Recovering from OCD: The Paradox

If you've ever dealt with a mental disorder, you'd probably agree that the difficulty of the recovery process can add on to your existing anxiety/depression. Furthermore- it can be extremely frustrating to put sincere effort into recovery and see little to no change. Unfortunately, there are rarely formulaic solutions to mental disorders-- everyone lives in a different environment and has different genetics; making therapy a complicated ordeal.

If you haven't read my previous posts, I have "Pure-O" OCD: a subtype of OCD that has purely cognitive obsessions and compulsions (as compared to someone who has physical compulsions, such as hand-washing). For those with Pure-O, recovery takes a good bit of strategy and time. So today, I thought I'd share my experience with recovering from Pure-O, and how to surmount the paradox that the disorder inherently presents.

To quickly summarize, people with Pure-O have irrational obsessive thoughts that can stick around for hours or days at a time. For example, someone with Pure-O might fear that because an image of themselves raping a child popped into their head, that they are automatically a rapist (don't worry- those with Pure-O are not criminals. Keep in mind that these fears are irrational, don't even make sense, will almost never be acted upon by the victim).

Most people, not just those with OCD, instinctively respond to intrusive thoughts by assuring themselves that they don't make any sense: "Of course I'm not a rapist!" However, for those with OCD,  a response to an intrusive thought like that will cause great distress. Denying the thought makes the fear of it even worse. Thus, here lies the paradox: if the thoughts cannot be dealt with through rational thought, how can the victim recover?

The solution varies from person to person; however, most commonly, Pure-O is dealt with by encouraging the victim to imagine that their thoughts were true. Rather than denying an intrusive thought, allowing the person to live through the nightmare the thought contains can quickly make their fears extinct. This is much analogous to the way that someone with a fear of roller coasters can simply ride a roller coaster to overcome their fright.

This method of therapy is called "Exposure." During my time in therapy, my counselor would have me write down the worst possible scenario that my thoughts wanted me to believe. Initially, even writing my thoughts down would give me crippling anxiety; however, after a couple months, the intrusive thoughts that used to control me no longer bothered me.

While exposure therapy has great use for Pure-O, I believe that anyone can benefit from the principle of it. Obviously, going on a roller coaster will help someone overcome their fear of roller coasters, but most people don't realize that applying the same exposure principle to cognition can help to overcome everyday anxiety and worry. Humans have been blessed with the gift of cognition; however, our imaginative abilities can serve as a breeding ground for fictional fears. In my opinion, it is about time we stop dealing with irrationality rationally, and start using concepts of overcoming physical fears for cognitive fears.