You can do it! We Can help! OCD Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Burnaby & Vancouver, B.C.

Ok everyone just tells you “think something else, or don’t worry about it, or that’s ridiculous, why do you think those thoughts”  Little do they know you would love to never think these thoughts, these incessent thoughts that are driving you crazy!  

Some of the thoughts however, have come into being through beliefs that you believed and perhaps have not exactly shared with anyone other than yourself....

Faulty Beliefs: (like Faulty Towers) SUDS system for overcoming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

I must protect myself and/or others even if there is only the remotest chance of something bad happening. A tiny, one-in-a-million chance of something bad happening is exactly the same as a huge 99% chance of something bad happening

Magical Thinking, Superman Powers, god-like powers: OCD

“My thoughts are very powerful, Merely thinking a bad, horrible thought will certainly cause something horrible to happen”.

“I can use my thoughts to affect outcomes.”

“ I can use my thoughts to cut deals with the big brain out there, the one that watches everything and negotiates based on what I’m willing to give up, sacrifice or delay happiness for, or cause myself extra effort and work, and it will let me have my deal”

Over importance of Thoughts and Thought Modeling - OCD

If I have a bad thought it means I’m bad, dangerous, or crazy and something bad is going to happen

My thoughts are the true indicator of who I am and what I’m likely to do, or could do

I'm judging myself against what others would think of me, if they knew what I was thinking and doing!

Intolerance of Uncertainty:  OCD and it's limitations!

I must be 100 percent certain of everything, and I must be 100 % sure that everything will be alright. If I’m the slightest bit uncertain about anything (my future, my health/loved ones, health) it is intolerable and I must do something, anything, to be certain that everything will be alright.

Over Responsibility OCD Thinking

Maybe I caused something bad to happen. My failure to prevent it must mean that I’m certainly a very bad person

Persistent Doubting: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder -

Maybe I wasn’t careful enough and therefore something bad will happen

            (harmed, molested, injured cheated somehow.)

Even though it makes no sense and doesn’t agree with the facts, I doubt things over and over again.

ABC’s of Faulty Beliefs: OCD

This is the role of faulty beliefs and how they maintain OCD behavior:

A: Activating Event: - If I do this one thing, it's going to mean I have to un-do it until I know it's right

B: Unrealistic  or dysfunctional appraisal of the event.

C; Excessive anxiety about the appraisal of the event

This triggers the powerful urge to relieve that anxiety however possible

D: Neutralizing Ritual – If I just do this action, as many times as I tell myself I will bring the anxiety back under control

Now, look at this list:

It’s not the event is it? It’s harmless and can’t really do anything

It’s not the appraisal of event either, that can’t really do anything either

The triggered anxiety, if left in high anxiety and nothing done about it, it will Habituate and you won’t need the ritual

Consider this, it’s not the thoughts, good or bad, it’s just a thought, what can that do? Something bad could happen? So What? SO WHAT?

Something bad could happen but SO WHAT?

SO WHAT? - can I say that to myself?

Say that to yourself, SO WHAT? SO WHAT IF SOMETHING HAPPENS, I”LL DEAL WITH IT THEN.

Right now, nothing is happening good or bad, so what?

Create a list here:

YOUR OWN FAULTY BELIEFS ASSESSMENT:

A: Activating Event                    B: Unrealistic Appraisal                          C: Faulty Belief

    Situation or event                 automatic unrealistic thought                     Core belief from above lists

SELF TALK”  AFFIRMATIONS FOR NEW BEHAVIORS:

Using self talk to affirm new behaviors.

Like:

“I must learn to take a chance in order to get better”

“What would a prudent person do someone who didn’t have OCD”

“This is so exhausting, it’s hard but I think I’ll take a chance on being imperfect for a change

“I’m afraid of change, but that is just the OCD talking.

“For a change I’ll try being perfectly IMPERFECT”

“Its only a thought, I am not my thoughts, it’s just an OCD thought and therefore I know it truly means nothing

“OCD thoughts mean nothing”

“These rituals I do are so tiring, so irrational, I must take the chance to discover that I can’t truly control the outside world this way. My rituals protect no one, and they torment me and those around me”

I can remain calm in the face of uncertainty. Since I can’t control everything, why try? By trying to control everything I only make my OCD worse

By Not acting upon my need for absolute Certainty, the urge to do a ritual will diminish after a while.

“I’m only human, my responsibility ends where others responsibility begin.

“I’m a good citizen, (father, and husband, mother and wife, son, or daughter,) that’s all I can be, it’s all I want to be”

“The probability of something bad happening to me or my loved ones is not greater than the possibility of bad things happening to anyone else.

“I’m really not that SPECIAL that I can control the universe with my thoughts”

I can handle the discomfort -I don’t have to do something right now, to avoid my anxiety. I will wait it out.

Some Examples of Faulty Beliefs 

Think and Win

Think thoughts every day for the weekend, every hour, just this one thought, “I’m going to win the lottery and win the grand prize

            Go by a lottery ticket and see what happens !

            Your odds are 1 in 27,000,000. See if you can affect that outcome.

Think and Break

Think about your toaster, keep seeing it broken, not working failing.

            Do this every day, see it being thrown in the garbage as it’s broken

            See how long it takes your thoughts to break the toaster

Think Dying Goldfish:

            Purchase a goldfish and care for it. Feed it properly, but think about it dying every day.

            Feel the anxiety the fear, that something terrible is going to happen to the goldfish.

                        See how long it takes your thoughts to kill the goldfish.

A word from Kathy Welter-Nichols, Hypnotherapist, and NLP Pracitioner, Burnaby BC 604-421-1722 

NLP & Hypnosis begins to work with the subconsious at levels that can affect your feelings around the anxiety. Did you know, no one ever dies from anxious feelings? It's a truth. If you passed out, your body would just restart all the necessary functions and you'd wake up shortly. 

Ok, so you aren't going to die from your feelings or your anxiety and lets you challenge the OCD and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Challenging rituals.

NLP & Hypnosis goes deep into the unconscious mind, and assists you in reframing and repatterning beliefs and behaviors at the causal level, until you get different results from doing different things. 

And it works! 

We use CD's to support the therapy and use EFT - Emotion Freedom Technique - to help you through those extra 15 seconds while the anxiety passes. 

Once you have secured enough evidence to support the changes, and believe it's working and keep on with the work, your brain will begin to repattern these new beliefs for you and you will find your life is managable, even calm, sometimes feeling pretty good about life...

Contact : Kathy or Harry for sessions. We recommend 3-4 initial sessions, with follow ups over several months afterwards.  604-421-1722   Burnaby & Vancouver, B.C.