I can assure you it is all these things and none of them. What we'll do now is borrow a principle from the universe which states very clearly like this, followers blame, leaders take responsibility. You can't be submissive to your thoughts if you ever want to become OCD free. You've got to be a leader to join those of us who have become free of it.
But what do you mean? How can this be done? What I am not saying is that you don't need a huge group of followers like the pope or even be the leader of a group of three friends. Rather, in your mind. See some people beat themselves up in their minds. Here's are really sad, but great example: you look at yourself in the mirror in the bathroom and repeat to yourself, "I am so unattractive!"!" Or, "They probably won't pick me for the team!"
No, you need to stop being the geek to the bully in your mind, instead take on the role of the bully in your mind, but leave the geek alone, instead, be a bully to your Obsessive compulsive disorder and here's how: "I refuse to do this ritual!" "I got better, more productive things to do and achieve!" "I don't have time for nonsense!"
You see what I'm driving at here? Stop beating yourself up, tell your negative thoughts to shut the heck up and start taking control of your thought life. Who knew you could do it? I knew. I know because I have and if I have, you can, should and will, period, that is, if you really want to become free from the shackles of the OCD.
Great article Derek, but what, why, when and how do you do what you've done. What's the secret sauce that goes into this OCD thing. Here's the game plan you can implement till the day you die and it goes like this. You should notice right off the bat that fear that creeps up and the need you feel to do a ritual of some kind and sort. You are very familiar with what rituals you struggle with.
Then, you need to tell yourself, "Instead, I'm going to do more productive things and I will not associate with OCD, but rather, I am choosing to be normal, let it be written, let it be done!" I remember when the Pharoah in the ten commandments said that and it was powerful. We need to take that same authority over our minds. It's easier than you think and you know this.
Then, when you feel the anxiety, and you will just like smokers do the craving of a cigarette when they quit. I know from experience. You need to say to yourself, "I would rather suffer for a little bit now and be free from OCD for the rest of my life, than suffer with it for the rest of my life! What decision do you think is better?
So believe that you can be free, make the wise decision to go for long term happiness and stop looking for instant gratification. Looking for instant gratification will ensure that you always have OCD. If you let go of that shortcut seeking, you'll surely have a better chance to succeed, period!
There is a problem with people who suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder where they will feel it start to happen and they have this fear instead of faith. You need to realize that the only thing that separates someone who has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and someone who does not is how they react to their thoughts and fears.
If you feel the anxiety come on you as you feel like you have to do rituals, notice that this is just anxiety from OCD. You need to have a name for what is going on. The fear that a lot of people have is that they don't know what's wrong, they just know that something is wrong. Knowing what that something is is half the battle. If you can properly identify when you are having anxiety over doing a ritual then you will be well on your way to getting better.
One of the things that people who have beaten OCD have in common is the fact that they have changed the way that they react to their anxiety. They realize that it is just anxiety and OCD and that it can't hurt them. One of the primary lessons that you first need to apply in your goal of getting rid of OCD. You should know that you can get rid of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder if you can properly identify what anxiety is!
What is it then that you should do right now? This is one way that you can use this knowledge? There are so many methods that you'll come across that will attempt to show you how to deal with OCD or how to stop it completely. If you don't use this knowledge, it's like you don't even know it! So now that you have the new information, you need to just do it. Here is an example: Bob just finds out that he is having a hard time with his ritual of touching the door knob obsessively. He looks at the door knob and he feels like he has to touch it because if he doesn't, he will go to hell.
He then thinks to himself, "this is an OCD thought!" I don't have to panic at this thought and I don't have to worry about it. He then thinks about how ridiculous he would sound if he told his friends his fear and realizes that maybe it is silly, so he says it out loud to himself and kinda chuckles..."I am afraid that if I don't touch the door knob seven times that i will go to hell." He thinks, wow, that is absurd!
You can make the brain use alternate parts of the brain to change how the information is processed. This will help the brain to see how small your fear really is!" This is like using peer pressure in your own brain to help teach you that this is not something to fear, but to laugh at!
Derek Soto has sinced written about articles on various topics from Fitness, Cure Anxiety and Fitness. To get free OCD resources go to Obsessive Behavior help. Derek Soto is an ex-sufferer of OCD who can show you the righ. Derek Soto's top article generates over 90500 views. Bookmark Derek Soto to your Favourites.