[jmo531]

I know this is a long post but I believe it is one worth reading. I was given a book by my T that included Paradoxical Treatment for CBT.

This is designed to confront your fears/phobias and eventually overcome them.

Put your paradoxical plan into effect--do it with zest.

Paradoxical intention: Do what you fear! (Don't try to increase the fear reaction.) Worry even more! Try to stay awake! Try to like a messy house! Like dirty floors and dishes! Avoid trying to have a climax!

Symptom prescription: Increase the unwanted behavior! Increase the fear! Do the feared action more often! What do you have to lose? You have been doing the unwanted behavior anyway! If you have no trouble producing more unwanted behavior, do more! Since that damn, lousy habit wants to occur so badly, make it occur over and over! Do it until you are sick and tired of it (like the boy caught smoking and forced to smoke three strong cigars, one after another).

Changing your outlook and goals: What seems crucial to you at one time may paradoxically become unimportant in the long run. Small breast development may humiliate a girl at 16 but please her at 35. You may long to be the best guitarist, basketball player, or sex object in school but get very little satisfaction out of that skill when you are 50. It might be nice to have someone's love but it isn't a necessity! It hurts to be rejected but it isn't the end of life! Challenge your harmful irrational beliefs!

Keep following the plan until the desired goal is reached.

In several of the paradoxical methods there is a strange situation, namely, you are trying to produce acts you really do not want to continue. Thus, you actually win by failing, i.e. you finally stop producing the unwanted behavior and it does not occur as often as it did before. In effect, you will threaten to begin producing the unwanted behaviors in excess again if the behaviors do not go away and stay away. At this stage, you will often find your acts or your worries somewhat silly or humorous and certainly unnecessary. If so, you are successful.

Time invovled

It may take only a few minutes to say, "to hell with struggling with this problem any more" and think of ways of increasing or exaggerating your problem. Ordinarily, the results will come in a week or two and, occasionally, even sooner. Sometimes you will need to read about the method and put considerable effort into producing the unwanted habit ad nauseam.

Common problems

This method, thus far, has almost entirely been used by therapists with clients. In most cases, the therapist does not explain the method to the client but instead with tongue in cheek prescribes more and more ridiculous behavior. For example, a therapist may seriously tell a compulsive housekeeper that cleanliness is important and perhaps she should get up at five AM to do a couple of housecleaning chores before breakfast, then wash and vacuum the floors every day, wax all the wood work, and hire a cleaning person once a week to wax her floors, take the wax off the woodwork, and clean the silverware. Furthermore, throughout the day she should take five minutes every hour to tell herself how important it is to everyone in the world that her house be spotless, that her dishes sparkle, etc. Eventually, as more and more cleaning is added to the daily schedule, the patient realizes that the therapist is being facetious. This kind of playful teasing and ridicule may not be possible in self-help, certainly you can't deceive yourself about the purpose. But you can learn to laugh at yourself.

Effectiveness, advantages and dangers

Many therapy cases have demonstrated that paradoxical methods work, but case studies are open to a lot of misinterpretation. Frankl (1975) also mentions that many people have simply read about paradoxical methods in his books and applied the methods in their own lives.

In the last ten years, more research has been done (Weeks, 1991). One finding is that different methods are needed with resistive clients (those who rebel against the therapist's directions). For instance, when procrastinating students were told to "try to bring about your procrastination deliberately," only the resistive ones procrastinated less. The non-resisters didn't reduce their procrastination (Shoham-Salomon, Avner, & Neeman, 1989). Paradoxical methods have been shown to work with insomnia and maybe agoraphobia and other fears but many studies have design faults. We need better controlled studies and research that compares a variety of treatment methods, including self-application or bibliotherapy.

The greatest advantages of these methods are their simplicity and speed (when they work).

This therapy was recommended by my therapist. Has anyone tried it? If so, is is sucessful? I don't know......Just have lots of questions.

[wi_fighter]

Hmmmm, I might have to give that a try.

[jmo531]

Hi WI!!

At my T session on Monday my T gave me a book called the "feel Good Book" or something like that. I left it work cause I was reading it during my lunch. Damn it. I found this particular chapter interesting. Facing my fears, my phobia's, head on!!!!!!!!! Could it be? Could this be the answer? I dunno but I am actually excited about this. If your interested I will PM you tomorrow with the exact name of the book and the author. Maybe you could pick up a copy. It's a huge book, 732 pages but it coveres everything pertaining to depression and anxiety. I also, which I also found very interesting, that axiety mostly comes from repressed anger. Depression mostly comes from repressed fear of abandonment, insecurities, low self esteem which also stem from what I mentioned above. Sorry to ramble but I'm excited.

[wi_fighter]

Hi again Jen. It all sounds like it makes sense to me, too. Maybe Parker10 will come in and verify it, since she does all the anxiety and phobia stuff.

