Distraction & How We Might Use It

[taurean]

First & foremost, we need to tackle what is going on in OCD. 

What it is, how it works, why it provokes, in sufferers, a high emotional response and the urge to carry out compulsions to try and ease that distress - but in fact this only makes the OCD intrusions stronger, more frequent, more powerful. 

When we understand how OCD uses false exaggerated or revulsive core beliefs to create fear threat or revulsion - and may target our core character values and allege, falsely, that the opposite is true, then we can tackle those intrusions. This is very much what we can learn from the cognitive  side of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

We can then use structured sessions of exposure and response prevention to bring our emotional response down. 

And we can learn to refocus (step three of the additional treatment methodology known as "The Four Steps"),  and steer our thoughts towards a beneficial involved distraction. 

The trick is to recognise the intrusion as OCD, not give it belief or connect with it then - instead of doing that and being urged into compulsions -  learn to be dismissive - "just my silly obsession" - and gently but firmly refocus our thinking away to a beneficial involved distraction - preferably back to what we were seeking to do anyway. 

Used in this way, on the back of a good understanding of and carrying out of CBT methodology, distraction can stop an OCD cycle of distress in its tracks, cauterise the tendency to awfulise, and break the mental chains that were binding us to OCD. 

 

Edited July 26, 2018 by taurean

[Ashley]

4 minutes ago, taurean said:

learn to be dismissive - "just my silly obsession" - and gently but firmly refocus our thinking away to a beneficial involved distraction - preferably back to what we were seeking to do anyway. 

I know you favour distraction Taurean, but I am not sure I agree with this as a long term approach.

The danger remains that we end up avoiding accepting the doubts and by trying to force a beneficial thought that in itself can become a compulsion if we're not careful. 

 

 

[taurean]

It isn't a long term approach at all. It's a means to break the pull of intrusions, to shift focus and not give belief to or connect with intrusions. 

 

 

[lostinme]

Sometimes I feel that refocusing (distraction) especially in the early stages of therapy are good  because even though we are not actually dealing with the thoughts and accepting the doubts we can find our selves in a more comfortable place to then begin working our CBT. Quite often we are so mixed up with so much going on with our thoughts and behaviours we can’t even begin to see the woods for the trees. By starting with beneficial distraction even though we are not dealing with the OCD itself it can get you to a much calmer place and then the working, doing part of therapy is easier to implement in a calmer relaxed state 

When I was stopping ruminating ( compulsion)( the behavioural work) I didn’t deal with the thoughts at first I just used beneficial distraction, I acknowledged the thoughts were there and then gently refocused onto the task in hand, it was at a later stage when I began to see the woods for the trees, because it wasn’t one huge jumbled up mess. I then started to work on the cognitive part of therapy with each and every thought that came along in a singular manner and this way it didn’t seem so overwhelming. Just my thoughts of course, what works for one doesn’t always work for another. 

[taurean]

That's fine too, so long of course that we realise what we are doing and, when we can, move on to tackle the cognitive aspects and the necessary exposure and response prevention. 

Using distraction alone and not doing the above would, as with doing ERP without the rest of CBT, leave us likely still stuck believing the OCD intrusions - with the danger of the refocusing and distraction becoming another form of compulsion and not improving things at all - the concern that Ashley rightly pointed out. 

Edited July 28, 2018 by taurean

[Caramoole]

I think we can get conflict of opinion because of terminology.....i.e distraction.

I like to think of it in terms of Keep calm and carry on.  Not distraction in order to avoid but rather to face and carry on with life by acknowledging the cause of our thought and then engaging with life normally.  If we consider every moment as therapy, that in itself becomes obsessive and compulsive.

[lostinme]

2 hours ago, Caramoole said:

I think we can get conflict of opinion because of terminology.....i.e distraction.

I like to think of it in terms of Keep calm and carry on.  Not distraction in order to avoid but rather to face and carry on with life by acknowledging the cause of our thought and then engaging with life normally.  If we consider every moment as therapy, that in itself becomes obsessive and compulsive.

So true, I think it’s finding a happy medium and what works best for you as an individual personally.  What works for one doesn’t always work for all. 

[PolarBear]

4 hours ago, Caramoole said:

I think we can get conflict of opinion because of terminology.....i.e distraction.

I like to think of it in terms of Keep calm and carry on.  Not distraction in order to avoid but rather to face and carry on with life by acknowledging the cause of our thought and then engaging with life normally.  If we consider every moment as therapy, that in itself becomes obsessive and compulsive.

I fully agree. Distraction to me means doing something specific, like reading or going for a walk, to stop yourself from focusing on obsessions. 

I am not a fan of that. It's not practical. You can't pick up s book and start reading every time you get an intrusive thought.

What you need to do is shift your focus from an obsession to whatever you were doing before the obsession struck. 

[lostinme]

I think we are all on the same page, but it’s important how we word it and how we get it across to another sufferer. Sometimes we possibly explain it wrongly? Instead we may word it wrongly saying refocus( distraction) your attention onto eg: reading a book, watching a movie, going for a walk etc anything to refocus your attention away from the thought, because of course we can’t possibly know what they are doing at the time. I think it’s very important for us to say to refocus( distraction) to do what it is you was doing at the time before the intrusion struck, so your refocusing away from the thought itself and back onto what you was originally doing eg: reading, watching tv, cleaning etc