Wren

That's something it would be best to work out with a therapist who can draw up a specific plan for you, but it is possible. Rumination is a compulsion though, and it is something you can control even though it may feel automatic. The purpose of exposure therapy is to expose yourself to what you fear and then not carry out any compulsions to neutralise the anxiety/distress. So, for example I would look at my skin (exposure to the trigger) but then not allow myself to ruminate about or research skin diseases.

Yes, we can certainly get better. There are lots of success stories on this forum. It can take time and persistence though - as a reference I used to be unable to look at photographs of myself, and would also avoid mirrors, but I used ERP and it took about six months of daily exposure exercises to get the anxiety down to zero. It's been about two years since I did that and I've not relapsed. I still have other problems, but CBT, especially when the problem is specific and definable, does work.

That's a good way of putting it snowbear. I think I'm just quite literal minded so I've never coped well with the theatre of politics, even the 'small p' office variety, so it's good to remind myself that is what it often is, a form of theatre, so thank for saying that. I've not looked at Twitter since posting on here yesterday and I think I might keep it that way.

Thanks taurean and northpaul, there are plenty of unscrupulous accounts on social media, and I think part of the black and white viewpoints that I'm complaining about are due to deliberate polarisation of issues to drive engagement.

Thank-you, yes, this is exactly what happens. I then get sucked into scrolling for hours trying to get clarity. It's important to me to listen to other people's views, and be politically engaged, but I think being exposed to such a huge volume of viewpoints is not something I, or may be anyone, can cope with well. I've tried setting time limits on the app, blocking accounts etc. but I get drawn back like a moth to a flame. I know this is partly how social media works, because they are basically monetising people's attention, so it's a problem for a lot of people even if they don't have mental health problems. I'm good at recognising what my automatic core beliefs are, but I struggle with trying to replace them with different ones because I get obsessed about what the 'correct' beliefs should be. I'm beginning to think that a need for certainty is just part of my personality, so not something I can get over, but will just have to manage.

Thank you, I did stop using all social media for about six months, but the pervasive sense of unease was still there, just with added loneliness! Maybe I need to learn to cope with my own company more. I think many aspects of social media are probably bad for everyone, and I predominantly use Twitter which is probably one of the worst platforms, but in my case I think there maybe an element of OCD as it's other people's expression of certainty, rather than their negativity, that I find the most difficult to deal with.

I don't really think of myself as having OCD anymore because I don't have any specific themes or compulsions, yet in my day to day life I feel like I'm always been followed around by this pervasive sense of unease, like maybe I'm doing bad things without realising it. I know on an intellectual level that it's impossible to have certainty about anything really, but on an emotional level I don't seem to be able to accept this fact, which I think is probably the source of my unease, although I'm not sure. One of my biggest problems is dealing with social media - I don't want to avoid it completely because I feel that would be a compulsion, but I find the black and white viewpoints which are often expressed very difficult to deal with, both because I find the lack of empathy upsetting and also because it triggers doubt in my acceptance of uncertainty, especially around moral/political issues. Does anyone have any advice? Is this OCD or just a modern life issue that everyone has to cope with do you think?

Thank-you, I've not noticed that one before, it's useful to know what's available.

Hi Ross. Whenever I see your cat photo, it always makes me smile! Do you think there was any particular reason why you found engaging with the tasks difficult? Do you think it was due to the way the therapist explained things to you, perhaps? If you have any questions about therapy I'm happy to try and answer them and help you if I can.

I guess the poorer out come for therapy is mainly because the alexithymia (or ASD) is either not recognised until after the therapy, or the therapy is not adequately adapted to suit the person's needs. There have been huge changes regarding the understanding of autism and other neurological conditions in recent years, when I first accessed mental health services c20 years ago it would have been pretty much unheard of for an adult to be assessed for autism, so therapy simply didn't take it into account. I guess also, if the alexithymia is severe, then doing things such as keeping record sheets of negative emotions isn't going to be possible. I'm glad things sound like they are working out for you, it can be a bit of a shock finding these things out later in life!

