magical thinking is thinking that if A is done B will happen when there is absolutely no connection between the two.

Everyday non-OCD people are involved in magical thinking to some level. Believing that breaking a mirror brings seven years bad luck is magical thinking. Logically there is no connection between an inaminate object and luck.

With OCD sufferers the connections can be wild and seem bizarre. Usually the magical thinking is associated with something bad happening if a certain act is performed. It can be as simple as believing that harm will come to a loved one if the sufferer wears a certain colour.

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David Veale clearly does not believe in any form of superstition or magical powers and his suggestion is a form of exposure for people who are afraid of evil etc. He also suggests we write the numbers 13 and 666 and watch The Exorcist.

Hal, I will write the paragraph concerned so it's clear what David Veale and Rob Willson are saying.

I haven't got the book handy (will check it later) but here is an excerpt -

‘…if you have thoughts about the devil you might use a ouija board, watch the [sic] The Exorcist, and plaster the number 666 over your walls. Of course, we don’t want to offend anyone’s cultural beliefs; but sometimes when you’re fighting OCD, you have to bring in the big guns.’

Edited by Tricia
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Using a ouija board for therapy is ridiculous. It is in itself a type of magical thinking, believing an inanimate object somehow holds power.

You might as well rub a rock on your head.

I think David Veale would agree with the latter part of your message!

Edited by Tricia
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Please don't - I def don't recommend Ouija as therapy. I haven't used a Ouija board myself but I have experienced similar things and I would say it contributed to the ocd/made it worse.

No, I am not prepared to risk it. My mother and her army friends used one during the war and they said it was more terrifying than German bombs.

One of my daughter's friends is still 'recovering' from using one...

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Tricia - I am relieved to hear that although sorry that others you know have suffered from using them in the past.

I've read through your posts on this thread and it sounds like you are making great strides in fighting the ocd - wearing black and so on.

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Without re-reading the book, which I will do at some point, but depending on the context of what it suggests in the book let’s be clear about this, using a Ouija board for some form of therapy is absolutely ridiculous, it will never appear in the NICE guidelines and it is not mentioned in any other OCD book.

Again I will add the caveat that depending on the context in the book, it is an absolutely silly suggestion (unless of course there is some specific OCD fear related to Ouija boards).

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Ashley, I think it is aimed at people who have an obsession with evil/the devil.

I have never heard/read this advice anywhere else either.

Edited by Tricia
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using a Ouija board for some form of therapy is absolutely ridiculous,

Based only on what's written in this thread and the quote from the book I think it's simply suggested as an exposure, nothing more than that. If you have a fear of contamination, put your hand in the toilet bowl....if you have an obsession about evil, magical powers etc expose yourselves to things associated with evil.

The whole business of Ouija boards per se is a separate issue altogether and peoples opinion will vary dependant upon their belief, just as with religion etc.

So I don't think it's suggested as therapy, just as an example of exposure. If someone does have particular beliefs, change it for something else as he suggested...watch The Exorcist or read a Stephen King novel, anything that makes you uncomfortable or that you'd normally avoid

Caramoole

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I have the book.

Some of the methods in it did not appeal to me - I found the proposals in "Break Free From OCD" more helpful, where there is less of a "flooding" approach, more a tactical and strategy approach, and a weaning away from compulsions by behavioural experiments .

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