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New OCD Book Club - May - Break free from OCD


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Book Club – Month: May

Chosen by the Derby OCD Support Group

 

About Book Club

  • The purpose of the book club is not to review the book, but to encourage those affected by OCD to engage in the self-help resources available to them;
  • and to promote discussion to allow the community, and possibly even some of the authors, to help readers understand aspects of the book they struggle to work through.
  • Helping to create and maintain a recovery focussed mindset.
  • If you’ve already read a book, no harm and many advantages of re-reading!
  • Sometimes it’s just fun to read and help others understand a book.

 

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Break free from OCD

 

Book Discussion

  • To be discussed at the monthly OCD Support Groups (end of May / start of June) by participating groups.
  • To be discussed on the OCD-UK forum at:  www.ocdforums.org/index.php?/topic/81872-new-ocd-book-club-may-break-free-from-ocd/
  • Via the OCD-UK Twitter feed at the end of May, and with the hashtag #OCDBookClub
  • Summary from all of the above will be placed on the main OCD-UK website during June.

 

We politely request the following guidelines when discussing….

  • Give others time to read the book, so no spoilers until towards the end of the reading period. The OCD-UK forums do have a spoiler code should you wish to discuss in advance.
  • If you disagree with something that another member of the book club or author  has said. It is okay to disagree as long as it's done respectfully.
  • Keep on topic, but feel free to introduce information that is relevant to the discussion (historical facts, bio details, book background, related authors or topics).

 

Book Discussion Topic Suggestions

  • What helped you.
  • What you didn’t realise previously.
  • What you don’t understand.
  • How can you apply a book suggestion to your own OCD scenario?
  • Etc..

 

Accessing the Book

 

The book for the June OCD Book Club will be chosen by members of the OCD-UK discussion forums and announced by the last week in May.

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We have quite a few getting involved in this away from the forum, be great to get a few of the forum regulars reading/rereading this book during May?

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5 minutes ago, Ashley said:

We have quite a few getting involved in this away from the forum, be great to get a few of the forum regulars reading/rereading this book during May?

Hi. Do you have to actively attend a meeting though? Sorry I’m confused but interested. Thanks 

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26 minutes ago, Running Lover said:

Hi. Do you have to actively attend a meeting though? Sorry I’m confused but interested. Thanks 

Hi Running Lover, no it’s going to be discussed via the support group, the forum and twitter :)

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Just now, lostinme said:

Hi Running Lover, no it’s going to be discussed via the support group, the forum and twitter :)

Oh that’s good then I would definitely be up for this. I live in the sticks and my nearest support group is hours away!

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I'm in. :) 

I have a largish collection of OCD related books on my kindle, but embarrassingly  I don't think there's a single one of them I've read cover to cover. Book club will be the push I need to re-read and this time finish them! :book: 

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It’s a great choice for a book for the reading club. I had therapy with one of the authors and she said the writing team deliberately tried to make the book accessible to as many readers as possible. If you compare it with another good book, Overcoming OCD, which broadly covers the same ground,  there are far fewer technical terms from psychological science. Do you intend to go chapter by chapter?

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On 1/5/2018 at 23:11, snowbear said:

I'm in. :) 

I have a largish collection of OCD related books on my kindle, but embarrassingly  I don't think there's a single one of them I've read cover to cover. Book club will be the push I need to re-read and this time finish them! :book: 

Perhaps book club will be the compulsive urge to finish a book that you need, snowbear :lol:

 

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Well, I ordered a physical copy of this book off of Amazon. I have had it on Kindle for a while (have not read the entire thing) but somehow I feel having it in my hands and being able to underline and mark things will work better for me. I really hope this book will help me! Of course, since I'm not in the UK, I won't be able to make it to any discussions, haha.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sure you won't. But the face-to-face discussions will be in local support groups; the forum discussion will no doubt be online :)

I have the paperback book and have read it and it is factual educational and helpful with lots of guidance on a CBT basis. But I am not in a position to re-read it at the moment - will leave that honour to all you others. 

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Like you Ashley I haven't re-read it yet - but yesterday it emerged from a remover's box, so it is now available and I too will re-read it and look forward to the discussion ?

Ps love the extra emojis ?

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I think I will be looking for the gamechanger factors in the book - the things that, from my experience, I know will really make a difference for sufferers. 

Even now, just from memory and without having re-read the book yet, I can think of some; so should be an interesting discussion. 

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So what's the book for next month?  (we can still discuss this one)

Pulling the Trigger is easy to read and a mix of self-help with first-hand, so a bit different. Shall we go for that?

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My thoughts on "Break Free" are that it delves much deeper and more clearly into the cognitive stuff than other books around on OCD.  It explains the rationale behind Theory A/Theory B and other cognitive techniques, explaining that the purpose is not to build evidence for theory B being certain, but to build evidence for the likelihood of theory B being true.  Theory A/theory B also builds evidence for how compulsions keep the fear alive. 

The book also looks at the purpose behind exposure.  I'd always been under the impression that exposure is about desensitisation/habituation (which it is I think), but it's also about building behavioural evidence.  Exposure should be experiments testing a particular theory (e.g. "is theory B more likely to be true? Or is theory A more likely to be true?") and then carrying out an experiment to test this, learning lessons and building evidence along the way.

My one criticism isn't really a criticism per se, but something I think should be made clearer. I think that cogntiive techniques are extremely important but shouldn't be used as a compulsive search for certainty.  In the past I have totally deluded myself into thinking that "just one more vicious flower diagram and everything will slot into place" or "I'll do exposure once I've got all my evidence for theory B" etc.  It can become compulsive and /or a tool for procrastination if done incorrectly, all the while kidding yourself you're making progress.  I think this should be emphasised more in the book. 

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