Posted: Sep 28, 2017 5:26 am
Putting aside the fact for a moment that OCD doesn't cover every aspect of life equally, because it is a disorder and therefore not logically consistent, CBT is trying to convince yourself that using your salad fork at the wrong time isn't an existential catastrophe.
I think you might not quite understand what I'm saying, or OCD. It affects an individual in a pattern which may be described as peaks and troughs. Sometimes it is severe, sometimes less so, sometimes hardly there at all. It is also something which affects quite specific topics - eg. health, germs, responsibility - not just a general need to keep order everywhere. So for example, you can keep your work place as clean as an operating theatre, but be affected so badly by OCD hoarding at home that you can't get to your own bed. Mine is never severe, but has from time to time led to my hands becoming red raw from too much washing, and many other effects which have never brought my life to a standstill, but have certainly let me know that I'm going through a fairly anxious phase.
I'm quite lucky, because I'm trained to deliver CBT to people, so I can and do use some of those techniques on myself. That doesn't mean that it never bothers me. The thoughts still come. It just means that I can dispel them more easily. That's what CBT does. It doesnt take away the thoughts which lead to the behaviours, it just allows one to 'neutralise' them before they begin to cause problems. So I can feel uncomfortable when someone writes 'complimentary' instead of 'complementary', because it's not correct and incorrect spelling bothers me (one of my issues is about order in specific areas, not all areas), but not feel the need to act on the impulse to run around tearing every sign down.
In a nutshell, just because someone feels the feelings that OCD invokes, that doesn't mean that they are sick and need immediate treatment.
I think you might not quite understand what I'm saying, or OCD. It affects an individual in a pattern which may be described as peaks and troughs. Sometimes it is severe, sometimes less so, sometimes hardly there at all. It is also something which affects quite specific topics - eg. health, germs, responsibility - not just a general need to keep order everywhere. So for example, you can keep your work place as clean as an operating theatre, but be affected so badly by OCD hoarding at home that you can't get to your own bed. Mine is never severe, but has from time to time led to my hands becoming red raw from too much washing, and many other effects which have never brought my life to a standstill, but have certainly let me know that I'm going through a fairly anxious phase.
I'm quite lucky, because I'm trained to deliver CBT to people, so I can and do use some of those techniques on myself. That doesn't mean that it never bothers me. The thoughts still come. It just means that I can dispel them more easily. That's what CBT does. It doesnt take away the thoughts which lead to the behaviours, it just allows one to 'neutralise' them before they begin to cause problems. So I can feel uncomfortable when someone writes 'complimentary' instead of 'complementary', because it's not correct and incorrect spelling bothers me (one of my issues is about order in specific areas, not all areas), but not feel the need to act on the impulse to run around tearing every sign down.
In a nutshell, just because someone feels the feelings that OCD invokes, that doesn't mean that they are sick and need immediate treatment.