I have a OCD and i need help......?

Question

Ok i have some OCDs and they are annoying me alot! like at night i have to check my closed twist the knob 5 times and spin these birds and i have to do hte exact same thing everyngiht or my next day goes bad.......and in the morning i have to have 5 mints in my pocket 2 cought drops, and a pack of nose tissues, chapstick, wax, and medicin. i also allways have them at hte same time and whne i run out i freak. it buggs me is there any help or hope for me aat all???????

Answer 1

1. Relabel
2. Reattribute
3. Refocus
4. Revalue

First tell yourself it's OCD or realize you are acting compulsively. Make sure you tell yourself that these thoughts are compulsive. You could say, "This is compulsive behavior. This is due to a chemical imbalance in my brain." Then focus on doing something else. This might hurt, but doing it over and over will help you get over OCD.

Answer 2

DONT WORRY. I had the same thing! Don't let your mind take control over you. Think, "What's one bad day?" Think positive. Say, "Fine. I won't carry chapstick in my pocket today. Let's see what happens." If you do have a bad day, it could just be because you're imagining you can't live without your chapstick. If this happens, tell someone to secretely take something away from you. When you see at the end of the day that you didn't actually need it, you'll become stronger. If you somehow imagine you're going crazy, breathe deeply, take up yoga, and exercise more, because often, all of your bottled up energy is expressed in unhealthy ways, and causes problems such as OCD, anxiety, stress and more. But DO NOT worry. Lots..and I mean LOTS of people have this. I had anxiety, and OCD! That was extra hard! But don't worry, it's not serious, it's actually common. Even I grew out of it with help from exercising and my parents. Just give it some time, and it will go away. By the way, nothing was cured overnight! Put your true effort in it, and don't forget-- Pray to God. He will help you too!

Good luck! If I got rid of it, you can fore sure!

Answer 3

No, you're not a freak. Many people suffer from OCD.

Get help, but don't let them drug you up. OCD is caused by some thing or things that happened to you or around you when you were very young. What you need to do is identify what is causing your OCD and deal with it by understanding and accepting it. You cannot change the past, but you CAN tell it who's boss.

Answer 4

There is plenty of hope and help for you! I know the frustration and upset that ocd (obsessive-compulsive disorder) causes as I have ocd myself. I've had it since I was a child. It seems like you have many different rituals that you must carry out and the good news is that cognitive-behavioral therapy (cbt) can be very effective with patients that have problem with the compulsions as opposed to purely obsessional (repetetive thoughts and fears) symptoms. Cbt really helped me to deal with the ocd symptoms as well as when new ones arose (or arise).

I also take Prozac Weekly but take it 3x a week due to the ocd as that's the therapeutic dosage for those with ocd as opposed to someone with generalized anxiety and/or depression (which I also have ;) The medication really does help and is a great adjunct with the previous cbt that I had. Ocd is thought to occur due to a chemical imbalance (namely of serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain) where the serotonin doesn't reuptake at the proper time giving sufferers a 'broken record' in their mind. No amount of 'talk therapy' or as it's also referred to as, psychotherapy, will help but only to talk about anxiety and depression perhaps caused by ocd.

And some good books out there are Jeffrey Schwartz's "Brainlock" as someone responded with his 4 step model to help ocd symptoms. Another one is called "Stop Obsessing" by Edna Foa (from '91 but perhaps can still purchase it). Foa's book has in-depth how a traditional cbt program is put into play. I can say from experience that cbt is not fun, and the therapist will want you to feel very anxious to try to habituate you out of the fear. However, it really does wonders believe it or not. Cbt deals with 'exposure therapy' and then 'response prevention' which is not performing the ritual that you typically would perform (not twisting the knob 5x, for ex).

Therapy typically includes what is referred to as 'homework assignments' (Not like math or history ;) that the therapist gives such as repeatedly listening to the 'exposure' cassette tape and exaggerated scenario that the therapist may record for you to play back at home. This is to hopefully lessen the person's anxiety from the obsession. The therapist also tries to add some lighthearted humor into the scenario to see the far-fetched nature of the symptom. I strongly recommend that you talk with a clincial psychologist that treats those with anxiety disorders and does cbt. It really can change and enhance your quality of life. I still have difficulty with the symptoms, but with the therapy and med(s) [I also take seroquel, an antipsychotic, but smaller dosages helps sleep and with ocd by working on dopamine] I am so much more functional and just a different person.

P.S. Just some tips that I found helpful when dealing with an obsession (though please don't self-treat and get professional therapy) was to picture my fear on the front page news of the newspaper. That helped me to think how 'silly' or unrealistic that it is. Such as "Girl gets a frightening disease because she had only 3 mints in her pocket instead of 5!" (Friends and family say that she always had 5, but her life got cut short because she only had 3.)

P.S.S. Someone told me to try to delay the obsessions and to make a scheduled time during the day for 30 minutes to 'just' obsess and feel the anxiety. It's to try to be able to focus on much more productive things in one's day.