Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

What Is OCD

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:24:00 +0000

OCD is a disease in which it is very difficult to manage our life. Continous negative thoughts are running in mind again and again and it is very difficult to get rid off from ocd thoughts, ocd is divided into two parts which are obsessions and compulsions.

There are different levels to OCD. Some people have a very mild form, which might be a compulsion to have everything perfectly in its place. Or it might be more extreme forms, in which the person is very distraught most of the day, tormented by anxious thoughts, and performs elaborate rituals to help ease the anxiety.

If you think you might have an OCD, it’s important to understand that it’s highly treatable and you can cure it. Accept that it’s going to take some time. You can start to tackle compulsive behavior by slowly exposing yourself to the thing that causes the behavior while not engaging in the associated ritual.

In the case of handwashing, you might allow a bit of dirt to stay on your hands without running immediately to wash it off. This is called exposure therapy, and it works well for some compulsive behavior. When the person is less sensitized, the process becomes much easier because the anxious thoughts have less impact on the person’s psyche.

When there are persistent anxious thoughts, those thoughts can be of an extremely disturbing nature. Typical examples might be parents’ fears that they would harm their children in some manner (this is common for mothers who have recently given birth).

Thoughts like that would strike a bit of fear into a non-sensitized mind, but when the person is in a nervous, sensitized state, the disturbing thought hits with such severity that it rebounds hard and fast, causing great distress. I want to reassure you that the disturbing thoughts (regardless of the severity) are not something to worry about. They are results of an deeply imagination linked with sensitization and something you care forcibly about.. If you don't have a strong worry of it, the thought would never bother you.

Accept that this is not the sign of mental illness, but simply exhaustion. If you find your OCD too severe, seek the advice of a doctor and psychologist. Sometimes a short course of medication, in combination with therapy,can be the fastest route to get over what can feel like an insurmountable hurdle.

As a final point about OCD, don’t be too quick to stick a label on yourself. Believingin a label like OCD can make a problem more solidified than it really is. Lots of people go through what would be clinically termed as an obsessive compulsive disorder without every really knowing they had it. To them, it was just a period they went through.

Labels do help to communicate ideas more easily, but often these labels carry an unnecessary ominous weight. As mentioned, anxiety is almost always accompanied by a level of anxious, disturbing thoughts, so if you experience such thoughts, don’t feel you automatically have OCD. There are tools for ocd inside you check it and deal it in your style.

What Is Obsession

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:15:00 +0000

Obsessive, but not OCD

The everyday use of the word 'obsession' often differs from what is meant by obsession in OCD. For example, the media might describe a person who stalks a celebrity as obsessed. Someone who seems to talk non-stop about the new love in their life might be described as 'obsessed' by their friends. A person who spends most of their spare time on a hobby like plane-spotting might be described as obsession.

Obsessions in OCD

On obsession, in the world of OCD, is defined as a persistent thought, images, or urges that just pops in to your mind and triggers distress. These obsessions are frequent, unwanted, and difficult to control or get rid of. An example of an obsession might be an intrusive thought or an image about stabbing your baby. You experience this thought as very upsetting and try to push it out of your mind.

Obsessions in OCD are not, however, simply worries about real-life problems or distressing images, but are associated in the person's mind with the power to prevent harm occuring. Almost everybody experiences some of the intrusive thoughts or urges that people with OCD have (e.g. having the urge to push someone on to a railway track, or worrying that the gas tap on the cooker might still be on).

People with OCD, however, not only cannot ignore such thoughts but ascribe a different meaning to them. They believe that they have the pivotal power to cause harm or prevent bad things from happening (e.g, they believe they are dangerous when they think about pushing someone onto a railway track). Consequently, and this in turn means that the thoughts become more frequent and distressing so that, over time, they affect all areas of the person's life.

In OCD, then, obsessions have a special meaning, namely, that harm might occurs to oneself, a loved one, or another vulnerable person through what the person withn OCD might do or fail to do."Harm' here is interpreted in the broadest sense and includes mental suffering.

For example, some people with OCD find it difficult to articulate the meaning of their obsession; they just feel very anxious and may believe that they will go crazy, or that the anxiety will go on for ever and ever and endanger their mental or physical health. Individuals with OCD believe they can and should prevent harm from occuring, and this leads to trying too hard in the form of compulsions and avoidance behavior.

www.toolsforocd.com

What Are Compulsions

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:08:00 +0000

Like an obsession, a compulsion also has an everyday meaning. It is defined in the dictionary as an irresistible impulse to act, regardless of the motivation. However, this includes all sorts of behaviors such as shoplifting, binge-eating, sex addiction, or gambling, which are done for immediate gratification, and are different from the compulsions of OCD.

