Hello everyone.

[Guest Starlord127]

I just joined this site today and thought I'd introduce myself.

I'm a 39 year old in Hampshire who has been suffering from pretty bad OCD for about 8 years now. I only had mild OCD tendencies before that but it was then in 2006 that it just went into overdrive and it has been running my life ever since (I spent about 8 hours vacuuming yesterday).

I have tried CBT in the past but only made a certain amount of improvements before hitting a wall. Thought it might help to chat to other sufferers on here.

[Ashley]

Hello Starlord,

Welcome, and I hope through the forum or from the charity you can find your bulldozer to help you blast through your wall

Welcome, Ashley

[daisy]

Hello Starlord

Welcome from me also,i am sure you will find the forum helpful,i certainly have.

[Guest itsnotmeitsmyocd]

from me too Starlord127,

I am 38 (well in a few days i am) i too had mild-ish ocd from about 8, and then 4 years ago it went haywire and almost ruined my life. Like you i tried CBT on a number of occasions, however hit brick walls with it all. Joining the forums has REALLY helped me so much, you will find lots of good advise on here from people that understand. It's also really handy if you just need to vent- to people that understand. In addition to this i found a new therapist who is a specialist in both ocd and trauma issues. His approach is completely different to my previous two (also cbt trained) therapists, so if you can please look into another therapist who is a specialist in treating OCD. Ashley will certainly be able to advise you on this.

[Guest Starlord127]

Thanks for your responses. I don't know why I have OCD. In some people's cases, it's brought on by something in the past but I don't really know what caused the trauma - if trauma is even the right word in my case. I have had a lot of depression before the OCD manifested, perhaps it's an offshoot of that.

Yeah, I did struggle with CBT. What kind of alternative therapy is there then? How can I find a therapist like that?

[Ashley]

Thanks for your responses. I don't know why I have OCD. In some people's cases, it's brought on by something in the past but I don't really know what caused the trauma - if trauma is even the right word in my case. I have had a lot of depression before the OCD manifested, perhaps it's an offshoot of that.

Yeah, I did struggle with CBT. What kind of alternative therapy is there then? How can I find a therapist like that?

To be honest I don't think anybody knows what causes OCD, even trauma is not a cause but I would suggest maybe a trigger to underlying OCD. That said, we tend not to focus on cause, we can't change that and even knowing it may not help us deal with it, so we tend to focus on the future and how we treat OCD.

In terms of alternatives, if you search the forum you will see people have tried everything under the sun, and people always end up back here. The reality is that CBT is the best we have, and whilst CBT does not always work, that is often not the CBT failing but usually the therapist (sometimes us if we are honest with ourselves). Good CBT by a good therapist can really help, if you are in the south, there are specialist NHS clinics you can access. Have you read 'Break free from OCD' yet? That's a good example of CBT too.

Don't give up on CBT, it's a bit like learning to drive, some of us needed more than one set of lessons (therapy) before we passed the test!

[Guest itsnotmeitsmyocd]

Hiya Starlord127,

Apologies, i mentioned trauma as this is specific to my life situation, as i have ocd & ptsd, the traumatic event that resulted in ptsd is completely unrelated to ocd. The traumatic incident came way after ocd, so owing to this i know that (in my case at least) trauma was not an underlying reason for having ocd.

I totally agree with Ashley, trying to work out "why" we have ocd or "what caused it" does not actually help us in reality to treat it or to get better. I guess it can be likened to trying to work out why we may have any other health issue, whilst it can be interesting to do so, it certainly does not help us to get better.

As far as "alternative therapy" goes, i do not believe there is an alternative to CBT with a very strong element of ERP. For me personally the key was finding a therapist - that is a specialist in treating OCD. Many therapists are CBT trained, however in my personal exp this does not mean that they are able to treat us ocd-ers.

Are you able to look at more cbt & erp but with a diff therapist ?

[Guest Starlord127]

Hiya Starlord127,

Apologies, i mentioned trauma as this is specific to my life situation, as i have ocd & ptsd, the traumatic event that resulted in ptsd is completely unrelated to ocd. The traumatic incident came way after ocd, so owing to this i know that (in my case at least) trauma was not an underlying reason for having ocd.

I totally agree with Ashley, trying to work out "why" we have ocd or "what caused it" does not actually help us in reality to treat it or to get better. I guess it can be likened to trying to work out why we may have any other health issue, whilst it can be interesting to do so, it certainly does not help us to get better.

As far as "alternative therapy" goes, i do not believe there is an alternative to CBT with a very strong element of ERP. For me personally the key was finding a therapist - that is a specialist in treating OCD. Many therapists are CBT trained, however in my personal exp this does not mean that they are able to treat us ocd-ers.

Are you able to look at more cbt & erp but with a diff therapist ?

My apologies, I've only just noticed this last reply. I will look for another therapist but it's something I'm going to have trouble with in terms of procrastination. On one hand I know I need it, but on the other I know I'm going to be exposing myself to some horrible stuff and so I put it off.