Small Clone
Member
Hi all,
I would like to thank everyone who help on my previous CBT related thread and I would ask if you could help me out again. One of the characteristics of my OCD is I have a tendency to take things very literally and then get very fearful, placing far to much relevance on the ?thing? which then can spiral out of control very easily.
My CBT therapist is back from overseas very soon and I am going to get some more sessions booked, but in the mean time I would ask if you could help me put this current worry to bed. I am going to stop looking on the internet at OCD articles and just concentrate on what I have done in my CBT and get myself back on program with my therapist.
Ok I know this is going to sound bizarre (I start most of my threads and therapy sessions saying that!!) but I read something by an OCD expert Fred Penzel and think he is telling me that I can?t use my intuition or intellgence to help myself with OCD. I know that he can?t be saying that and that I must have misinterpreated his words (or his words were a little ambiguous) but I am now thinking that anything that I have discovered about my OCD traits on my own (using my own initiative or intellegence) or any time I detect errors in thinking (like I know this is an error in thinking) via CBT that it?s wrong or I?m not allowed to do it.
The Passage I read comes from an article by this Dr called ?Ten things you need to know to overcome OCD?
And it is point 8 that has alarmed me, point 8 goes
I think I know what he is saying and I think I can see where I am making errors in thinking (and placing too much meaning) but it was basically the bold title that alarmed me, I kept going back to it and back to it thinking ?is he saying that I can never use my intuition? That OCD people don?t have a trustworthy intution? ? again I know this sounds bizarre but I have stayed awake for more than one night with just this one thought.
You see my ?intuition? has lead me to discover, that well I take things ultra literal and that I am fearful that therapsists are going to tell me I?m doomed to a life of misery, amongst other things, my ?intuition? and my ?understanding? of what I am going through has helped map the path of correcting irrational thinking with my therapist, using my own intelligence to make discoveries.
It?s words like ?always leads you in the wrong direction? that fear me and ?you can always count on? these are very absolute words and really bring fear into my head.
What I think he is reffering to is more of the sufferer who has compulsions to try to combat obsessions, ie those who are contamination fearful may have compulsions to bleach their house or wash their hands thinking that if they rid themselves of germs then they will have nothing to fear, instead of coming to terms with the fact that germs are normal ok and natural ? gaining an understanding of living along side germs.
Or someone who thinks that there family is in danger if they don?t perform bizarre rituals, ie running up and down the stairs 50 time will mean that my wife wont die.
I understand all of the above and I have educated myself and understand that when OCD is in full swing it can convince you to do some pretty bizarre things that instead of alleviating the problem will help maintain it (as the irrational compulsion will not feel like you?ve done enough). My OCD is regarded as Pure-O so I don?t have the outward compulsions that some OCD sufferes have. But I get scared when people make bold statements, such as You cannot rely upon your own intuition in deciding how to deal with OCD, it makes me feel that I can?t use my initative or intelligence which cannot be right, OCD sufferes are not stupid and I feel are more than capable of helping work out what is going wrong.
Maybe if he had titled it differently I wouldn't have got so shocked.
Again I feel that I am so anxious about this that I have attached that feeling to the statement and that I am getting over literal.
I keep saying to myself, "you know this doesn't mean what you fear, you know what you have to do - you can trust yourself these are only thoughts and not fact" - however when I do that I get a nagging voice saying "you know that sounds a lot like using your initiative, you can't do that your not allowed to use your own initiative", I feel that I can't trust myself to know what is right - this can get very painful.
I thank you for reading this and wish you well.
SC
I would like to thank everyone who help on my previous CBT related thread and I would ask if you could help me out again. One of the characteristics of my OCD is I have a tendency to take things very literally and then get very fearful, placing far to much relevance on the ?thing? which then can spiral out of control very easily.
My CBT therapist is back from overseas very soon and I am going to get some more sessions booked, but in the mean time I would ask if you could help me put this current worry to bed. I am going to stop looking on the internet at OCD articles and just concentrate on what I have done in my CBT and get myself back on program with my therapist.