Compulsions in OCD

In OCD, compulsions are acts that you repeat over and over again in response to an obsession. The aim of a compulsion is to reduce the liklihood of harm, so that you can feel 'just right' or 'comfortable', although over time they some times stop 'working'. A compulsion can be an act that may be observed by others(e.g. checking that a door is locked until you feel 'just right') or a mental act that cannot be observed by others(e.g. saying a certain phrase in your mind).

Mental compulsions are often complex, and may not be repeated over and over again. An example in OCD is saying a special phrase to prevent one's partner from dying. This is referred to as 'neutralizing'. Most people with OCD have more than one compulsion, but one or two predominate.

Certain compulsions tend to go with certain obsessions. For example, the most common combination is an obsession about contamination from germs or a bodily fluid that is linked with compulsive washing and cleaning. Another common combination is an obsession about causing harm leading to frequent checking (e.g. of door locks, gas taps, electrical appliances).

Compulsions like washing and checking persist because they seem to 'work' by reducing distress or preventing anxiety. However, over time compulsions do not always go on 'working'. Carrying out a compulsion may briefly reduce anxiety, but in the long term it increases the frequency of the obsesion and the urge to perform the compulsion again.

One of the main differences between compulsions and the same actions performed normally by individuals without OCD is the reasons for finishing a compulsion. Someone without OCD finishes washing their hands when they can see that their hands are clean. However, someone with an obsessive fear of contamination finishes not when they can see that their hands are clean, but only when they feel 'comfortable' or 'just right'

http://www.toolsforocd.com/

Emotions in OCD

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 07:51:00 +0000

Some individuals with OCD find the emotional consequences of an obsession difficult to articulate. These emotions are often described in terms of 'discomfort' or distress'. For most people with OCD who believe that they might be responsible for preventing harm or a catastrophe in the future, the main emotion is of anxiety. This may be severe and sudden, like a panic attack, or may be continous worry in anticipation of harm in the future.

Many also experience an emotion of disgust, for example when they think they may have been in touch with a contaminant, such as dog excrement, or a moral disgust for having intrusive thoughts. Others feel extremely ashamed and condemn themselves for having intrusive thoughts of, for example, a sexual or aggressive nature, which they believe they should not have and that others would condemn.

Occasionally, a person with OCD believes that he may be responsible for a catastrophic event in the the past, and feel intense guilt as a result. Many individuals are also depressed by the consequence of having OCD, for example if it occupies many hours of the day and cause other problems. Others become intensely frustrated and irritable, and OCD seriously affect theirrelationships with their families and friends.

Pure Obsessions

Some people have so called 'pure' obsessions, which are recurrent intrusive thoughts, images or doubts with out any of the compulsions. Examples might be obsessions along the following lines: 'Why do i exist?', 'Am I studying hard enough?', 'What will happen after die?' If this applies to you, you might be spending hours trying to resolve unanswerable questions. Although you may not be responding by performing a mental compulsion which is repeated over and over again, you probably still respond in ways that will be unhelpful, and which can be broadly classifed as 'safety-Seeking behaviors'. For example, trying to solve a problem that either does not exist or cannoy be solved or analyzing a question from different angles.

http://www.toolsforocd.com/

How Much Can OCD Affect a Person's Life

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:32:00 +0000

The severity of OCD differs markedly from one person to another, but each person's distress is very real. A person with OCD can appear to function perfectly normally despite being greatly distressed. This makes it becomes for some individuals to hide their OCD - often even from their own family. OCD generally tends to have an impact on all areas of your life-relationships, family life, social life, hobbies, and the ability to work. You can measure the degree to which OCD handicaps your life by completing by disability and then going the same thing again during and after working through the self- help program.

OCD often causes havoc in intimate relationships, and a large number of those with the condition are celibate. For those who do marry or enter long-term partnerships, discord, separation and divorce are disproportionately common.

There are many examples of how OCD might impact on family life.A person with OCD might try to ensure that other family members avoid touching 'contaminated' objects around the house, wash excessively when they have touched something 'contaminated', or leave certain clothes or shoes outside. Another might want other family members to check the door-lock repeatedly, or may constantly be seeking assurance that nothing bad has happened. There are frequent difficulties taking trips or holidays. Not surprisingly, these kinds of restriction may lead to bursts of anger and growing irritation on the part of other members of the family.

