In the Brain

Heh. That is sort of ironic with OCD.

Is this a black and white certainty? Or is it just something you have been told? Or is it something like "life cannot be cured"?

My anxiety was cured. I wasn't born anxious, my upbringing made me that way. I worked through that and I was able to get rid of the dysfunctional influence of my parents......

Good question. I guess it's a matter of how you define "cure". A psych will tell you that no mental illness can be cured, because they're thinking of it from a physiological point of view. A broken bone can be healed, but from a psych's point of view the brain can't be healed in the same way.

As Sannah points out, though, one can be "cured" of one symptoms whether or not significant physical changes take place in the brain...though there seems to be a lot of new evidence that suggests that such changes do in fact take place. What I mean is that the brain is more malleable than we once thought.

So I guess I take back what I say, with caveats...such as I think it's really really hard for most people to absolutely "cure" themselves.

Yes!

I have walked the walk, have an MSW (but am a stay at home mom) and I have seen my child development background get air breathed into it by watching my own children develop. I know more is possible than a lot of practitioners realize. Coming to these types of boards for the last few years I have also seen so many people change.

When I was in school in the mid 90's I just could not get a good answer to why people self injure. A few years ago I got my answers by just listening to those who do it. I was at a conference last year and mentioned what I had learned. The woman looked at me like I just got off a space ship. I know that some professionals know why. I have since read exactly what I have learned. I guess what I am saying is that psychological treatment is really in its infancy and is really only really starting to take off (though there are many programs out there that are top notch). The most important thing that I have learned is that you must take your treatment into your own hands (the therapist is not going to cure you. You must use all of these resources to cure yourself)......

I think we ALL have a degree of some OCD symptoms. If it prevents you from living a full and normal life, then I think it would benefit from counseling or medication.
I also think some of it is genetic. Growing up, ALL the clocks in our house were set to odd hours because of my dad. I never knew what time it really was, because of his bizarre system! I never questioned this as abnormal, till one time when my, then, high school boyfriend was visiting, and I was trying to figure out what time it really was using my dad's system, and the boyfriend said, "This is crazy!" LOL!
I set my alarm clock one half hour early, and hit the snooze numerous times, thinking I'm foolng myself! Other than that, all my other clocks are set to the right time.
Patty

So why does OCD require medication? If it can be cured your self, why doesn't everyone just do that? And how?

That's the million dollar question these days. Psychiatry is still struggling with the drugs vs. therapy question, especially since new research has shown that even simple meditation can alter brain chemistry over a prolonged period.

The late 90s was the real pill-pushing period, in my experience. You went to a psych, they wanted to give you meds. These days things are more nuanced. I started seeing a psych again a couple of years ago, and literally for eight months we did nothing in our appointments but talk. Then, after that, he prescribed me clonozepam, which is pretty mild as far as meds go.

Therapies such as cognitive behaviorial therapy have proven to work wonders on some OCD patients, but there is a certain level of commitment to exercises required that some people can't handle...often because of anxiety, depression, or other issues. That's often when meds need to be prescribed. These days most psych patients do a combination of both.

People are not the same, and these things work on a case by case basis. Oddly it's taken psychiatry a long time to realize this.

How do you see clocks constantly to odd hours? He must have been changing them all the time.

Growing up in a house with two OCD parents screwed me up big time. I'm still trying to shake the "hangover" my childhood gave me.

I realize it wasn't your intention to say "everyone has OCD symptoms" and it isn't what you said, but I am touchy about this and it sounded like it. So don't take this as an attack. It's just that I've met with a certain amount of resistance when I tell people what I have, like "oh sure I always check the stove too" as if it's the same thing at all. There's this pop-culture idea of what OCD is, like you're just a very careful person, and not sometimes nearly disabled. I was losing my ******* mind before I finally sought treatment.

If it prevents you from living a full and normal life, it is a symptom of OCD. Otherwise, it isn't.

Good question! Meds treat symptoms, they do not cure the underlying disorder. If you need meds to cope, you need meds. As I look back on my anxiety days and where I am now I can see everything very clearly. Everyone that I have talked to with anxiety has the same issues. I see how I turned everything around.

Zloppy, you ask how. First step is admitting that there is a problem that can be fixed. The next step is complete self understanding. This requires stopping the denial and looking honestly at yourself. Sit with yourself in any situation. Pay attention. How do you feel? What is going on around you? How are you reacting to everything? This is what you need to understand about yourself. Next is why. Why am I reacting like this to this situation?

Some of my answers were low self-worth, lack of personal boundaries, lack of empowerment, fear of intimacy, lack of social skills, bottled up feelings that needed to be processed, etc. (Basically all of the skills that should have been a part of my early development but weren't).

One of the last things that I worked on after I fixed all of the above was that anxiety was just my baseline (habit). I stopped that by sitting in any environment and really being aware, looking around, telling myself that this environment does not call for this anxiety. I am safe, there is nothing wrong so get rid of it! There is a lot of self talk that goes on here. This really worked but first you have to work on the above issues that really do cause the anxiety. You also have to revisit what you worked on to get the final kinks out when you are doing this too I guess.

I really believe that I rewired my brain.

I don't think that everyone has OCD. I know a lot of calm people.

This requires that you somehow give yourself permission to look at your self in all its facets and not judge. Look and think and learn. Depending on your upbringing, looking at your own self without harsh condemnation may be difficult. Give your self permission.

So I would have to fix these (which ever apply which i think is most) and then I will be starting to get rid of OCD? That will be hard to do. Especially since I like being alone and hate talking for the social skills.

E sort...I apologize if my post sounded too cavalier. I do realize it is a serious condition for many. I do think there are degrees of OCD, some of which is not life-debilitating, but unhealthy nonetheless.
Patty

And I think the same. There are degrees of it. Someone may have it completely horrible, like my friend and others may be just slightly affected by it.

I do struggle with elements of OCD on a daily basis. Currently I am trying to wean off Paxil, and the obsessive thinking is re-emerging its ugly head. My physician was opposed to my going off medication primarily because of this. "In the brain" is what I remind myself, when my thinking becomes irrational or obsessive. Interestingly, and I think this is because of my age as well as anything, I am able to think my way thru much of the condition. It will reappear, but less intense than before, till finally it goes away. It does involve conscious work on my part, but it isn't as persistent as it was for me in earlier years. This reduction in medication, which I am doing on my own, also brings forth flashback type memories which are very painful, but which I have buried. When this first started to happen, I was very dismayed, realizing it was the medication decrease. Sticking with it, however, I have actually "lived" thru much of the flashbacks, not shrinking from them, and they too seem to have gone away! I still experience this, but am able to work thru it.
Patty

Getting better is a gradual and step by step process. I would suggest that you stay focused on today and not worry a lot about tomorrow (oh yeah, another issue with those who are anxious, one which I also fixed!) I would chose one of the above issues, maybe the most pressing, and start there......

Good luck weaning yourself off of the Paxil. Sounds like you know what youre doing, even if your doctor is concerned.

I do agree that age and experience play a big role in helping with OCD symptoms. After 30 years, you realize that locking the door a certain number of times isn't going to harm/help you, and that if you believe you turned the oven off, you actually did, and don't need to "check" to make sure.

I think most people get their OCD symptoms at their worst in their 20s, when they are mature enough to want to lead a "normal" life, yet not experienced enough to deal with the flare-up of OCD symptoms that comes with that (as opposed to behaving more like an irresponsible kid, I mean). That's what my experience was like, at any rate.