Stopping rumination-Watching and waiting works for me

[worriedjohn]

My OCD is about rumination and false memory. It is centered around an event many years ago where I have committed a sin or a bad act. Now I have tried many methods to stop myself from ruminating. But which works most for me is just watching the ocd thought and waiting for it to disappear. If I don't interact with it, it just disappear after sometimes. But if I react to it in any way it just stick with me. I think this is somehow similar to mindfullness concept. Mindfulness teaches us to watch the though and make it disappear on its own like a passing vehicle. Also it is described in ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy). But it is being said that mindfulness and act are not first line treatment for OCD. Should I continue to stick with it? Any idea?

[Guest doris]

I think if it's working, you should definitely stick to it.

I think many of us use a variety of tools to deal with OCD. the more tools in your kit, the better....as long as you know how to use them, that is!

[Sodovka]

But it is being said that mindfulness and act are not first line treatment for OCD. Should I continue to stick with it? Any idea?

ACT is not considered a first-line treatment in the U.S. because there is not enough research to show its effectiveness. ERP is older (about 50 years old now) and has been studied extensively so it has become the accepted primary treatment here. So ACT may one day take the place of ERP as the "gold standard" of OCD treatment. For now, we will just have to try different approaches and see what works for us. If you are finding good results with ACT, I recommend you keep using it. I have been finding ACT quite helpful lately myself and I'm a big fan of mindfulness in general.

[taurean]

I have found mindfulness-based CBT brilliant.

It is only the second concept I have come across - after the book "Brainlock" - that explained plausibly why OCD thoughts stick in our mind and don't resolve then pass away.

The aim of what I was taught is to work towards treating the thoughts as benign, so they have no power any more and don't stick around; in OCD the mind seeks to engage with intrusions and tackle the meaning OCD gjves them, in the active "being" part of our brain.

By leaving them be, and switching out of that part of the brain and into a mindful state where we just "be", I was taught that we can break the connection to the thought, and shut off the resultant urge to compulse.

I have found this methodology excellent.

Edited September 2, 2015 by taurean

[worriedjohn]

Actually whenever I try to answer my thought with something ambiguous like "may be it is true, may be false"-it start arguing back. But whenever I just ignore it and don't do anything, it fades after sometime.
I know I should ask these questions to my therapist but unfortunately in my country therapists are not available. I wish I could born in U.S. or U.K. Poor myself.