OCD tends to interfere with your ability to follow a hobby or interest or to make a normal friendships. It interferes with your ability to study or work, sometimes making it impossible, and at the least putting you at a disadvantage. Statistically, you are more likely to be unemployed if you have OCD. Lost productivity is responsible for about three-quarters of the economic cost of OCD.

It's worth repeating here that OCD is in the top ten most handicapping illness as calculated by the World Health Organization in terms of lost income and decreased quality of life. Indeed, it is worth pointing this out over and over again, almost chanting it as a mantra, to politicians, health purchasers, doctors, and psychologists until OCD is taken seriously, and more resources are made available for research, treatment and specialist services.

People with OCD do not generally tend to commit suicide or be violent, and this may be one reason why OCD is regarded as alow priority for research and clinival work; and yet someone with OCD canm be just as handicapped and distressed as someone with schizophrenia or severe depression.

Getting treatment to overcome OCD will improve the quality of your life and give you the oppurtunity to improve your relationships, your social life and ability to study or work.

http://www.toolsforocd.com/

How Common Is OCD

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:26:00 +0000

Ocd is more common than was once thought. In fact, it is the fourth most common mental disorder after depression, alcohol and substance abuse, and social phobia. This frequency is much the same all over the world, although the form of OCD may differ from one culture to another. This is because the content of an obsession is usually what a person does not want to think, or a kind of harm they particularly want to prevent. We are all influenced by current trends in what we see as important. For example, religious obsessions used to be very common but are now less frequent in western cultures.

By contrast, contemporary concerns with the health and social problems, such as AIDS and child abuse, are increasingly reflected in the obsessions described by individuals with OCD. However, while the content of obsessions and compulsions vary across individuals, cultures, and periods, the form remains the same.

OCD is generally equally common in men and women, although there are some interesting differences in the symptoms. For example, more women than men have aggresive obsessions and compulsions to do with washing, while men are more likely to have obsessions about numbers, symmetry, or exactness, or sexual obsessions, or to suffer from obsessional slowness. Women are especially at risk during pregnancy and in the postnatal period, probably because of the increased sense of resonsibility. Young children with OCD are twice as likely to be boys as to be girls.

http://www.toolsforocd.com/

Religious Cause OCD

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:15:00 +0000

Most religions contains 'rituals' - prescribed forms of speech, gesture, and action - as part of the normal rites and prayers. OCD occurs in people from all religious backgrounds, and in those who have had no involvement in organized religion. Religion by itself does not cause OCD, but for some individuals, religion may play a role in the content of OCD. In a culture where religion is a dominant the content of OCD. In other words, if you had been brought up in a different culture, you would probably have developed a different form of OCD. Research has found, too, that more severe OCD tends to be associated with more religiosity and guilt.

Examples of religious obsessions include doubts about the existence of God or religious figures, images of a sexual act with a religious figure, having to have totally 'pure' thoughts during prayer, or blasphemy. Examples of religious compulsions include repetitive praying, making the sign of a cross, or repeatedly apolozing to God. They also often overlap with other obsessions and compulsions such as contamination, checking, or repetition. Sometimes it is difficult to separate normal religious practice from OCD rituals, but the key difference is the function of the behavior.

How Does Superstitious Behavior Relate to OCD

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:10:00 +0000

Superstitions are common in various cultures, often linked to magic and astrology. When taken to an extreme, they are an alternative to science or religion, attempting to provide an 'explanation' to establish chains of cause and effect and predict future events. Simple superstition is very common feature of normal childhood thinking, when we believe that we can make things happen by making a wish, or prevent bad things from happening by a simple action. However, when superstitions persists in adults it is generally driven by fear and insecurity; it reduces the feeling of uncertainity in the world and makes us feel more in control of our destiny.

Superstitious rituals in OCD are similar to 'normal' superstitions but tend to be more complex and lengthier; like other compulsions, they become disabling, and can be finished only when the persons feels comfortable. A person with OCD will want to repeat the ritual if it is not done in a precise way or at the 'right' time, or if they are not feeling completely comfortable or right. Superstitious rituals are believed to have the function of eliminating or neutralizing bad events that have come to mind. Examples include counting up to a magic number or multiples there of, repeating specific words or images, stepping in special ways when walking, washing off bad ideas or memories, and touching certain things in a special way or a particular number of times. Superstitions can also leads to avoidance of certain numbers, colours, ideas or words (e.g. the devil) which are associated with bad events.

Can OCD Change Over Time

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:04:00 +0000

The course of OCD can vary enormously from one person to another. The symptoms may also change, so that you be a washer at one time and checker later in life. At one extreme, Ocd can be relatively mild, consisting of one or two episodes and never returning. At the other extreme, usually when the oneset is earlier, it is unremitting, constant, and more severly disabling. In between these two extremes are people for whom Ocd comes and goes in episodes, usually at times of stress.

