This is in regard to purely obsessional OCD.
I've been dealing with a breathing obsession for about 6 weeks. I am happy to say that my progress has been continuous and that I feel almost back to normal. Given this sudden change my pure-o OCD is looking for something else to take the place of my breathing obsession and it is being very crafty in doing so.
I have started to basically become anxious over becoming obsessed about the actual therapy used to handle this pure-o breathing obsession (or any kind of obsession for that matter). I have been applying both ERP and Dr. Schwartz's 4-Step Method (from Brain Lock) with great success. What has started to happen now is that I'm having a hard time distinguishing the therapeutic response prevention (not over ****yzing your obsession or suppressing it) from becoming a ritual or mental compulsion in itself.
For example every time the breathing awareness pops up in my mind I have to tell myself not to perform the mental compulsion of suppressing it or over thinking it. So now I'm becoming obsessed with making sure to always tell myself not to over ****yze the breathing which is now becoming a bigger obsession than the breathing problem it's supposed to treat. I know this probably sounds confusing and insane!
I was thinking that the "thought" of not over ****yzing something and the actual "act" of not over ****yzing something are two separate things so maybe that's how I can reconcile this problem. At the same time I realize trying to answer illogical questions like this one is part of the OCD sufferer's core problems and that I should probably be avoiding this new rumination all together.
I feel like my brain is trying to throw a wrench into the therapeutic machine I have created to help me overcome my OCD. It's like a form of self sabotage. It's kind of an obsession with the actual therapy I guess. It's like my OCD mind is trying to look for weak links in this proven ERP/4 step method therapy and that thought in itself makes me more anxious (like there is actually no therapy out there that really works).
I've been dealing with a breathing obsession for about 6 weeks. I am happy to say that my progress has been continuous and that I feel almost back to normal. Given this sudden change my pure-o OCD is looking for something else to take the place of my breathing obsession and it is being very crafty in doing so.
I have started to basically become anxious over becoming obsessed about the actual therapy used to handle this pure-o breathing obsession (or any kind of obsession for that matter). I have been applying both ERP and Dr. Schwartz's 4-Step Method (from Brain Lock) with great success. What has started to happen now is that I'm having a hard time distinguishing the therapeutic response prevention (not over ****yzing your obsession or suppressing it) from becoming a ritual or mental compulsion in itself.
For example every time the breathing awareness pops up in my mind I have to tell myself not to perform the mental compulsion of suppressing it or over thinking it. So now I'm becoming obsessed with making sure to always tell myself not to over ****yze the breathing which is now becoming a bigger obsession than the breathing problem it's supposed to treat. I know this probably sounds confusing and insane!
I was thinking that the "thought" of not over ****yzing something and the actual "act" of not over ****yzing something are two separate things so maybe that's how I can reconcile this problem. At the same time I realize trying to answer illogical questions like this one is part of the OCD sufferer's core problems and that I should probably be avoiding this new rumination all together.
I feel like my brain is trying to throw a wrench into the therapeutic machine I have created to help me overcome my OCD. It's like a form of self sabotage. It's kind of an obsession with the actual therapy I guess. It's like my OCD mind is trying to look for weak links in this proven ERP/4 step method therapy and that thought in itself makes me more anxious (like there is actually no therapy out there that really works).