I was actually laughing when I was reading the first few paragraphs where it explains the therapy, especially the "try to like dirty floors and dishes." Kind of sounds like reverse psychology that you're supposed to pull on your kids, doesn't it?

[jmo531]

I know i actually laughed out loud while reading at me desk at work. It is funny. I hope Parker does stop by. I could use her input........

PARKER? WHERE ARE YOU?

[Parker10]

Howdee........its nice to be "wanted" I have not read that exact book I dont think, but I know the technique well. And - it does work. In several posts I have made, I have mentioned - WANT a panic attack and it will NOT happen, and "feel the fear and do it anyway" etc. IMHO, the only way people can overcome specific fears is to face them......feel the fear, work thru the fear, and eventually, thru desensitization, that fear will be gone. Same premise.

I will add that evidently I DO like a messy house - cause mine always is !!! LOL

One major thing mentioned above that I KNOW works - is WORRY WORRY WORRY......I have been made to sit in my room while I was inpatient, and for a solid hour, I had to WORRY. I had to write about what I was worrying about. I was ticked cause everyone else was having fun shooting pool, playing cards , watching TV, etc, but I was having a "Worry Hour"....and if at ANY time during the day I found myself worrying about anything, I had to say to myself - WHOA - this is NOT my time I am allowed to worry, I must wait til 7 PM. And it would sorta trip my thinking OUT of the worry mode, knowing I had to fill up an hour later during the day. IT WORKED ! It got to the point I just sat and laughed cause I could not come up with anything to worry about - except that I worried about having nothing to worry about ! I have had clients use this technique as well, and it worked for them.

I do honestly think, that people with phobias, fears, avoidances MUST face these or they will never be free of them.

Great post JMO - please share the exact name of book, cause I think many many people would benefit from it !!!

[jmo531]

Thanks Parker for your input. Your always very informative and I love that. I cant beleive I left the book at work. I was actually planning on doing some reading on it tonight. Oh well. I talked a little about this with T on Monday and then she handed me the book. She told me to read the certain chapters and when I see her again this coming Monday we will discuss it. It's nice when I'm pleasantly suprised. I'm not sure why I am so sxcited about this. Maybe because I am eager to deal with these fears and overcome them or if this is the first time I see hope in it. Maybe a little of both.
Parker,
I also wanted to ask you about your thoughts on people with panic disorder. The book I'm reading states that anxiety comes from repressed anger. Do you think this is true? What are your thoughts? Thanks again for your input.
(((((((((((((((PARKER))))))))))))))

[wi_fighter]

Jen, it worked!

I was in bed last night, about 1:00, and started dreading the Friday exchange of kids with the ex. I really worry about them when they're there. So I started thinking of all kinds of even worse things than what I've been thinking.

My inner voice instantly went "Oh give me a break, you know better than that." I kind of chuckled to myself, and my uneasy feelings went away. Of course by then I was too awake to fall back asleep so I got up and came in here, but at least I didn't have that racing heart, tingly fingertips feeling any more.

[Parker10]

WI - try the "worry hour" if you find yourself getting upset about the upcoming weekend (I would suggest earlier than 1 AM however :-) ) . If you catch yourself worrying or what if'ing at any time other than the hour you set - tell yourself to STOP - this is not the time I am allowed to worry. That may help too - but what you did was wonderful !!!! Just goes to show what our "stinkin thinkin" does to us - and you turned it around with ONE sentence ! Way To GO !!!!

JMO - yep- alot of people think panic/anxiety is anger that one has repressed.......I am still not 100% convinced, at least not in ALL cases. I think many many people suffer from these issues due to "lack of control".....for example : TYPICALLY people who start having true panic disorder (MAJOR difference in panic attacks and disorder), have it start after a major life event, ie. death of a loved one, divorce, birth of a baby, job change, moving, etc etc etc. I developed panic DISORDER after the birth of my first son. I had had panic attacks before he was born, but not disorder. When he was born - I was "no longer in control......of anything". I could not control when he would sleep- or when I could get some sleep, I could not control anything with a baby in the house - he was in control! It was when I started realizing I was not in control, I developed full blown panic disorder (of course back then no one knew that was what I had, so it went undiagnosed for 13 more years, it was only once I was diagnosed I was able to figure out why and when it started. Therefore, I would not say my case was repressed anger. I think if you read 10 books on Panic DISORDER - you will have a 50/50 split on the cause. I still think "Anxiety, Phobias and Panic- taking Charge and Conquering Fear" by Reneau Z. Peurifoy, and "Panic Disorder:What you dont know may kill you" by Dr. William D. Kernodle are 2 of the best books out there specifically about panic and anxiety. But, I am looking forward to knowing which book you are speaking of.

I am so glad to see you post that you are excited about this information you have read , and using it with your T to move forward to get better ! "Feel the fear and do it anyway" !!!! Good luck - and keep us posted !!!!

[jmo531]

Ok. The name of the book is " The Feeling Good handbook" by David D. Burns MD.

Thanks Parker for all your input. I really appreciate it. Much love.