diomedes

Hello there, According to the Cognitive Load Theory the learning procedure is a constant activity enabling the Working Memory (which is limited) and the Long Term Memory (which is theoretically unlimited). A lot of research has shown that there is a link between Working Memory deficit and OCD or anxiety. This affects severely the Learning Process making difficult to the sufferers to perform closely to their capacity. So having in mind that in most cases of OCD there is also an Anxiety Disorder and a Panic Disorder there is more deficit to Working Memory. During all my entire life I have been witnessing all this as an interference, a cognitive "noise" or intrusive thoughts which caused a terrible loss of concentration during a lecture or a conversation. This keeps happening even if you take medication. OCD / Anxiety Disorder / Panic Disorder, our kind of HELL...

Hello there, I am currently having a CPD on the Science of Learning. As an a OCD sufferer I had been having such a terrible times in the classrooms and later in the amphitheatres of my University. My learning ability has been always severely compromised. I couldn't take anything from lectures. I always had to put a big effort while studying at home in order to keep pace with others. In this CPD we are having a full scan of the human brain investigating the different processes and which parts are engaging. I really fancy having some resources of such an approach to OCD issue and what's wrong with an OCD brain. Regards.

The thing is that I cannot bear it any longer, clomipramine kills panic attacks and also helps a lot obsessive thinking, But you are not really alive, when it's weekend I sleep 15 hours per day, and when I wake up I feel alive, Which means that the only antidote to the meds' side effects is oversleeping, When I go to work I take a huge amount of instant coffee which means more side effects... I can't be a zombie any longer

The big day has come for me, I heard the magic words from therapist's lips "Shall we start decreasing the dose of medicine?" (clomipramine and pregabaline) If you have ever been in medicine you realise of what a big day it is For example when I quit Depakine (Sodium Valrpoate) my life changed is 24 hours to the much better! But now I don't know what is going to happen, I have been taking the clomipramine for more than a decade, Furthermore, my therapist is located in Greece, I now live in London, will this be safe? Have you any relative experience? Thanks in advance!

Greetings to everyone, I suffer from OCD-Panic Attack-Anxiety and I take 2x75mg Clomipramine and 2x75mg Pregabalin daily, Relatively recently a good friend of mine confided in me that my situation is detectable from other people, people around me can actually realise that something is wrong with me, Has anyone ever told you something like that? Do you notice that you are noticeable? If yes how do you feel about this?

Well I have been seeing a shrink since I was 22 but only in Greece, the last two years I live in London so I a see him only when I visit Athens, To be honest I have kept my two best shrinks, one of CBT and a psychanalyst, the psychanalyst only gives importance to my loss

Very possible yes

Very good point, the first and most essential principal is to accept that there will be difficult moments of unhappiness, and the trick to overcome them is just to reassure yourself that they will not last long, they gonna disappear automatically as they came to give place to happiness instead...

Greetings, I would like to have your opinions and thoughts on how does an OCD sufferer deal with loss, and more specifically with a parent loss in young age. I have never accepted my father's loss, I was 12 and I still thinking of him every single day. Is it just tenacity, or an essential OCD symptom? Regards

So being an obsessive compulsive disorder sufferer with panic disorder and general anxiety disorder I am capable of therapy with medicine combined with CBT, I can be functional and useful to society thanks to CBT and 150 mg of clomipramine combined with 150 mg of pregabalin daily, But is this the best I can get? Why not being happier? Why not being more functional? Why not achieving more? What an obsessive compulsive turmoil in my head...

What I do is pausing in a try to find the right word and the second most common I do is when I have completed my phrase then make some corrections of tenses, for example if I have used present perfect I correct the past participle of the verb, I am talking about mistakes I never do when I write...

Actually my shrink in Greece (has studied in England as well) told me that it is a matter of anxiety and not pregabalin, well he absolutely has a point because when I speak Greek I don't have such issues. My response to this will be an enrolment to a gym. It is always a massive counter-anxiety dope!

Have you quit pregabalin?

Hi there, I have been living in England the last 1,5 years and when it comes to writing and reading English my skills have been dramatically improved, but when it comes to speaking I have still severe problems. I have been taking 2x75mg of clomipramine and 2x75 of pregabalin for many many years. I can see in drugs.com that they bring confusion and difficulties in concentration separately and even more when combined. Pregabalin can give speech disturbance as well. Any similar issue anyone? Notice that for some periods in the past I had problems on speaking my own language as well. Regards

of course it does, no doubt about that

Of course even if you are into medication you still have the same problem, this is universally true. But after the medication you have to cope with e.g drowsiness and not with panic attacks.

I didn't literally mean this, I just wanted to highlight that after taking medication someone become a different incident when it comes to symptoms.

First of all I would like to thank you all for your answers. Of course I have been benefited from the meds, but I was at a different stage of my life when I started them (doctor's decision) I am alone now in London without therapist and I meet my old CBT therapist in Greece twice a year. I think that when one is into meds he/she is a much different incident of obsessive thinker, having to fight with different symptoms, that was my point In my point of view when you are already into meds you mustn't stop aiming to decrease or quit them, ok they help a lot, Is there a way out? Regards

Hi all, I think it would be useful to sort the ocd sufferers into two big categories, the ones without and the ones with medication treatment. I belong to the second category so my symptoms have been differentiated since I got medication, e.g. I don't have any panic attacks but I have drowsiness - which I didn't have before. I don't have many compulsions but I have much more of confusion. And many more... Any comments on this? Regards

Of course this differentiates from person to person, all these are good, the good psychiatrist can take from all the different approaches in order to help the patient

This is also true, if it is a malfunction then it needs only pills and CBT

I have already read two books of Paul Gilbert (in Greek) and now reading "COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR THERAPY" by Avy Joseph and "Pulling The Trigger - OCD ANXIETY PANIC ATTACKS and RELATED DEPRESSION" by Adam Shaw and Lauren Callaghan. They really give you a huge perception of your issue and I feel very lucky to have them. Psychoanalysis is about curing the reason of the OCD (ideally)

No I don't have, and as I have already implied if I was an affluent I would follow the psychoanalysis path with a psychoanalyst that I trust (my father was an MD so I have some access to information about elite psychoanalysts in Athens, Greece) Now I am based in London and still not affluent, so CBT will still be my way of struggling with it. Can you give me any information about NHS CBT options and how much money it needs?

First I would like to thank you all for your responds, I personally did CBT the last 10 years back in Greece and now I just take medicines, waiting to figure out how to continue here my therapy. CBT has worked for me, the only issue I have is difficult to concentrate, but it isn't ADHD (I have been examined by psychiatrists of the Hallowell Centre in Athens). For example I cannot watch a movie and concentrate in what is happening. Anything to suggest me? It is true that OCD resists to Psychoanalysis and I now believe the reason is that good psychoanalysts are very rear and very expensive to have access to, this was my only point, I don't believe that CBT doesn't work, I still read CBT books and I feel so lucky and excited to not need to be an affluent to get help and support. I now read the OCD, Anxiety, Panic Attacks and Related Depression - The Definitive Survival and Recovery Approach (Pulling the trigger) by Adam Shaw and Lauren Callaghan and also the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy: Your Route Out of Perfectionism, Self-Sabotage and Other Everyday Habits with CBT by Avy Joseph Please have always in mind that we don't all have the same spectrum of perception and understanding, I personally have studied physics and have witnessed the cold fact of how much more stronger minds than me were sitting just next to me in the auditorium. The same exactly happens with the psychoanalysts. Regards

The other needs good psychoanalysts, which are very rare to find...