One study, carried out before effective treatments were available, found that if left untreated the majority of individuals with OCD generally make minor improvements over the 10-20 years after oneset but do continue to experience to experience significant symptoms. About 10 percent made no improvement and 10 percent became worse. Fortunately, things have improved since then, and the message we want to get across is that OCD is treatable: it is possible either to banish it or at least diminish it so that you will get more enjoyment out of life and find it easier to function.

Avoidance and Safety-Seeking

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 13:55:00 +0000

Safety-seeking behavior is defined as an action with in a feared situation that is performed with the aim of preventing harm and reducing anxiety. So all types of escape from a particular situation, as well as neutralizing and performing compulsions, are forms of safety-seeking behavior. They are all ways of responding to an obsession.

A message we will return to over and over agin is that safety-seeking behaviors maintain obsessions. They prevent you from testing out your fears, allow the obsession to persist, and make the problem worse in the long term. Safety-seeking behaviors are a way of 'trying too hard', to prevent bad things happening; but they do not work, because the solutions then become the problem.

Our earliest understanding about OCD was based on learning theory, and the effect of avoidance and compulsions on fear. Put simply, each time you avoid a situation or activity the behavior is reinforced because you have prevented yourself from experiencing anxiety and the harm that you think might have occured if you hadn't avoided the situation. This 'reinforcing' means that you are more likely to act in the same way when you next have the oppurtunity of avoiding a situation. For example, if you avoid using public toilets because of the fear of contamination, you will have prevented yourself from feeling anxious and so you will go on avoiding public toilets because then you won't feel anxious because you think you will see blood, then you will do the same thing the next time. In both cases the avoidance behavior is reinforced.

A second key issue is the way you respond to the anxiety and the belief that you can prevent harm. In OCD, a common response to anxiety is a ritual or safety-seeking behavior. Rituals are also reinforced, so that when, for example, you check that a light switch is off and then feel less anxious, you are more likely to act in the same way in the future.

In short, avoidance and compulsions seem at first to 'work'! They work in the sense that you think that you have prevented harm (e.g. your electrics do not catch fire) and this usually either reduces your anxious or stops you feeling anxious. Unfortunately, avoidance and compulsions have a high cost, and in the long term they make you more anxious and fearful.They feed the obsesion. Thus trying too hard to get rid of your intrusive thoughts and feelings by avoidance and compulsions actually becomes the problem.

Exposure also allows you to find out whether what you expect to happen does in fact happen, and to learn new ways of behaving by acting against the way you feel. You can do a kind of formal 'behavioral experiments', in which you test out some of your feared sequences (e.g. belief that when you are very anxious you will lose control and go crazy). During the experiment, you will see if there is another way of looking at being anxious that would allow you to act differently. In some situations of course, you cannot test whether a belief is actually true, because the experiment could last for many years.

Overcoming OCD

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 13:46:00 +0000

Whatever the cause of your OCD, it is worth restating that, for most people, OCD can be effectively overcome. Future research may reveal that different types of treatments or techniques, but for the moment there is very little research to guide such questions.

When it comes to change, the 'cognitive' in cognitive behavior therapy refers to changing the meaning of intrusive thoughts and urges; 'behavior' means altering the way you respond to the obsessions. CBT will also try to help the person overcome other attitudes, such as the need for certainty taht nothing bad will happen, and to alter the criteria they may use to terminate a compulsion (e.g. 'when I feel comfortable' or 'when it's just right') standards that will tend to maintain a compulsion.

If you are unsuccessful on your own, then don't give up: you can always seek professional help.If CBT is done formally then at least three-quarters of people can be helped substantially. If this does not work either, then you can always try adding medication, which can help the same proportion of people with OCD. So at the present the prospects are good; and in the future, if the necessary funding is devoted to research, there is every chance that further progress will be made in the psychological understanding of OCD, and that further improvements in therapy will follow.

Why making Exposure easier does not Work

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:34:00 +0000

One of the main mistakes that people make when trying to overcome OCD is to make their exposure session easier on themselves by doing them with a certain degree of ritual, or transfer of responsibility, or reassurance. Ultimately, this has the effect of diluting the exposure and reducing (or stopping) it's therapeutical effect. Here are some common pitfalls - all safety-seeking behaviors - to look out for:

-- Only carrying out an exposure exercise after discussing it's potential for harm with someone
Carrying else.

-- Only carrying out an exposure exercise after carefully calculating the risk involved.

