Dear Soft Hearted Loves,
This tip is pretty simple, but it has been the most helpful suggestion for people I know. Learning as much as you can is helpful for OCD. It allows the noting thing we talked about in the beginning of this series to be that much easier. Learning more about OCD takes away some of the narrative that what the OCD tells us is true. We never want to invalidate feelings. However, there are some OCD narratives that can be scary and when we don’t know whether it is true or not it can feel scary plus confusing.
With OCD people have obsessions and compulsions, and sometimes both. They wax and wane throughout the month and over the years. Sometimes people will notice them go away or come back in another form. We’ve focused primarily on the obsessions in our four part series, but feel free to let me know if you want more articles on compulsions. There’s several types of OCD thoughts. We know they come up more when someone has too much caffeine and can sometimes be triggered by other substances. OCD is also triggered by less sleep, before someone menstruates, with change, and the media. There’s lots that can be done to lessen or even eliminate some of the triggers and nonetheless OCD can still arise. Education about what is OCD and that it is not your fault can transform life and your treatment approach. There is so much hope to be had with learning about OCD.
When you learn about the different types of OCD that may pick at your relationship, body, or character you can then note them as a thought, and not as truth. It gives us a little needed distance to say “hey, I think I learned about this type of OCD, maybe this is — type of OCD and not a sentence for who I am. Maybe I’m not horrible for thinking this intrusive thought if it’s simply a neurological firing.”
There’s some helpful and unhelpful information out there about OCD so please be mindful about what you take in rather than going down a rabbit hole about rabbit holes or ask your therapist to learn more about OCD. I find the video below to be helpful in addition to the workbook I’ve recommended (http://<p>https://bookshop.org/a/23992/9781626254343</p>). Lastly, I recommend folks use their highest coping such as deep belly breathing while delving into OCD info because sometimes people need breaks or to feel as calm as possible learning about OCD. Please be gentle on yourself and let me know if you’d like more on OCD such as family/community support or more on compulsions.
With kindness,
Dr. Joharchi
Soft Heart Psychology 