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Remember, We Must Change Both Our Thinking And Behavioural Response


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Reading across the boards plenty of sufferers are seeking help, receiving excellent advice, but still carrying on believing what their OCD is telling them, and carrying out compulsions. 

This will never work. Such sufferers are only strengthening the power of the OCD. Compulsions may offer some short-term relief, nothing more. They just give belief to the OCD, make it more and more powerful. 

To get better we need to use CBT - by therapist, self-help or forum guidance or mixes of these - to:

Understand why OCD lies, exaggerates, or revulses. 

Change our behavioural response, not believing or connecting with the OCD, not carrying out compulsions. 

Use exposure and response prevention to challenge the OCD, and take away the anxiety response. 

I believe we can all make progress if we do this. We have to believe what informed others tell us, not what OCD tells us. 

 

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Put like that, it seems simple. 

But it isn't at all simple. This illness is tough to conquer - it's convincing, it only needs a fraction of likelihood to create a convincing threat. 

And, for one who in his career regularly moved amongst powerful movers and shakers in the global business world, this illness is more of a challenge than any of those I came across. 

But if we do go about our task in this way, accepting what we learn and challenging what OCD tells us, then we have every opportunity to make a significant improvement in our situation. 

We will have that opportunity. But are we going to take it? 

Edited by taurean
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Hi Roy :),

Loving your post :heart:

I would like to add that we have to be very brave to change our Thinking And Behavioural Response. Fear is the thing that paralyzes, while bravery is the thing that frees. 

Fear is an enemy. Most people don’t like to get to know their enemies but I am of the opinion that one must not only know their enemies, but it is infinitely beneficial to understand them. We have to understand how OCD works: OCD is just a big fat liar, we have nothing to lose if we don’t listen to our OCD.

Let's choice not to listen to our enemy called OCD.

Big HU:hug:

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I am liking it too Andrea. 

I will simply add that if it isn't lying with your theme, then it will be exaggerating nil or minimum threat or it will be invoking revulsion. 

We have all likely heard of the three graces (see later for my own psychological version of these). Well lies, exaggerations or revulsion are the three cruelties of OCD, they are at the heart of the core belief that underpins it. But they are "cloaked" by how convincing it feels, by the doubt suggested by the illness - and are difficult to expose. 

So let's "uncloak" the three cruelties of OCD, using the cognitive (thinking) side of CBT. 

Then let's change the behavioural side by leaving intrusions be and refocusing away - and making that a new learned behaviour - being careful that it doesn't become a compulsion. 

And let's pull the trigger of the fear created by the three cruelties, by engaging in structured sessions of exposure and response prevention; sitting with our fear reaction whilst at the same time reminding ourselves how the illness is tricking us into this reaction - as we repeat, gradually, the sessions the disorder (anxiety) created by our unhelpful original behavioural response will fade away, as we work through not responding. 

Believe me, when this starts to work the euphoria is incredible - like an unbelievable fireworks display has erupted. 

And we start to realise we truly have begun to win - we ARE going to beat this thing. 

That light bulb ? moment happened for me over two years ago now, and I am still working that system, and adding  Roy's three "graces" of patience, persistence and perseverance. I take them with me wherever I go :D

And it's a winning way, it does the business. 

 

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