-- Running over the exposure session in your mind to check for any possible ways in which you may have caused harm.

-- Always talking over the exposure task with someone after you have done it.

-- Doing a ritual after exposure.( Remember always to transfer 'contamination' to your body or possession to make this more difficult.)

-- Carrying out neutralizing or a 'covert'(in your head) ritual in place of an 'overt' (behavioral) ritual during or after the exposure.

-- Doing exposure, then using avoidance to try to 'contain' the exposure (e.g. touching the floor but then avoiding touching other surfaces).

Some other techniques

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:16:00 +0000

Response Reduction

Response reduction is a variation of response prevention that involves gradually reducing the frequency of the rituals. For example, Natalie was encouraged by her previous therapist to reduce her checking of the water taps, locks, gas taps, and electrical applicances, which took 1 hour 45 minutes, so that, initially, it took only 1 hour 30 minutes. In principal, this seems a good idea; but the method is inelegant and the individual often gets stuck and ends up still doing some rituals.

Gradually reducing rituals can often become not a way to get to the ultimate goal, but rather means of avoiding exposure and testing out one's fears. Another problem is that many individuals can speed up their rituals so they still feel 'comfortable' or 'just right' at the end of the procedure, while no charge as really occured.We are not saying this approach should over be used, just that it should be used with caution.

The approach seems attractive but it does not put enough emphasis on exposure or a behavioral experiment. You need instead to alter your criteria: instead of finishing when you feel 'comfortable' or 'just right', use a different yardstick - such as ' I will not check after I can see the appliance is turned off. In other words, the emphasis in change should be on exposure and behavioral experiments to test out your theories rather than just reducing the frequencies of your rituals.

Rubber Bands and 'STOP!'

Some people have been taught to shout 'stop!' at their intrusive thoughts or have a rubber band around their wrist and snap it when the thought arise. Fortunately, this method seems to be dying out, as it can make things worse.If you try to stop or suppress intrusive thoughts and urges, then their frequency increases. It is important to identify clearly the obsession which you find anxiety-ptrovoking and the way in which you respond to it. Trying to stop an intrusive thoughts or obsession will just make it worse.

Resisting a compulsion is of course helpful, but you do not need to snap rubber bands ar shout to do this. If resisting a compulsion is a problem and you cannot stop yourself, then ensure that you 'undo' the compulsion by following it with exposure. For example, if you do a mental compulsion that involves swapping an upsetting image of loved ones being killed in a car accident with a neutral image of the car driving along the road, follow it with exposure to the original thought and this time imagine the carnage on the road being much worse and your loved one dying in agony.

Cognitive Therapy

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 08:07:00 +0000

Cognitive therapy also focuses on the meaning we attach to events, thoughts and images. The more negative the meaning we give something, the more negative the emotion we feel. Human beings easily misinterpret things, giving them a more negative meaning than they deserve. In the case of OCD, the heart of th problem is the way normal intrusive thoughts, images, doubts and urges are misinterpreted as abnormal, unacceptable, or dangerous.

Cognitive therapy helps people develop a more realistic and helpful way of understanding the mental events they worry as so much about and to develop behevioral experiments to test out their theories. However, try to gain a better understanding of your own problem before you feel panickly and are having intrusive thoughts or urges. Be cautions about these techniques when you are highly anxious, as we don't want to teach you how to improve assurance and mental rituals rather than eliminate them.

Cognitive therapy can also help you to reduce the chances of your OCD returning, by helping you to understand some of the thinking styles and philosophies that make you vulnerable to the problem. It can then give you tools to help reduce the chanc of these problems recurring.

A third way in which cognitive therapy can be especially helpful is in reducing the obstacles to chance, such as shame and depression, that many individuals with OCD encounter when as they strive towards overcoming it.

Thinking Errors ->
Understanding your 'thinking errors' is a key aspect of cognitive therapy. These inaccurate or unhelpful ways of thinking are by no means unique to OCD sufferers - on the contrary, nearly everyone tends to fall into them from time to time. Unfortunately, emotions such as anxiety, depression, guilty, and shame tend to increase the extent to which we tend to think in a distorted way, and these distorted thoughts can, in turn, leads to more emotions.

Magical Thinking ->
Magical thinking is the belief that one has the power to influence good or bad events, and leads on to superstitious behaviors. Magical thinking is common in OCD. The goal here is to accept intrusive thoughts, images and urges without engaging in any mental activity or behavior that makes us think we can magically prevent them from occuring. 'Acceptance' means treating the thought as just as thought - for example, if you believe that you arecontaminated and that you will lose control and go crazy. It,s purely a mental event.

