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The Lack Of Resilience, And How We Might Tackle It


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When we visit threads on this forum, what is a common denominator in the suffering caused by OCD?

A lack of resilience, lack of the singular ability to stand up to the OCD, not believe what it says, and resist the carrying out of compulsions.

So what can we do about this?

Well, I myself was a sufferer of this lack of mental strength 💪 So my therapist and I devised a plan, indeed a cunning one!!

We can deliberately dumb down our response, refuse to believe what our brains befuddled by OCD are trying to tell us.

We can practice experiencing an intrusion, then immediately switching focus back into the here and now, back to what we were doing, and keep practising that until it, not connecting with the intrusions, becomes our norm. When we work on this we are actually building mental strength skills, and also learning the basics of Mindfulness.

We can further develop our mindfulness skills - loads of material out there to help us simply and easily practice this process of gently placing our awareness purely into the present and the moment - since my therapist taught me mindfulness skills to use with the teachings of CBT and a boosted schedule of beneficial activities I have become very mentally fit and physically well, especially as mindfulness walking, for some distance  in a day, is an enjoyable part of the treatment 😀 

We can help our resilience by picking up tips from others that we deem to be good at riding the slings and arrows of modern life. 

Watch how they do this, engage with them and ask them how they think and behave the way they do - be it from enhanced self-belief, religion or just an attitude of mind. Then determine to follow their lead.

A little over a year ago my resilience was really poor and I struggled to ride the punches and keep OCD at bay.

Now, I have gone more than a whole year free of OCD and I wish for as many others as possible to find ways to break free - so you will periodically find me here helping and encouraging, and hoping for more to find their own path to  resilience.

Edited by taurean
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9 hours ago, James M said:

I do something similar and it’s made most situations more manageable. It’s great to share experiences that are helping to cope. Hope you’re having a good day. 

Thank you James 😊 

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I wonder if what you are suggesting applies perfectly to those people who have developed OCD as the result of some trauma or event. So essentially their mind is trying to over protect them and itself.

So an obvious example would be if someone caught an infection, to then obsess about germs and then to form compulsive habits to ensure those germs can never come into contact with them. But by being aware of all that people can see it's an over reaction and become resiliant to the thoughts. So in that case the OCD can be seen as a temporary disorder.(I was over simplifying).

I'm saying that because I haven't experienced a time when I can remember not being OCOrder(I don't see different types of personality as a disorder, merely different). So essentially with some people it's not temporary as they have have nowhere to go back to. No other state of reference.

By 'living with OCD' I mean, accepting it, understanding it's a part of my identity, managing the negative aspects mostly through managing my stress levels, and utilising the obsessive compulsive aspects. So I've adapted to a different way of thinking. (eg. every book I've ever read, I've made notes from. Which is great if I need to reference).

And I do over think everything from ever potential perspective. But I've also adapted to that. Delegate the over thinking to the sub-conscious as it's labelled, and distract the conscious mind. It a trick that was used by Picasso and Einstein. The latter over loaded his mind with ideas and concepts, then distracted his conscious mind by playing the violin.

 

 

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On 25/05/2022 at 05:41, taurean said:

We can help our resilience by picking up tips from others that we deem to be good at riding the slings and arrows of modern life. 

Watch how they do this, engage with them and ask them how they think and behave the way they do - be it from enhanced self-belief, religion or just an attitude of mind. Then determine to follow their lead.

In general, I would agree with this point.  Personally I would proceed with caution on two parts in the above (I have identified them in italics,

we deem to be good - how can I determine this when all there is to go on is what is stated in a forum

be it from enhanced self-belief - similar reasoning on this.  A second hand car salesman has enhanced self belief but would I buy a car from him just because he sounds like he is confident about the car?

Edited by northpaul
punctuation correction
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22 hours ago, northpaul said:

In general, I would agree with this point.  Personally I would proceed with caution on two parts in the above (I have identified them in italics,

we deem to be good - how can I determine this when all there is to go on is what is stated in a forum

be it from enhanced self-belief - similar reasoning on this.  A second hand car salesman has enhanced self belief but would I buy a car from him just because he sounds like he is confident about the car?

Good points. Dealing with estate agents is another example or dealing with financial salesmen selling investments. Or dare I say it politicians. I am dubious of anybody who uses rhetoric rather than hard facts. That is why when we buy a house we employ a qualified surveyor. The way people present themselves can be different to the way they are.

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Because my mum had absolutely zero resilience anything as I was growing up and would literally run and hide from any slight threat , real or perceived , I never developed any resilience as a child . Since being diagnosed with ocd I have taught myself resilience by watching how others react to things, I think as a child you do this subconsciously but I’ve just had to do it consciously .

on the surface I probably appear to others to lack resilience because of my anxiety, where as ,in actual fact I feel I have more than the average person , in that, I started with a deficit and also that I am constantly fighting ocd as well as my other problems , relationships, work, teenage kids, money etc etc

thank you for your ,as ever,thought provoking insightful post Tauren

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  • 1 month later...

Hi folks,

I am resurrecting this thread because, as I have always suspected, being well for over a year now has proved significantly down to having really improved my resilience, alongside applying CBT and boosting my beneficial activities. 

So I wanted to share this with you. Before, I just simply didn't have the mental strength to tight the OCD before it would quickly exert a vice-like grip on me if a trigger came along and I struggled to refocus away.

Now, as happened the other day, if something that might previously have triggered me cones along, I don't follow it down the OCD rabbit hole - I just note it, then refocus away and it doesn't stick in my mind, it eases away.

 

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1 hour ago, Handy said:

taurean, are you still on medication for your OCD? 

No, no meds at all.

I found that, whilst they (the various SSRI ones I tried) provided a lift in the form of anti-depressant whilst I was not in an OCD episode, they also had an ongoing side effect of very loose stools 🙃.

And when I was in an OCD episode, they didn't help me at all, even anti-depressant,  especially with reilience.

For me  they just didn't help re the OCD.

I take some vitamins and minerals daily, including some vitamin E that was suggested as a possible helper against covid-19. 

 

Edited by taurean
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What I have , to my mind, learned on my own OCD journey is that we may each need a special blend of tools to overcome the OCD and win back our lives. And different tools will suit different people.

And that the bedrock of this is going to be CBT  because we have to accept that we are suffering from OCD, learn that what the OCD is telling us is wrong, we have to stop believing and connecting with the intrusions and triggers, cut out compulsions and we have to go through exposure and response prevention to stop restrictions. All part of CBT.

But beyond that, we may need - as I did - such doctrines as relaxation, exercise, structured beneficial activities, mindfulness, meditation techniques.

And for some of us, medication may be a necessary part of the process.

But,also   building a strong mental muscle and gaining resilience is surely a big advantage- it has certainly proved so in my case. 

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