I always knew that I suffered from OCD, but never knew how severe and disabling OCD can be - my current psychiatrist explained that it is complicating my bipolar disorder - I have been doing a lot of research on it lately, and I can really relate to the intrusive thoughts - images, fears, obsessions, compulsions, anxiety that OCD creates.
OCD is common with Schizophrenia and Bipolar
I cannot take the medications ( antidepressants) for OCD, because this will worsen my bipolar mania - so I am going to brush up on CBT and Mindfulness to treat OCD/Anxiety symptoms.
Do you suffer from OCD? Which treatments help you cope?
How bad does it get for you? OCD is more serious than I thought it would be
I had debilitating OCD for a long time. I was hospitalized twice because I couldn’t touch anything, even my own body. Meds made it worse (probably because of the psychosis) but then I tried biofeedback therapy. Basically, the doc has you wear a headband that measures the thermal output of your prefrontal cortex. Then he turns on a movie you’ve never seen but are interested in. Watching the movie engages your emotions, which shuts down the thinking part of your brain in the front. The headband detects the drop in brain activity and pauses the movie. Then you have to used relaxed concentration to raise your brain levels again. The trick is to stay relaxed, even though it’s annoying when the movie shuts off. If you get annoyed, the thinking part of your brain turns off.
I don’t know if any doctors near you do this, but if not, there’s a game you can buy called Mindflex. It does the same basic thing, except instead of a movie, you control a little fan that levitates a ball. You have to move the ball through an obstacle course.
If you choose to do this, make sure you don’t do it too long. It tires your brain out and can give you a headache. I’ve been doing it for years, and fifteen minutes is best for me, but all brains are different.
i have had this from 14 up to now 48.
at 16 it would take half an hour to go through two doors, the rituals i would have to do, would send me mad.
for me confronting the ocd/fears is the best thing to do.
supporting your mind with good diet, meditation, being kind to yourself…not looking at it as weakness.
it is actually strenght and courage…to deal with it.
i believe ocd is a fear of the future…get rid of the fear or lessen it, you win.
i do cbt for it.
my ocd has gone down by 92%…i am struggling with the last obsession.
i really feel for you…you suffer a lot…hope this helps.
take care
Thanks @darksith and @cj9556 for the valuable advice!
I am grateful for my psychiatrist who made me see that I suffer from a lot of OCD symptoms - although I cannot take the meds, I have decided to fight it off through some CBT and Mindfulness techniques.
I deal with a lot of fear and unwanted intrusive images and thoughts - and contamination fears.
Ive had OCD since I was a kid, but recently regained insight into this awful disorder - not going to let it beat me down!
I’m pinning a lot of hope on CBD just for schizophrenia, so don’t want to spread false hope around for other conditions, but who knows, maybe CBD could be a double whammy for you.
I had a lot of problems with it… it really does begin to take over the mind…and I don’t know if it was this way for other… but for me… it just kept getting bigger.
There was always one more thing that had to be done… one more thing I just couldn’t let go of…
I had a very hard time getting out of the door due to all the stuff I HAD to do before I left…
I do remember a time that when it was pretty severe… It was tied to my catastrophic thinking. If I don’t do A. and B. and C… AND D… someone was going to end up in a car crash… or someone would target our house…
I do have a few things that I can’t let go of… and I do know when I’m not doing well… small things will set me off and some of that behavior will come back
But I do think that CBT that I’ve gone through has helped me with my OCD as a side result.
I had it full blown and debilitating when I was younger- now I have a milder case of it. I practice the four R’s of OCD- relabel, reattribute, refocus and revalue. Like when I am driving and I think I just hit someone or ran over someone- I relabel it as pathological, attribute it to ■■■■■■up brain stuff, focus on just driving, and throw the whole through process away as garbage and mental problems.
I also lock my car twice and I am OCD about my meds and what I eat. I also wear the same three colors every day, red, black and white. I also wear the same socks everyday- not the same pair, the same make and I have four pairs of them. If I dont, I feel â– â– â– â– â– â– up.
Not sure if my son ever has it before, but now that hes been off meds for awhile, its pretty bad.
Judging by his behavior, it seems like a control thing-to keep order no matter what.
Didn`t know there were meds for this. Time for more research…
You go @Wave *!