To strip intrusive thoughts and images of their assumed 'power', we recommend a positive pursuit of anti-superstition, to the point of trying to make bad things happen in our head and in writing to show that it can't be done . Bad things do occasionally happen to all of us, but by chance, not because we have willed it or 'tempted fate'. So sdtand up and fight against OCD and superstitious claptrap! For example, if you are worried about unlucky numbers, make a goal of asking for 13 in various transactions and have pictures of 666 in your bedroom. They are just numbers!

Catastrophizing ->
Individuals with OCD have very often made a 'catastrophic misinterpretation' of an intrusive thoughts, intrusive image, a doubt, or an urges to act in an unacceptable or unusual way. One way of tackling this is first to identify your catastrophic misinterpretation, and think of some alternative ways of interpreting it.

'Black-and-White' thinking ->

This refers to thinking in opposite extreme. The problem is that when we think in extremes we tend also to feel and act in more unhelpful and extreme ways.Examples of black-and-white thinking in OCD are:

'Either iam sure that my intrusive thought is safe, or it's dangerous'

'Either iam sure responsible for causing harm or iam not'

'Either iam clean or iam dirty'

The solution to black-and-white thinking is to think in degrees, like a thermometre. This is what we call the 'continuum method for tackling black-and-white thinking'The aim in using the continuum technique is to set the two ends of the 'either/or' continuum using the concept you have becom caught up in, such as '100 percent good person' and '100 percent bad person' if you believe something like 'either iam good in all i think or do or iam a bad person'

Demands ->
'Must','should','have to' and 'ought' are all words that mean you are making demands of yourself or others. Examples of demands are:

-- They are in flexible, which makes them poorly suited to dealing with real people and the real
world, which do not conform absolutely to rigid rules.
-- I should be in control of the thoughts and images that across my mind.
-- I must be certain that my actions or lack of action do not result in harm to myself or others.
-- I have got to take every care not to pass on contamination.
-- Because iam a basically sensible person I ought to be able to get rid of my OCD without
needing help or advice.
-- Because my family know I become upset if they come into the house without washing their hands they absolutely should do so, whether or not they think it's reasonable.
-- People ought to be more careful not to cause harm accidentally.

There are various problems with the demands we place on ourselves, other people, and the world around us:

--They are unhelpful, leading to painful, disturbed emotions(e.g. anxiety, guilt, shame) and counterproductive behaviors(e.g rituals and avoidance) when they are not met. Even when we do meet them we quickly tend to become anxious about whether we will able to continue to meet them.

--They are illogical, in the sense that they do not logically follow from our wishes and preferences. For example, it's natural to want not to have images of the people we love being killed, but it does not make sense to say that because i do not like it( a preference), I must not have it (a demand).

Trying too hard to control your thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:54:00 +0000

Learning to accept your thoughts

The idea that one should control one's thoughts is another common belief among individuals with OCD . The problem is that absolute control of one's thought is impossible and counterproductive, and results in more of the thoughts you were trying to get rid of, or their seeming to be even more out of control. Also, being able to choose the thoughts that enter your mind would almost entirely put a stop to any orginality and creative problem solving. It is so much easier and healthier to stop trying to control thoughts and feelings.

Imagine you are a bus driver and you are selective about who you want to get on and off your bus. The passengers are your thoughts, feelings, memories, and bodily experiences. Some of them look a bit scary in the way they are dressed, some are armed with knives, others smell a bit, and so on.
Now, imagine trying to get some of these passengers off the bus or stop some of them getting on. It would be quite a struggle, and you would be unlikely to be able to drive very far while you are monitoring all your passengers and everyone who wants to get on! But this precisely what you may be doing with your intrusive thoughts, images, urges and feelings of your anxiety. Being able to drive the bus and make progress means truly accepting and tolerating passengers and accepting them,even if they are a bit scary or smelly.

'Let them be' - detached observation and mindfulness

There is a trend in CBT towards the application of 'mindfulness' medication in working towards an acceptance of emotion and suffering rather than trying to control such feelings. In many respects this approach fits neatly with contemporary psychological thepry on how to manage intrusive thoughts, images, doubts and urges. Mindfulness was originally part of zen buddhist practice.

However, researchers and clinicals have applied mindfulness without any of it's religious connotations to helping people with mental distress. Mindfulness practice involves learning to be fully present in the current moment, but without passing judgment on that which you are experiencing.

The application of this approach to overcoming OCD is obvious, since at the heart of the problem lie the making of extreme judgment about intrusive thoughts, images, doubts and urges; these are the meanings and misinterpretations that give rise to obsessions.

