Anxiety or OCD?

[jj76]

I am having a hard time listening to the tapes (esp tape 10) distinguishing between OCD and obsessive thoughts. Were Lucinda, Mike, Pat, Pam, Jackie, etc. OCD or not? My experiences are exactly like theirs but the content is different. I want to know I have something that is curable / that I can recover from.

[~Noelle~]

Obsessive thinking falls under the category of OCD. IT IS ALL CUREABLE! Your situation is not different altho your scare voice wants you to think it is so you continue to entertain it and keep it alive.

Use your tools. Thought stoppage. Calm breath and get busy doing something in the present moment. When you learn to dismiss this scare voice, you will not hear from it as often - and when you do you can just laugh at it and move on.

[Guest]

I thought acceptance was what we should be doing. I am worried because I read somewhere that thought-stopping can make it worse and that's what I have been trying to do. I am now just trying to let them come in and underreact to them and let them go out on their own. Am I making any sense?

[Guest]

You do accept and you also have to take charge instead of obsessing and worrying. You accept that this is your scare voice talking. Use thought stoppage. Lucinda talks about using the stop sign. Use your calm breath and get busy doing something outside of yourself. You can most certainly shout at this part of you that scares you if that works for you. You can also watch the thoughts like a passing cloud and not talk back to them. That is your goal. To observe instead of react.

My point is: This is cureable. One way works for some. Another way works for others. You decide which method works best for you. Thought stopping will not make it worse. It's you taking your power back.

[Guest]

Originally posted by jj76:
I thought acceptance was what we should be doing. I am worried because I read somewhere that thought-stopping can make it worse and that's what I have been trying to do. I am now just trying to let them come in and underreact to them and let them go out on their own. Am I making any sense?

I am going to respectfully disagree with Boon. This is why:

I too had this problem when I started the program and started using this forum. I'll just put it to you straight, hopefully I won't get banned:

This program is a wonderful tool to get over anxiety & depression. However, I've said this before and I'll say it again, this program is extremely weak on OCD.

I would not recommend doing the STOP sign technique or anything of the sort.

My advice to you is to stop worrying about whether or not it is OCD or "obsessive thinking" and do everything else that the program entails. EXCEPT when it comes to this one particular thing. When you are dealing with the obsessive thoughts apply the techniques that are proven to work for them. You can learn these techniques from the materials that I reference at the bottom or from a therapist who specializes in OCD.

The stop technique is an old technique, there even used to be a technique of snapping a rubber band on your hand as well. All of these are "okay" to use for regular stressful thinking. Such as, am I going to pass this test, am I going to screw up this interview, etc. Either way there are far better methods to stop those worries as well. The stop sign technique gives the thoughts more power and more merit, it doesn't work.

So I would recommend, for the obsessive thinking, whether it is OCD or not, is to check out this article:

<A HREF="http://www.ocdonline.com/articlephillipson1.php" TARGET=_blank>http://www.ocdonline.com/articlephillipson1.php</A>

There are also two threads in here that go into depth about this and offer a number of good reading materials:

<A HREF="http://bbs.stresscenter.com/eve/forums/ ... 4691056423" TARGET=_blank>http://bbs.stresscenter.com/eve/forums/ ... 1056423</A>

<A HREF="http://bbs.stresscenter.com/eve/forums/ ... 9411070563" TARGET=_blank>http://bbs.stresscenter.com/eve/forums/ ... 1070563</A>

Good luck and if you have any more problems or questions send my a PM, I've been there too so you are not alone.