Ep. 286 6-Part Series: Managing Mental Compulsions (with Dr. Reid Wilson)

[@wybuchowyukomendant]

I'm a big fan of Dr. Wilson, thanks for that. btw. 28:45 if some people think this is controversial, they never had "pure o" (i know, i know...). With those mental compulsions, even if you redirect your thoughts somewhere else, you still have this MASSIVE anxiety about the compulsion you didn't make, and you still doing ERP that way - you are exposed to the obsession in your head, and you prevent yourself from doing the compulsions BY going on with your life, doing something productive instead of pondering on the obsession and focusing solely on NOT doing compulsions. In my case this is especially helpful since I don't have any particular obsessive "theme", I can obsess over one thing in the morning, and another in the evening, and my compulsions are purely mental - I "need" to imagine certain things in a certain way to feel they are 'perfect', and for some time they are sufficient to soothe my anxiety. And then something new pops up, and again, and again... Dr. is totally right - the topic doesn't matter at all, and the whole 'exposure' part should not be about dwelling deep into the topic of the obsession, rather sit on that uncertainty between getting "triggered" by the obsession (which, when it comes to "pure o", can be totally random and getting deeper into your 'topic' doesn't necessarily provoke it) and doing compulsion. I tried ERP by getting really deep into the topics, but it just made me waste a lot of time and gain a lot of knowledge I don't care about. I wasn't obsessing more or any less by doing that, and my brain quickly found new topics or themes. Dr. Reid's method helped me much, much more, now every time I feel this obsession and anxiety rising I just notice it, and welcome it as a great opportunity to practice ERP and sit on that anxiety and uncertainty while doing whatever I had planned for the day, without pondering deeply on the topic itself. Sometimes when I feel especially adventurous, I do the compulsion totally wrong on purpose, so the anxiety goes through the roof, and again - continue with my day while feeling all the anxiety and uncertainty in the world. So yeah, if someone calls that a "distraction" or "counterproductive" then he doesn't understand the whole point of OCD - it's never about the topic, it's ALL about uncertainty, and re-learning to manage it.

[@andriyandriychuk]

This doc is revolutionary

[@armstrongliberato6419]

Great interview time

[@789quicky]

Hi Kimberly. I'll keep this concise as possible. I have a friend with Anorexia. She also has ocd tendencies. I've learnt a lot about OCD these last few years. When I think about it, an eating disorder seems like OCD with a food theme. How is it seen different, because it's about food and affects sufferers' body so much...? What do you think? Hope you see this comment anyway haha 👍

[@eileencasey3724]

Thank you for your help

[@legacytrainer4242]

Good interview. So is he saying the "determination" will get easier over time or is the determination something we must have to muster up week after week?

[@andriyandriychuk]

Intrinsic motivation should be sorted out before going exposed to your fears