Some people feel uncomfortable or confused about the spiritual connotations of mindfulness, whereas others find it helpful to think of it as an 'un-psychiatric' treatment. As yet no scientific studies have been done on formal mindfulness training in OCD, but theoretically it fits. Experience is that it can be a useful component of treatment for some people with OCD, especially when intrusive thoughts and urges are prominent. Mindfulness means acknowledging the intrusive thoughts and urges but not engaging with hem, and instead refocusing your attention.

A useful analogy is to imagine the intrusive ideas as cars on a road. When you have OCD, you focus on particular cars and respond by trying to stop them or push them to one side. Alternately, you may try to flag the car down, get into he driving seat and park it. Of course, often there is no place to park; and then, as soon as you have parked one car, another one comes along.

Being 'mindful' means being on the footpath, acknowledging the cars that come past but just then walking along the footpath and refocusing your attention on other parts of the environment. In other words, intrusive ideas have no other meaning than passing traffic - they are just thoughts and images and part of the rich tapestry of human existence. OCD is a problem of misinterpreting normal thoughts and ideas and believing that you are able to prevent harm from occuring.

Sexual Obsessions

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 07:37:00 +0000

A common intrusive thought is a doubt whether you are homosexual, it is of course perfectly normal to have such doubts, but again the thought needs to be seen in the context of your OCD. You may be horrified of being gay, so that the reason you have such worries or doubts is because you fear being gay and believe it would be devastating for you.

You may then try too hard to banish such thoughts or ideas, or try to prove to yourself that you are not gay - for example, by visiting a prostitute or seeing if you can still get aroused with the opposite sex. Sometimes this backfires, because anxiety can interfere with normal sexual functioning, and this is likely to reinforce your fears that you may be gay.

It is very normal to have intrusive thoughts and worries about being homosexual, especially as an adolescent when you are beginning to develop your sexual identity and feelings. However, someone without OCD will treat such thoughts as just as an idea, they might experiment, or they might accept that sexuality is not black and white. Just like any other intrusive thought and don't respond to it. Prove to yourself that it's just a thought by going to gay bars and being in the company of gay friends, and don't try to prove that you are heterosexual.

A similar situation occurs when someone with OCD becomes highly anxious about abusing a child. They may focus attention on their genitals to 'assess' their response to children or intrusive thoughts. They may notice sensations that are normally there and misinterpret them as signs of sexual arousal; they may notice arousal responses that are a consequence of anxiety, and misinterpret these as a sign of desire.

Again, the more you gain confidense in these explanations of what is happening, by trying them out in reality, the sooner your obsession will subside.

We should emphasize over and over again that having intrusive sexual thoughts towards children is perfectly normal. They pass through the minds of many people without OCD but no one pays much attention to them: they are irrelevant, just thoughts. Someone with OCD, by contrast, treats such thoughts as dangerous and starts to notice reflex sensations in their genitals as a sign they are aroused, and so the vicious circle of avoidance and mental rituals.

http://www.toolsforocd.com/

Self Help for OCD

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 07:30:00 +0000

The OCD free twin Technique:

This is a useful technique to use when you are trying to decide upon an alternative behavior.Imagine a person who is the same as you in every respect, but does not have OCD. Then imagine what your OCD free twin would do, and act 'as if' you were your OCD free twin.

Friends, family members, and caregivers can also use this principle if they are unsure how to interact with you. They can also imagine your OCd free twin, and strive towards treating you in the way they would your OCD free twin.

The Survey Method:

If you really cannot decide (or cannot agree!) on an alternative behavior, try the survey method, and quiz family and friends about what they'd do in a specific situation. However, be careful that this doesnt become a ritual for seeking reassurance or a means of justifyimg a ritual.

The survey method can also be a useful way of gathering information about kinds of intrusive thoughts, images, and impulses. Take a poll of your relatives' and friends' strangest, most upsetting, or even funniest intrusive thoughts, images or impulses. You may need to give them a few examples to get them started, but you will probably be pretty surprised at what does go through the average person's mind. However, because it means nothing to them, they may notice them very easily and forget about them easily, so beware of thinking that they don't have such thoughts if they say they can't call any to mind when you ask them.

http://www.toolsforocd.com/

Feeling Good

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:33:00 +0000

If 10,000 PEOPLE say we are good, but we feel bad, we will believe we are bad. Conversely, if 10,000 people say we are bad, but we feel good, we believe we are good...we are what we feel.

