Strategies for dealing with obsessive-complusive disorder
by Linda Maran, author of Confronting the Bully of OCD
If you or someone you know has OCD then you know something about fear and suffering. It is a vicious cycle and one that is difficult to break. OCD is a chronic disorder that affects one in every fifty people, striking usually at the prime of life in one's adolescence or early twenties, waxing and waning through the ongoing years. The OCD sufferer can attest that the condition worsens during times of stress, even a happy kind of stress such as weddings, vacation time and job promotions. It seems to interfere with plans constantly with either brief or long periods of relief in between but always leaving the sufferer aware that it will return only to bring more fear and suffering.
So how can a person with OCD gain control over the OCD and find a happy existence with this chronic disorder? Studies have shown that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is an effective means toward that goal. With this technique the sufferer is taught to face the OCD and not cringe from it. Eventually the brain actually learns a new way to deal with the fear as if it has been medicated to do so. This of course, takes time, effort and courage.
One strategy used by Dr. Steven Brodsky, an OCD specialist in New York City, is to view the OCD as a bully. If you run from a real bully in life, the bully will continue to pursue and harass you. But once you stand up to a bully, he or she will back off. For instance, if a bully at school tells a girl that her hairstyle is ridiculous, she might stick up for herself in a defensive hurt manner and say: "No, it's not! How dare you criticize my hair!" Saying that only makes the bully feel more powerful because he or she knows that the girl is upset. If instead the criticized girl replied: "Yep, the more ridiculous the better. I love being eccentric." The bully would have no comeback. The insult would not have caused the reaction intended if the girl gave a sarcastic almost comical reply rather than a frightened or angry one. She can exaggerate the whole thing to the point of it being silly. Well, it is the same with OCD. Turn it against itself by blowing up the threat to the point of it being almost humorous.
If for example, a thought comes into your head that you must turn the light on 6 times or else a tragedy will happen later in the day. You can blow it up by talking back to the OCD thought just like it is a bully who is threatening you to do this. You can say: "Great, bring the tragedy on! I've been too bored lately anyway, I can use the excitement."
Now grant you, this will not feel "natural" to you as you do it, but it will disarm the OCD temporarily. The more you do it, the more natural it will start to feel and the more you will be taking back your own power. This is not a one time miracle fix; it takes lots of practice. You need to do it often with every fearful thought or compulsion that the OCD throws at you.
Another way to get accustomed to facing the OCD as a bully is with what is called: EXPOSURE AND RESPONSE. This simply means exposing yourself to your fear and gauging the response you have regarding the anxiety you feel. With this strategy we always start small. So,if you have several OCD symptoms going on, pick the one that causes you the least anxiety on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the lowest, 10 being the highest anxiety level.) Let's say the least anxiety-causing obsession is checking the outlets and stove ten times before leaving the house. This obsession is maybe about a 2 or 3 on your scale of anxiety. You begin to expose yourself to the fear by only checking five times instead of ten times. The OCD will make you feel frightened for not going back to check five more times, and this is when you talk back to it as if it is a bully, blowing up the facts to a sarcastic humor. "Five times is all you get pal. What are you going to do about it? Burn the house down? Go ahead, I have insurance and I could use a new renovation." Then you jot down how much anxiety your checking only 5 times and your comeback to the OCD has caused you. Let's say you rated it a 6 in the level of anxiety. Each day you continue to check only five times, (talking back to the OCD like it is a bully) until the anxiety level you jot down goes down to a 1 or 0. After several days your brain and nerves will begin to see that the OCD is nothing more than a threat and your anxiety level WILL go down. Then you can begin lowering your checking from 5 times to 4 times, then to 3 times, etc. until you no longer have to check at all! Yes, this can happen if you stick to the exercises.
This strategy works with all symptoms of OCD whether they are intrusive unpleasant thoughts, compulsions to do things or avoidance issues. We'll use the avoidance issues as another example to affirm this technique. Suppose you will not ride public transportation because you fear catching the flu even though you have had a flu vaccine. The OCD is telling you that no matter what, if you take a bus or a train you will catch some new case of the flu not yet protected with the vaccine. Not only that, but you will get the worst possible case of it. Well, we do the same thing as with the checking issue. We get the notebook and rate this fear from 1 to 10. So let's say this obsession causes lots of anxiety, maybe a 9 on the scale of 1 to 10. So how can we start small with it? We do not get on a bus or train right away. Instead, we simply go to the bus station, bus stop or train station. We are exposing ourselves to our fear gradually by staring small and gauging our anxiety level in our notebook. How much anxiety do we feel being at the bus stop or train station? Jot it down. Maybe it's about a 5. Whatever it is, if it is above a level 1, go to the bus stop or train station as often as you can, maybe twice a day or at least once a day until the level of anxiety lessens to a 1 or even to 0. Then raise the exposure to the next level. Now it gets tougher! Actually TAKE the bus or the train for only one stop. This of course might take a week or more of practice to get the anxiety level down to a 1 or 0, but it will happen with practice. Also while doing the exposure exercises, remember to talk back to the OCD as if it is a bully each time a frightening thought comes to mind. If it threatens you with something like: "You are exposing yourself to a new strain of the flu from taking this train, even for just the one stop." In response you can say: "Good, I can use some publicity in the newspapers and some time off to read all of my magazines and catch up on my soaps." Never back down. Get sarcastic. Become a comedian. See how tough you really are! It works! And eventually in this example, the OCD sufferer would eventually be able to take the bus and train again to and from a destination after practicing the exposure and response strategy along with talking back to the OCD as if it is a bully. Persistence is the key.
