Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Support Group

i mean obsessions about being a pedophile, and no i have no compulsions just thoughts.

take a read at this...it clearly states pure o is obsessions with no PHYSICAL compulsions but with MENTAL compulsions!!! lol ;)

http://www.ocdsymptoms.co.uk/pure-o-ocd.html

i come here to chat to people and get advice.

Well, you are welcome for all the great info and advice I have given out on here for the 4-5 months I have been on here.

you give some good advice sometimes, but this post did not answer my question atall

Bella,

The answer to your question is YES!!! There is ERP for people with OCD for so many symptoms including yours. Probably both BT and CBT.

I admit I have never rewad an OCD therapists account of what they did for an OCDer with pedophile fears. BUt, I know ERP too well and can think of some things a competent therapist would do. For example, during your sessions, both you and shrink would take walks where children are. He/she would ask you about your anxiety level (scale of 1-10) as you got closer to children and spent longer time around them. I would also think he/she would make you do some CBT by writing out a scenerio involving your worst pedophile fears. probably make them worse. Then you record them. Then you go home and listen to them over and over. until your anxiety level goes down considerably. Obviously, this whole procedure takes months to go thru.

I know what OCD shrinks do for germ phobes, checkers, scrupulosity, a little about hoarders, something called morbid/ritualistic thinking and something one oCD shrink calls responsibility OC.However, these ERP procedures can be applied to almost any OCD symptom.

You just need to find a competent OCD shrink and you will get better as long as you are not afraid to go thru with the ERP.

bella,

yes ridethewaves is trying to give some sound advice. I agree with his explanation on pure o's. typically that is a rare condition. the thoughts years ago were reevaluated and the studies (1999) showed that people that were thought to be pure o were in fact engaging in ritual's and compulsions. I thought I was a pure o, but my counselor (expert) out of NY, and I live in VA schooled me on this. most thought to be pure o's actually are primarily obsessional. basically we have a disturbing thought and we try to do some of the following: 1 undo the thought by suppression 2 rationalize (no I am not a child molestor I am a good person) 3 thought replacement 4 count a certain number or say a prayer 5 escape 6 avoidance etc etc etc. so you can see objectively that if you result in a ritual mentally where no one can see it then it could be thought as a pure o. but due to it actually being done (mental ritual) it is kind of the same as washing etc. so what a competent ocd counselor will do is tweak out what you are doing mentally and make you face the anxiety until it drops without resulting to some kind of escsape ritual. I don't know if this makes sense, but I can assure you that if you examine what you do for a distressing thought you will see that you are escaping. however, the escape winds the brain up as a marker for that thought and it will keep coming back. if you go to ocdonline.com you can read dr. phillipson's articles on ocd. but get to this site by google as it doesn't work by typing in ocdonline.com in the address bar. also if you go to youtube you can watch his forum that he held in 1991. type in ocd:understanding a complex disorder (on youtube). this is very informative on the treatments and what you are doing that is hendering your recovery. I believe this man to be a true expert in this field and he is quick to point out the traps of traditional talk theraphy. his take is that a true ocd counselor will assign homework. he uses the analogy that if a pole is bent, you don't bend it straight back up to fix it, you bend it past the staright point the other way to get it to stand straight again. this model is used in his treatment. example, if a thought of being a child molestor is your thing then a hierarchy will go well past your imagination of actually putting yourself as a child molestor. this will eventually make you see the un realistic thoughts that you have by habituation. he also teaches that a thought (spike) that bothers you is not the problem it is the rumination (trying to figure it out) that causes the distress. it is like a child throwing a fit for candy. if you give into the child's demands to shut him up then the fits will get only worse. but by not entertaining them the fits will increase at first and then finally fade away. ocd is actually a paper tiger. it is not as bad as it portrays itself. it is slick, but very primal. that is a brain thing that is complex to understand, but he explains that theory as well. I agree with rtwaves fully that erp and meds are the only treatments. there is a newer treatment that is being used inconjunction with cbt and erp and that is I believe ACT. That is basically a new way of accepting the disorder that teaches you that you are unique and that the goal is not to try to rid yourself of the ocd, the goal is to accept it as who you are and make it irrelevant. I do know that everyone is different and ocd is like a dog. We may have similar symptoms but it all looks different in it's own way and acts differently also. So there is good treatments out there, you just have to be willing to do the hard work. I would suggest these steps in order: 1 educate yourself fully...read books, letters, articles, and talk to ones on here that know what they are talking about. 2 research all medications and be informed. 3 seek out a QUALIFIED therapist (you will be able to recognize them by your education on ocd). 4 start your theraphy. 5 start a medicine regiment. 6 stick with it (erp/cbt). Finally once you get a hold on the ocd and get where you are not easily had by bthe thoughts you will get more confidence and make great strides in your recovery. You don't have to walk around distressed eight hours a day. You can recover and maintain your gains only by doing the hard work. Sorry so long, but I do want you to get the proper treatment. I didn't know about the proper treatment until I read and educated myself on this. I do credit Ridethewaves in my education as I realized quickly that he was older and wiser and has walked that long walk until he found the right treatment. Fortunately for us there is technology and advancement in the are of ocd. You will only get better once you say I have had enough of living like this. I want to get better and I will be damned if I am going to let this always be what I have to live with. Take care and good luck in your treatment. It does take time, but everday will improve.

RLBT,

Nice post but I think you just wrote the 1st chapter of your book! ha! I want a FREE copy when it comes out.

Question for you, Rich: I have known about Dr. Phillipson for many years now and he is top notch. But I think I read that article from 1991 and in 1991 they did not know about mental compuslions. They were still calling mental compulsions "pure O" back then which would be incorrect today. The first I read of them was roughly in 1999 in an article by Dr. Edna Foa. Are mental compulsions in that article on "ocdonline"? Just curious.

One other decent website that just lists both mental and physical compulsions was found, I think, by Kayloni, while searching for a YBOCS test. I found the same one she did and it is called "Brain Physics". If anyone uses google and writes in "yale-brown obsessive compulsive scale", it should be the third link that pops up.

Anyway, just wanted to clarify what was what. I do not have a link to a good article on mental compulsions.

yes you are right about that in 1991. I got that mixed up with the 1999 research. thanks for the clarification. tom I have a question for you: has erp/cbt helped you or are you not any better? I believe in this philosophy, but just wondered on your treatment. On a scale of 1-10 what did you start at and where are you now 10 being the worst?

yes bethmach is right. however, she did say the goal is to let the thought be there without anxiety. yes that is the ultimate goal, but thinking to allow the thought without anxiety will never devalue the thought. the goal is to make the thought irrelevant or to one up the thought by making it worse. I understood what yo meant bethmach, but just adding in my two cents to ensure clarity for the person asking.