Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Support Group

Wow, funny you should post this I am just now putting this fear to sleep. I actually do ERP counseling and began getting informed about this OCD in July. Short-Term here is what you are doing wrong: don't go researching the web for schizophrenia. This is actually a compulsion, which drives your anxiety down for a while, but makes it come roaring back. OCD makes you doubt, so you are looking for the magical answer (but there is none). Bottom line: looking up symptoms or any type of reassurance will not help....only makes it worse.

So what do you do? Here is what I did under my direction of my ERP counselor. I started by carrying around a 3x5 card with the word schizophrenia. After a few days I moved up to reading articles about schizophrenia on schizophreniadiaries.com. However, you are only to read their stories, not what the symptoms and statistics etc are on schizophrenia. The stories will scare you, that is the point. Read the same articles over and over until they no longer cause anxiety. Master them. The next step is to go to youtube and watch stories of people with schizophrenia, not stories on causes or symptoms. There was one named Gerald, it has two parts....that will scare you, and that is what it is suppose to do. Because he was a police officer that got very very very ill...yikes, if he can get it we all could. So yes you could get schizophrenia. Finally, you should write out a two to three page scenario of you getting schizophrenia. Make it as detailed as possible and then put it to a recording and listen to it over and over.

This will work, not my advice, but from experts in the area of OCD, which is hard to find.

Final word here, don't ask for reassurance or question people if that subject comes up. Example, if I was talking to someone and that subject came up of someone having schizophrenia or crazy I would ask set questions for reassurance. Such as "well they probably got that way from using drugs...right". Because I have never used drugs and since that caused it then I'm ok....right....wrong! Hard thing for OCD people to accept is uncertainty. But we have to. Hope this makes sense. And do go slow with your exposures. There are many good books on OCD that can clarify it further. The goal is not to feel anxiety, it is to make it irrelevant. If you want it to go away, then it won't. But if you say ok there is my thought on schizophrenia, I will accept it and not rationalize with it, it will lose power and go away. The mind will flag disturbing thoughts and continue to go back to it, if it disturbs you. The more attention given the more it will return. The anxiety will be there and thats ok, but through ERP and irrelevance it will go away....just don't rush the process, master each step....very important. Hope this makes sense.

that guy,

you are not insane or schizophrenic nor will you ever be. you have ocd. be happy with that psych disorder alone.

the dsm-iv def of schizo is long as is the defs of it as defined by several shrinks who spent their careers treating it.

do you hear voices as you do when someone is really talking? I bet NO! Do you see things that seem 100% real to you and scare you? NO!

F*** IT and get better pro help for you OCD and then go out and get laid.

You have the VERY typical OCD faers and always trying to reassure yourself that you are OK and checking this and that.

The good news is that you do not nor will you ever have Schizophrenia. The bad news is that you have an anxiety disorder called OCD.

It is interesting that you not only report OCD symptoms but also panic attacks People with panic disorder often report they feel like they are dying (as in a heart attack) or that they are going to lose control or go insane. This combined with everything else may be feeding into your anxiety.

Stop hammering everybody ridethewave who are only trying to be supportive. Your so-called "lessons" appear to be straight out of a textbook. I know OCD is an issue for you but have you considered addressing the AXIS II?

PS I have never reead a "textbook" in my life on OCD. Only books and articles by top OCD pros. The only close to a textbook on OCd that I have read, was some soft covered book or manual by Dr. Gail Steketee in 1999 because my then shrink wanted to use it. It was meant for shrinks only.

But if I or anyone read a textbook on OCD, so what? Do you have something against educating oneself?

I am willing to bet "beth" is a liberal, supports Obamacare, is fat, belongs to a union, is very lazy and very critical of her "patients". I think she represents the worst of the medical care field in the USA. Do us all a favor and move to Cuba or N. Korea where you belong.

WOW!

That is MY story.

I was sure i was losing my mind sand some horrific unspeakable state would be a prison for me for ever. I would check and check and check my thinking until I really did start feeling like I was losing my mind.

The assurance from a doctor wasn't much help either.

I can't say exactly how those intrusive thoughts dissipated. I still get them at times, but no where near as bad as in my 20's.

I believe it helped that I started working with a Cognitive-Behavioral therapist that I liked and told me that my thoughts were very frightening and that OCD was very real. She also told me that I was not alone and that OCD is treatable, that the thoughts would change over time and I didn't have to live like I was always on the edge of insanity. She didn't just dismiss my OCD, she asked me to keep a journal of how frequent and intense I would get the intrusive thoughts as well as what I ate, how much I slept and what sort of stress I experienced.

Man! It was a breakthrough!

I got a support group and I had people I could call any hour and ask, "Am I insane?"

A lot of times they would say, "Yeah, but in a fun way!"

I'd laugh and that would be just the thing to get the obsession out of my head.

I hope you get some relief.

Thank you for posting, it helped me.

andrew,

thanks for the post as this really lays out what good treatment is about. thanks and I am glad that it worked for you.