Hello to everyone, I am new here although I have been reading these boards for the past few months now. I joined so that I could post a question for which I desperately need some feedback on. I could really use some advice regarding the best way to treat a sensorimotor obsession with breathing. It is impacting my life at this point.
It started about a month ago while doing a breathing awareness exercise as part of a mindfulness meditation program (which I was doing to help reduce anxiety). The idea was to focus on your breathing without letting your mind wander (which was supposed to be difficult). Well it was until I thought to myself "what if I can't stop being aware of my breathing". From that point on I got stuck with what I discovered through online research is called a sensorimotor obsession with breathing. Before this instance I did not know that I had OCD.
There doesn't seem to be much information about this specific OCD condition. I have read the Dr. Steve Seay and Dr. David Keuler articles on this issue which focus on ERP as the treatment method. I have also purchased a book called Overcoming Obsessive Thoughts by Dr's. Purdon and Clark (focusing on Pure-O OCD specifically). I am currently reading the OCD Workbook and hope it might help me. I also read about and ordered Dr. Jeffery Schwartz's book Brain Lock and understand the 4-step method he teaches.
I have just started seeing a psychologist who believes I should apply ERP therapy with the use of written and recorded exposure based on my worst fears about this breathing obsession. I guess something like recording "I will never stop thinking about my breathing" or "from now on I will always have to consciously control my breathing" and then listening to this on a loop for like an hour everyday until I get sick of it and become habituated to these thoughts without having any anxiety response. This is the Exposure component I assume but I don't understand what the Response Prevention part should be. Is the coping strategy a mental one that tells me to avoid thinking about the breathing obsession and I have to prevent myself from doing this?
The thing is that sometimes I am able to get over this breathing obsession completely and can go on without thinking about it for days (this is especially the case when I get distracted). I realize there is nothing to be anxious about and that I have always breathed normally without any issues all of my life. There is no difference between me before this issue and me right now aside from my thought process. I thought I had this licked...
I went from being aware of my breathing throughout the day to only being aware at night when going to sleep (sleep became a trigger) to being over it and just recently BACK AGAIN to being distracted both day and night (after having thought I was over this). I don't understand how my mind is doing this to me even after I have been able to decouple the anxiety from my breathing awareness successfully in the recent past to the point where I thought I was perfectly fine!
Is anyone out there dealing with this breathing obsession currently with a professional? I feel like there is not a lot of research on this specific problem and that most treatment methods focus more on traditional OCD symptoms which feature obsessions and compulsions. Agian I don't really even understand what the compulsion part of this breathing obsession is although I assume it must be something mental.
The therapist I went to before my current psychologist said that OCD requires medication to handle and that I should definitely get evaluated by a psychiatrist. This particular therapist admitted to have been suffering from OCD and was on meds which made all the difference. Although this was a bias towards medications/ssri's given their experience which my current psychologist calls transference (applying your situation to someone else).
Now I am beginning to wonder if an SSRI would be the solution to getting rid of this breathing obsession once and for all (in conjunction with CBT). Has anyone here who deals with this breathing awareness (or any other sensorimotor obsession) had any noticeable results with medications? Any advice at this point would be greatly appreciated (I am sorry for the length of this post).
It started about a month ago while doing a breathing awareness exercise as part of a mindfulness meditation program (which I was doing to help reduce anxiety). The idea was to focus on your breathing without letting your mind wander (which was supposed to be difficult). Well it was until I thought to myself "what if I can't stop being aware of my breathing". From that point on I got stuck with what I discovered through online research is called a sensorimotor obsession with breathing. Before this instance I did not know that I had OCD.
There doesn't seem to be much information about this specific OCD condition. I have read the Dr. Steve Seay and Dr. David Keuler articles on this issue which focus on ERP as the treatment method. I have also purchased a book called Overcoming Obsessive Thoughts by Dr's. Purdon and Clark (focusing on Pure-O OCD specifically). I am currently reading the OCD Workbook and hope it might help me. I also read about and ordered Dr. Jeffery Schwartz's book Brain Lock and understand the 4-step method he teaches.
I have just started seeing a psychologist who believes I should apply ERP therapy with the use of written and recorded exposure based on my worst fears about this breathing obsession. I guess something like recording "I will never stop thinking about my breathing" or "from now on I will always have to consciously control my breathing" and then listening to this on a loop for like an hour everyday until I get sick of it and become habituated to these thoughts without having any anxiety response. This is the Exposure component I assume but I don't understand what the Response Prevention part should be. Is the coping strategy a mental one that tells me to avoid thinking about the breathing obsession and I have to prevent myself from doing this?
The thing is that sometimes I am able to get over this breathing obsession completely and can go on without thinking about it for days (this is especially the case when I get distracted). I realize there is nothing to be anxious about and that I have always breathed normally without any issues all of my life. There is no difference between me before this issue and me right now aside from my thought process. I thought I had this licked...
I went from being aware of my breathing throughout the day to only being aware at night when going to sleep (sleep became a trigger) to being over it and just recently BACK AGAIN to being distracted both day and night (after having thought I was over this). I don't understand how my mind is doing this to me even after I have been able to decouple the anxiety from my breathing awareness successfully in the recent past to the point where I thought I was perfectly fine!
Is anyone out there dealing with this breathing obsession currently with a professional? I feel like there is not a lot of research on this specific problem and that most treatment methods focus more on traditional OCD symptoms which feature obsessions and compulsions. Agian I don't really even understand what the compulsion part of this breathing obsession is although I assume it must be something mental.
The therapist I went to before my current psychologist said that OCD requires medication to handle and that I should definitely get evaluated by a psychiatrist. This particular therapist admitted to have been suffering from OCD and was on meds which made all the difference. Although this was a bias towards medications/ssri's given their experience which my current psychologist calls transference (applying your situation to someone else).
Now I am beginning to wonder if an SSRI would be the solution to getting rid of this breathing obsession once and for all (in conjunction with CBT). Has anyone here who deals with this breathing awareness (or any other sensorimotor obsession) had any noticeable results with medications? Any advice at this point would be greatly appreciated (I am sorry for the length of this post).