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Positive way of viewing rumination?


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Hi All,

Hope you are all well.  I just thought I would share this about rumination and see what you think.  It is my main compulsion and so hard to pull myself out of when it kicks in.  I am trying to send that part a bit of compassion by seeing it as part of myself that is trying to help... even though it doesn't.  I find if I am trying desperately to stop ruminating it only makes it worse.  The old saying "what you resist persists".  I'm not saying that it's ok to ruminate or that I shouldn't find ways to shift my attention, I just feel like "hating" it is actually keeping it going.  What are your thoughts on it?  What helps you when you start ruminating and struggle to stop?

Jen x

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6 hours ago, jenkijunki said:

Hi All,

Hope you are all well.  I just thought I would share this about rumination and see what you think.  It is my main compulsion and so hard to pull myself out of when it kicks in.  I am trying to send that part a bit of compassion by seeing it as part of myself that is trying to help... even though it doesn't.  I find if I am trying desperately to stop ruminating it only makes it worse.  The old saying "what you resist persists".  I'm not saying that it's ok to ruminate or that I shouldn't find ways to shift my attention, I just feel like "hating" it is actually keeping it going.  What are your thoughts on it?  What helps you when you start ruminating and struggle to stop?

Jen x

Hey Jen,

my feeling is that the more emotional value we place on OCD, whether that is fear, hate, anger , or whatever, the more meaning we give it and the more it'll bother us. Lately I've been trying not to get so worked up about my OCD. When I feel anxious and see myself engaging in complusions, I first try to be happy that I am better able to recgonise that I'm doing something wrong, tell myself that it's okay but maybe I need to try it a little differently and then try a new approach. Ultimately we are dealing with an illness here and need to show ourselves some kindness, this isn't easy. Maybe you should also be happy that you are recognising the fact that you are ruminating and are aware that it's the wrong approach. 

Also, if you try to stop ruminating, you could end up doing it more because you end up putting so much focus onto the ruminating. A better approach might be to try and engage with something else. 

Best of luck!

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A few suggestions that work for me, try no caffeine, no cigs, no nicotine, no alcohol, as these simulate or mimic OCD thoughts, thus making these thoughts stronger & can also lower serotonin. Stress & hormones can do it.  Rest works great, so get in bed early, also exercise daily until you are exhausted. This can reform your brain neuroplasticity & activate your neocortex. Also, try to work on the cause of your ocd not just the symptoms.

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Guest OCDhavenobrain
38 minutes ago, Handy said:

A few suggestions that work for me, try no caffeine, no cigs, no nicotine, no alcohol, as these simulate or mimic OCD thoughts, thus making these thoughts stronger & can also lower serotonin. Stress & hormones can do it.  Rest works great, so get in bed early, also exercise daily until you are exhausted. This can reform your brain neuroplasticity & activate your neocortex. Also, try to work on the cause of your ocd not just the symptoms.

What could be a possible cause?

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6 hours ago, Handy said:

A few suggestions that work for me, try no caffeine, no cigs, no nicotine, no alcohol, as these simulate or mimic OCD thoughts, thus making these thoughts stronger & can also lower serotonin. Stress & hormones can do it.  Rest works great, so get in bed early, also exercise daily until you are exhausted. This can reform your brain neuroplasticity & activate your neocortex. Also, try to work on the cause of your ocd not just the symptoms.

I'd really like to know what wingnut websites you get your information from.

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On 20/04/2019 at 23:14, PolarBear said:

I'd really like to know what wingnut websites you get your information from.

I have decided not to read any more of this sort of stuff from Handy so have added him to my list of ignored users. 

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On 20/04/2019 at 08:14, Handy said:

A few suggestions that work for me, try no caffeine, no cigs, no nicotine, no alcohol, as these simulate or mimic OCD thoughts, thus making these thoughts stronger & can also lower serotonin. Stress & hormones can do it.  Rest works great, so get in bed early, also exercise daily until you are exhausted. This can reform your brain neuroplasticity & activate your neocortex. Also, try to work on the cause of your ocd not just the symptoms.

What was the title of that Sex Pistols album?

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On 20/04/2019 at 07:14, jenkijunki said:

Hi.  Very good advise.  Fighting the ruminating definitely doesn't work. I like the kindness approach as it fits well with the mindfulness I've been doing.  xx

The mindfulness is great for me. 

My current therapist taught me mindfulness-based CBT for OCD and I have found that when I fully enter the mindfulness state I am just focusing in the present in the moment, with a calm and peaceful mind. 

She told me this takes place in the benign "just being" part of the brain, which is separate from the active "doing" part of the brain which actively searches for answers to problems - so in OCD it gets stuck in obsessing and compulsing. 

This mindfulness, together with self-love and working my CBT along with keeping my exposures up to date, has kept me in a good place and away from focusing in on triggers and carrying out compulsions. 

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On 20/04/2019 at 02:14, jenkijunki said:

What helps you when you start ruminating and struggle to stop?

Aye, rumination is tricky.  Its such an ingrained habit by the time most of us become aware of it that it takes some time to unlearn.  Plus its natural to think about and analyze problems as a way to solving them outside of OCD, so it feels logical to use it for OCD as well.

Personally I found the Four Steps method from Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz excellent book Brain Lock particularly helpful when combating rumination.  You should be able to find out more on it from a quick web search.  

The key to overcoming the rumination habit is just like overcoming any bad habit, awareness and dedication.  Try your best to remain aware of when you are doing rumination and when you realize it remind yourself that it doesn't help, and work on shifting your focus to something else.  While it can be natural to come to hate rumination, I think you are right that spending too much energy and focus on hating it is counterproductive.  A mindful approach can be useful here as well.  Notice the rumination non-judgmentally and refocus.  "Oh I'm ruminating again, I should change my focus and not continue that" rather than "ARG, stupid rumination! Why can't I stop! I hate this!"  Like other bad habits you can unlearn rumination, just be patient, work on your awareness and refocus when you notice the rumination happening.  It won't change overnight, but if you stick with it you'll change things before you realize it.

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I don't think we can be positive about compulsions. 

They may only bring very short-term gain for extremely long-term pain. 

To stop ruminating  and other compulsions, it helped me to take the higher ground, talk down to the OCD, showing that I knew the compulsion would only connect me to, keep me believing, what the OCD is saying. 

So only temporarily (or it itself could become a neutralising compulsion) I learned to, when an intrusion popped up, think "oh that's just my silly obsession" and then gently, but firmly, refocus away. 

I found that when refocusing became the new default behaviour, intrusions lost power and frequency. 

Edited by taurean
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Thank you both for your comments.  I didn't log in for a few days over the easter holiday.  Refocusing has been mentioned a lot.  It's good advise.  I find that it needs to be something positive or something mundane like spider solitaire to work.  If I'm on a real rumination bender, I have to pick something that requires a lot of attention.  

 

xx

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