Countless bad experiences caused us to feel bad and believe that we were bad, not good enough in same way; everything else followed. To turn this around, we can do the opposite: feel good as often as we can, in as many varied ways that we can until our world starts to revolve around feeling good instead of feeling bad.

However, our feelings, thoughts and actions (the anxiety-related problems) all support feeling bad, the connections are many and strong. Feeling good doesn't fit (just like not being able to accept a compliment); it goes against everything we are.

Therefore, we need to wait a while, to practise acceptance and distraction and develop good habits regarding relaxation, exercise, diet and sleep until the connection weaken. When they do, we can start to shape nem ones, strong connections around good feelings and everything else will follow.

To do this, we need to do countless things that make us feel good naturally ( not using artificial stimulants which reprent false control) to forge many new and varied connections.And we don't need to think about anything, we are not trying to be good or having to be good, we just need to experience the feeling -all we have to do is notice and accept the feeling, just feel the feeling good.

Here are some ways we can feel good:-

- Surround ourselves with beautiful things

pictures, paintings, photographs, furnitures, furnishings - things that makes us feel good when we look at/ use them.

- Hobbies and activities

Finding something that we sincerely, unreservedly and guiltlessly enjoy doing and doing it often.

- Reading

Depending on what we read, it can calm, inspire, amaze and empower us.

- Listening to music

Studies have shown that listening to music can relieve stress and is good for the heart and mind. It can affect us in many ways similar to reading. Singing and dancing provide even more good feelings.

- Walking

Can clear the mind; give us some fresh air and a break from the many chores of life. Try walking barefoot in the grass occasionally and break down society's barriers between ourselves and nature. Feeling the earth beneath the bare soles of our feet can make us feel secure - if we let it.

- Dress

When we feel down we may often dress correspondingly. Conversly dressing in fine clothes can make us feel good.
The more and varied the information we can provide, the stronger will be the connections that we form.
so, we need to use as many senses as possible in the things we do to feel good. Others ways include:-

- Touch

The skin, the largest organ in the body contains around 500,000 receptors for touch and pressure.Touch is directly related to the emotions ( think how you feel when you are touched by some one who loves you); babies fail to thrive if they receive little or no affection in their early days and smoking produces friendly, loving animals.

Massage makes us feel good and we can get many of the same benefits through self-massage. Learn how to do it; self-massage of areas such as: the head, tummy, and abdomen can produce pleasent feelings inside. Do it with no preconceptions, associations or expectations - just experience the feelings.

- Smell

Like touch, smell has deep connections to our emotions. We are only beginning to discover the power of it; take, for example, the unconscious recognition of immune systems through pheromones. Researchers have found that up to 10,000 proteins are used in our smell receptors and that each has its own genes, an awful lot of genes for one sense. Perhaps whenever we are feeling good, we should pay particular attention to any associated smells?

HAPPY

-> Help
When ever we help others we help ourselves.

-> Appreciate
When we appreciate something or someone, we are feeling the good in them. A goodness in ourselves generated from What we think about others. Next time you see something or someone that is beautiful just appreciate the beauty (dont make any comparisons) - see how you feel.Hand-in-Hand with appreciation goes gratitude - when you feel good and good things happen to you, be thankful.

-> Praise
If we genunily give deserved praise, it makes others feel good and when we make others feel good, we cannot help but make ourselves feel good.

-> Present(to, or give)
Whatever we give with a good heart (examples include: a smile, compliment, letter, phone call, visit, gift, love, kindness)

-> You
When our personal space is invaded we feel threatened; notice the uncomfortable feelings that people have when strangers get too close, as in lifts or on public transport. Take a few minutes each day just for you, in your own space.Remember, dont force anything, just be true to yourself.We are not trying to be good; We are not trying 'how to be'. We don't have to be anything for we are good as we are - all we have to do is generate the good feelings and accept them.

http://www.toolsforocd.com/

Mission OCD Conclusion

noreply@blogger.com (abhishek bajaj) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:57:00 +0000

I shown above many steps to cure ocd, they are best to deal with ocd, but at the last i want to describe about some medicines which are used for treatment of ocd medicines for those, they are unable to follow above steps without any support, so they can use medicines for better treatment.

Today SSRI medicines often use to cure Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, they are as follows:

Selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors:

Fluoxetine (Prozac)
Fluvoxamine (Luvox)
Sertraline (Zoloft)
Paroxetine (Paxil)
Citalopram (Celexa)
Escitalopram (Lexapro)
Clomipramine (Anafranil,tricyclic antidepressant)
Venlafaxine (Effexor)

Good Luck
End of the Mission OCD

http://www.toolsforocd.com/

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