One thing the reader should keep in mind during all of this is that you WILL feel anxiety and you are supposed to feel it. Feeling anxiety means that you are facing your fear like you are supposed to be doing. And while it might feel unpleasant at first, look at it as a sign that you are no longer cringing in the face of fear but instead gaining strength from it. Eventually the anxiety will lessen but you need to bear with it for a while. Some therapists might recommend medication during the beginning of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to get the OCD sufferer to stick with it. But if the sufferer is not able to get to a qualified therapist she or he can do other things to manage the anxiety.
Following are a few suggestions:
Try to avoid sugar, caffeine and processed foods for a while these foods can make the body become over-stimulated and also fatigued. Drink warm milk or chamomile tea before bed to soothe and calm you a bit. Get some fresh air when possible by taking walks before work or before the bulk of the day begins. Walking helps release tension and will benefit you while you begin your fight against the bully of OCD. Confide in a trusted friend, a spouse or a minister or priest about your OCD issues and how you are trying to gain control over it. Sharing your successes and your setbacks with a trusted person can be a tremendous help in your quest to battle the OCD. Finally, realize one very important fact: you are NOT the OCD. It might feel as if it is a part of you, as if it is your fault and your creation, but it is not. It doesn't mean that you are weak in character either. Many famous people have had and have OCD. Post a stick-up note on your mirror or on the fridge saying: I AM NOT THE OCD to remind you of this fact regularly. The realization of this separation of you from the OCD is what will help you view the OCD like the bully it is, rather than trying to fight your own mind.
While OCD is a chronic condition, it doesn't have to rule your life. You can be the one in control whenever it makes an appearance in your life. There is so much help available now to people with OCD that we have much to be grateful and hopeful for these days. Dr. Steven Brodsky's helpful website is: OCD HOTLINE.
by Linda Maran, author of Confronting the Bully of OCD
If you or someone you know has OCD then you know something about fear and suffering. It is a vicious cycle and one that is difficult to break. OCD is a chronic disorder that affects one in every fifty people, striking usually at the prime of life in one's adolescence or early twenties, waxing and waning through the ongoing years. The OCD sufferer can attest that the condition worsens during times of stress, even a happy kind of stress such as weddings, vacation time and job promotions. It seems to interfere with plans constantly with either brief or long periods of relief in between but always leaving the sufferer aware that it will return only to bring more fear and suffering.
So how can a person with OCD gain control over the OCD and find a happy existence with this chronic disorder? Studies have shown that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is an effective means toward that goal. With this technique the sufferer is taught to face the OCD and not cringe from it. Eventually the brain actually learns a new way to deal with the fear as if it has been medicated to do so. This of course, takes time, effort and courage.
One strategy used by Dr. Steven Brodsky, an OCD specialist in New York City, is to view the OCD as a bully. If you run from a real bully in life, the bully will continue to pursue and harass you. But once you stand up to a bully, he or she will back off. For instance, if a bully at school tells a girl that her hairstyle is ridiculous, she might stick up for herself in a defensive hurt manner and say: "No, it's not! How dare you criticize my hair!" Saying that only makes the bully feel more powerful because he or she knows that the girl is upset. If instead the criticized girl replied: "Yep, the more ridiculous the better. I love being eccentric." The bully would have no comeback. The insult would not have caused the reaction intended if the girl gave a sarcastic almost comical reply rather than a frightened or angry one. She can exaggerate the whole thing to the point of it being silly. Well, it is the same with OCD. Turn it against itself by blowing up the threat to the point of it being almost humorous.
If for example, a thought comes into your head that you must turn the light on 6 times or else a tragedy will happen later in the day. You can blow it up by talking back to the OCD thought just like it is a bully who is threatening you to do this. You can say: "Great, bring the tragedy on! I've been too bored lately anyway, I can use the excitement."
Now grant you, this will not feel "natural" to you as you do it, but it will disarm the OCD temporarily. The more you do it, the more natural it will start to feel and the more you will be taking back your own power. This is not a one time miracle fix; it takes lots of practice. You need to do it often with every fearful thought or compulsion that the OCD throws at you.