Ok I know this is going to sound bizarre (I start most of my threads and therapy sessions saying that!!) but I read something by an OCD expert Fred Penzel and think he is telling me that I can?t use my intuition or intellgence to help myself with OCD. I know that he can?t be saying that and that I must have misinterpreated his words (or his words were a little ambiguous) but I am now thinking that anything that I have discovered about my OCD traits on my own (using my own initiative or intellegence) or any time I detect errors in thinking (like I know this is an error in thinking) via CBT that it?s wrong or I?m not allowed to do it.
The Passage I read comes from an article by this Dr called ?Ten things you need to know to overcome OCD?
And it is point 8 that has alarmed me, point 8 goes
8. You cannot rely upon your own intuition in deciding how to deal with OCD.
In using your intuition to deal with what obsessions may be telling you, there is one thing you can always count on it will always lead you in the wrong direction. It is only natural to want to escape or avoid that which makes you fearful. It's instinctive. It really amazes me how common this is. This may be fine when faced by a vicious dog or an angry mugger, but since the fear in OCD results from recurring thoughts inside your head, it cannot be escaped from. The momentary escape from fear that compulsions give, fools people into relying upon them. While compulsions start out as a solution, they soon become the main problem itself as they begin taking over your life. People with OCD never stay with what they fear long enough to find out that what they fear isn't true. Only by doing the opposite of what instinct tells you will you be able to find this out.
In using your intuition to deal with what obsessions may be telling you, there is one thing you can always count on it will always lead you in the wrong direction. It is only natural to want to escape or avoid that which makes you fearful. It's instinctive. It really amazes me how common this is. This may be fine when faced by a vicious dog or an angry mugger, but since the fear in OCD results from recurring thoughts inside your head, it cannot be escaped from. The momentary escape from fear that compulsions give, fools people into relying upon them. While compulsions start out as a solution, they soon become the main problem itself as they begin taking over your life. People with OCD never stay with what they fear long enough to find out that what they fear isn't true. Only by doing the opposite of what instinct tells you will you be able to find this out.
I think I know what he is saying and I think I can see where I am making errors in thinking (and placing too much meaning) but it was basically the bold title that alarmed me, I kept going back to it and back to it thinking ?is he saying that I can never use my intuition? That OCD people don?t have a trustworthy intution? ? again I know this sounds bizarre but I have stayed awake for more than one night with just this one thought.
You see my ?intuition? has lead me to discover, that well I take things ultra literal and that I am fearful that therapsists are going to tell me I?m doomed to a life of misery, amongst other things, my ?intuition? and my ?understanding? of what I am going through has helped map the path of correcting irrational thinking with my therapist, using my own intelligence to make discoveries.
It?s words like ?always leads you in the wrong direction? that fear me and ?you can always count on? these are very absolute words and really bring fear into my head.
What I think he is reffering to is more of the sufferer who has compulsions to try to combat obsessions, ie those who are contamination fearful may have compulsions to bleach their house or wash their hands thinking that if they rid themselves of germs then they will have nothing to fear, instead of coming to terms with the fact that germs are normal ok and natural ? gaining an understanding of living along side germs.
Or someone who thinks that there family is in danger if they don?t perform bizarre rituals, ie running up and down the stairs 50 time will mean that my wife wont die.
I understand all of the above and I have educated myself and understand that when OCD is in full swing it can convince you to do some pretty bizarre things that instead of alleviating the problem will help maintain it (as the irrational compulsion will not feel like you?ve done enough). My OCD is regarded as Pure-O so I don?t have the outward compulsions that some OCD sufferes have. But I get scared when people make bold statements, such as You cannot rely upon your own intuition in deciding how to deal with OCD, it makes me feel that I can?t use my initative or intelligence which cannot be right, OCD sufferes are not stupid and I feel are more than capable of helping work out what is going wrong.
Maybe if he had titled it differently I wouldn't have got so shocked.
Again I feel that I am so anxious about this that I have attached that feeling to the statement and that I am getting over literal.
I keep saying to myself, "you know this doesn't mean what you fear, you know what you have to do - you can trust yourself these are only thoughts and not fact" - however when I do that I get a nagging voice saying "you know that sounds a lot like using your initiative, you can't do that your not allowed to use your own initiative", I feel that I can't trust myself to know what is right - this can get very painful.
I thank you for reading this and wish you well.
SC