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply, it really kind of you. Its great to hear that you received a diagnosis for ASD and OCD at the same time, then had therapy which took that duel diagnosis into account. It seems that often the ASD diagnosis only come about after a first (or more) round of therapy has failed. It's interesting that you highlight black and white thinking as that does seem to be very much an ASD thing, both physically and mentally. I've heard several autistic people talking about having an 'on or off' switch when it come to emotions and body sensations, as well as having black and white thinking. I've read on Spectrum News that people with alexithymia have a poorer outcome from CBT, which i guess is not surprising. Something I found helpful was the 'emotional regulation' worksheets taken from DBT

Hi, I was just wondering if anyone here has any experience of successfully dealing with autism and OCD? Or if anyone knows of any resources about adapting CBT in general for autism and similar conditions? I've seen the video from an OCDUK conference, which was excellent, but I'm not having much luck finding any other resources which go into more detail - especially for self help use rather than for use by therapists. Thank you very much!

Hello, welcome to the forum! Diet is not going to be the cause, or the solution to OCD, but eating a healthy balanced diet will help with general health, which in turn will help your mental health to a certain extent and may also make it easier to engage with therapy. As far as I'm aware it shouldn't matter if you are vegetarian or not, as long as it's a balanced diet. I started a thread about diet and exercise on the 'non ocd general support' section of the forum and there are some links to an nhs site which details how to get a balanced diet if you are vegetarian. The nhs website is a bit complicated so let me know if you can't find the relevant bits. In my personal experience, eating a low GI diet helps reduce back ground levels of anxiety because low blood sugar can induce a feeling of panic, and a high sugar diet will cause a roller-coaster like effect on blood sugar throughout the day. Lack of sleep and either too much or too little exercise can also influence blood sugar control.

I completely understand, and it's so frustrating when others don't believe you, or even worse, when you don't believe yourself. I got so used to telling myself that I was fraud that ended up suffering from severe anaemia for a year without even realising it because I dismissed the symptoms as being in my head. I don't know the details about your situation, and I know treatment of CFS is a controversial subject, but a book which helped me was "Overcoming Chronic Fatigue" by Mary Burgess and Trudie Chadler, even though I don't have CFS.

Big hugs . Sorry things aren't great with you. I made a post not long ago about dealing with multiple issues and I got some good replies if you want to have a look at it. Are you in any kind of therapy right now?

I wonder if that is because there are clearer boundaries at work about what needs to be done, what's expected, what the consequences are etc. Hope she made the right choice for you!

Welcome to the forum! You probably already know this, but I'd make sure the private therapist you choose is offering CBT as the primary form of treatment. Have a look at the other tabs at the top of this website for info on treatment and finding a therapist.

That's interesting you say the same, thanks for your comment. Good luck with your move!

That's interesting northpaul, I never thought to distinguish between making a decision from then actually executing that decision. Maybe what I do is make decision, find it too difficult to execute, so then change my mind and choose the other option, then find that too difficult, so go back to the first option....ad infinitum. Mmm...I'll have to ponder that some more!

Does anyone else have problems making decisions? It's something I have big problems with. I'm guessing it's connected to OCD because decision making involves responsibility and tolerating uncertainty, even if the decision is not related to a specific OCD obsession.

No need to apologise, you did nothing wrong! Although it might not feel like it right now, the fact you feel embarrassed is kind of a good thing because it shows you have insight into your behaviour and you are aware it is compulsive - which is a fantastic step towards recovery.

I guess it's partly dependent on how you are defining the word obsessive, but there is probably a reason why autism and OCD are often found together. In autism the terms 'special interests', 'intense interests' and 'perseveration' tend to be used to describe behaviour which is all consuming and repetitive.

Congratulations! Well done you!

Hi Cora, have you spoken to your therapist about your use of the forum? She should be able to help you identify how to use it in a more healthy way and if you were to show her some of your posts it may help her better understand your situation. Sometimes face to face therapy can be quite anxiety provoking which can make explaining things verbally quite difficult, so showing her what you write here may help the therapy process. Just a thought.

There's a new radio 4 series which covers the same ground... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m0017tcz (I don't seem to be able to copy and paste a proper link, but the programme is called "Addicted to Food" with the Van Tulleken brothers.) They interview a behavioural change expert at one point and he says some really interesting things about the 'aha!' moment, or lack of it, when undergoing therapy.