Another way to get accustomed to facing the OCD as a bully is with what is called: EXPOSURE AND RESPONSE. This simply means exposing yourself to your fear and gauging the response you have regarding the anxiety you feel. With this strategy we always start small. So,if you have several OCD symptoms going on, pick the one that causes you the least anxiety on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the lowest, 10 being the highest anxiety level.) Let's say the least anxiety-causing obsession is checking the outlets and stove ten times before leaving the house. This obsession is maybe about a 2 or 3 on your scale of anxiety. You begin to expose yourself to the fear by only checking five times instead of ten times. The OCD will make you feel frightened for not going back to check five more times, and this is when you talk back to it as if it is a bully, blowing up the facts to a sarcastic humor. "Five times is all you get pal. What are you going to do about it? Burn the house down? Go ahead, I have insurance and I could use a new renovation." Then you jot down how much anxiety your checking only 5 times and your comeback to the OCD has caused you. Let's say you rated it a 6 in the level of anxiety. Each day you continue to check only five times, (talking back to the OCD like it is a bully) until the anxiety level you jot down goes down to a 1 or 0. After several days your brain and nerves will begin to see that the OCD is nothing more than a threat and your anxiety level WILL go down. Then you can begin lowering your checking from 5 times to 4 times, then to 3 times, etc. until you no longer have to check at all! Yes, this can happen if you stick to the exercises.
This strategy works with all symptoms of OCD whether they are intrusive unpleasant thoughts, compulsions to do things or avoidance issues. We'll use the avoidance issues as another example to affirm this technique. Suppose you will not ride public transportation because you fear catching the flu even though you have had a flu vaccine. The OCD is telling you that no matter what, if you take a bus or a train you will catch some new case of the flu not yet protected with the vaccine. Not only that, but you will get the worst possible case of it. Well, we do the same thing as with the checking issue. We get the notebook and rate this fear from 1 to 10. So let's say this obsession causes lots of anxiety, maybe a 9 on the scale of 1 to 10. So how can we start small with it? We do not get on a bus or train right away. Instead, we simply go to the bus station, bus stop or train station. We are exposing ourselves to our fear gradually by staring small and gauging our anxiety level in our notebook. How much anxiety do we feel being at the bus stop or train station? Jot it down. Maybe it's about a 5. Whatever it is, if it is above a level 1, go to the bus stop or train station as often as you can, maybe twice a day or at least once a day until the level of anxiety lessens to a 1 or even to 0. Then raise the exposure to the next level. Now it gets tougher! Actually TAKE the bus or the train for only one stop. This of course might take a week or more of practice to get the anxiety level down to a 1 or 0, but it will happen with practice. Also while doing the exposure exercises, remember to talk back to the OCD as if it is a bully each time a frightening thought comes to mind. If it threatens you with something like: "You are exposing yourself to a new strain of the flu from taking this train, even for just the one stop." In response you can say: "Good, I can use some publicity in the newspapers and some time off to read all of my magazines and catch up on my soaps." Never back down. Get sarcastic. Become a comedian. See how tough you really are! It works! And eventually in this example, the OCD sufferer would eventually be able to take the bus and train again to and from a destination after practicing the exposure and response strategy along with talking back to the OCD as if it is a bully. Persistence is the key.
One thing the reader should keep in mind during all of this is that you WILL feel anxiety and you are supposed to feel it. Feeling anxiety means that you are facing your fear like you are supposed to be doing. And while it might feel unpleasant at first, look at it as a sign that you are no longer cringing in the face of fear but instead gaining strength from it. Eventually the anxiety will lessen but you need to bear with it for a while. Some therapists might recommend medication during the beginning of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to get the OCD sufferer to stick with it. But if the sufferer is not able to get to a qualified therapist she or he can do other things to manage the anxiety.
Following are a few suggestions:
Try to avoid sugar, caffeine and processed foods for a while these foods can make the body become over-stimulated and also fatigued. Drink warm milk or chamomile tea before bed to soothe and calm you a bit. Get some fresh air when possible by taking walks before work or before the bulk of the day begins. Walking helps release tension and will benefit you while you begin your fight against the bully of OCD. Confide in a trusted friend, a spouse or a minister or priest about your OCD issues and how you are trying to gain control over it. Sharing your successes and your setbacks with a trusted person can be a tremendous help in your quest to battle the OCD. Finally, realize one very important fact: you are NOT the OCD. It might feel as if it is a part of you, as if it is your fault and your creation, but it is not. It doesn't mean that you are weak in character either. Many famous people have had and have OCD. Post a stick-up note on your mirror or on the fridge saying: I AM NOT THE OCD to remind you of this fact regularly. The realization of this separation of you from the OCD is what will help you view the OCD like the bully it is, rather than trying to fight your own mind.
While OCD is a chronic condition, it doesn't have to rule your life. You can be the one in control whenever it makes an appearance in your life. There is so much help available now to people with OCD that we have much to be grateful and hopeful for these days. Dr. Steven Brodsky's helpful website is: OCD HOTLINE.
