Psycho-Babble Psychology Thread 538180

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Broken Lens, Scrupulosity apt description

Posted by temoigneur on August 6, 2005, at 2:16:13

Scrupulosity: The over-concern for doing the correct thing both in God’s eyes, and that of the law.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is conceptualized as having three types or categories. The most traditional type is that of the observable ritualizer. In these people, rituals generally involve behaviors which are designed to undo or escape threats; such as contamination or checking rituals to prevent some disaster. In this type, the predominant concern is the protection of ones own well being and safety. The second most predominant form of OCD, which is just recently beginning to receive a modicum of attention, is the purely obsessional form of OCD, or technically the non-observable ritualizers, which I refer to as the Pure-O.

The 3rd category of OCD, which has received remarkably very little attention, is actually the one in which treatment is most difficult and convoluted. I refer to this type of OCD as the Responsibility OC, which encompasses two subtypes. One subtype is scrupulosity, while the other subtype is over-concern with the well being of others. Both subtypes essentially entail an exaggerated need to defend ones character from agreagious self deprication or disrespect from others.
Scrupulosity is a term given birth to in the 1600s amongst the religious monastic priests of the time. It was observed that certain priests never felt as if they engaged in their daily religious rigors to a satisfactory level. These people were preoccupied with the concern and fear that they were not satisfying God's need for them to display love and or reverance in an adequate way. Typical rituals that were observed in that time involved the need to pray in an exact way, or to pray achieving an exact level of emotional intensity. Four hundred years later scrupulosity is a well-documented form of OCD. It is typically evident in persons who have an overzealous concern that their behavior or thoughts may in some way be displeasing, or disrespecting to God. Repetitive and excessive prayer continue to plague those persons with this type of OCD. Scrupulosity also can involve the need to adhear to a strict code of values or ridigidly follow the ethics of a law abiding citizen.
This preoccupation involves not only the traditional experience of anxiety, which is a feature predominant in all forms of OCD, but the presence of guilt as an additive component further exasserbates the pain and complicates treatment success. OCD obviously is associated with a two part process. There is the upsetting or threatening thought and this thought is usually immediately followed by tremendous anxiety. Although this is the pervasive pairing of OCD there are occasions where the originating thought can produce guilt, anger and or depression.
The Scrupulosity type of OCD takes on many different manifestations. There are those people who will experience an intrusive thought that involves some disrespect to God or to religious items or ideals. The spike involves the threat that an irreverent idea, or an incomplete prayer could creates the risk of potential displeasure of God, and therefore that ones spiritual afterlife will be affected negatively.

Some examples of scrupulosity are as follows:

An orthodox Jewish man wakes up and performs his morning prayers. He performs his prayers in a very slow and deliberate way, his goal being to make sure every syllable of every word expresses his most sincere and profound experience of love for God, and respect for God. Each morning, as his effort to achieve this perfect sincerity is played out, his mind finds moments or words which may not completely demonstrate an adequate amount of love and reverence for God. At this moment, his mind dictates that he must start the prayer over again from the beginning, and go through it to the point of absolute perfection.
As weeks and months go by, the task of achieving the perfect prayer become increasingly difficult, and his life is disrupted in his ability to go to work on time, or to focus on other life matters. This person requests from a rabbi that his wife be allowed to perform the morning prayer for him, and that he be given special permission to skip this prayer in its entirety. This person is given permission by the Rabbi to have his wife perform his morning prayer , however within a month his mind creates other ideas that threaten his sense of well being and relationship to God.

Another example involves an altar boy, who in church sees the Virgin Mary, and experiences intrusive thoughts about the Virgin Mary's genitalia. When these intrusive thoughts appear to the altar boy, he feels tremendous guilt, disgust and shame. He feels compelled to pray to God for forgiveness. He then attends confession in order to have this apparent sin removed from his soul. After a few months, the priests from his parish suggest that the altar boy inform his parents that he sees a psychologist.
Scrupulosity need not focus on ones involvement in a religious sense. Some people have scrupulosity in terms of their concern for remaining within strict rigors of legal standards and societal mores.

A patient, who is an attorney, felt the need to check his briefcase everyday to ensure that he was not stealing a pencil or a blank piece of paper from his law firm. This person would go to extraordinary lengths to make sure that all moneys in his pocket or wallet were accounted for as being his own, and not accidentally taken or placed there by someone else. In this form of scrupulosity, there is still an indicting aspect where the person might consider himself legally corrupt, with or without the presence of there being a religious threat, or indictment to his character.

A complicating feature of this form of OCD is that it tends to be accompanied with a specific type of personality structure, in which patients tend to view themselves and the world around them, in a very rigid and perfectionistic way. It seems that with this subset of OCD, not only is there an anxious need to achieve a sense of perfect harmony in ones religious and/or moral beliefs, but there is also pervasive pattern of perfectionism and of being judgmental in other aspects of living. There is a chance that when a person has this form of OCD; they also have an accompanying personality disorder, referred to as Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD). It is essential for mental health professionals to create differential diagnoses in order to ensure that the standard protocol for treating this form of OCD possibly takes into account the less rigorously studied treatment, which attends to the patients personality structure.

The aspect of this personality condition often and almost entirely involves a secondary threat, of what I call Character Assassination. A woman I worked with had thoughts that her love for her child, or her love for God, was not sufficient, and therefore she was morally corrupt.
Her rituals would involve constant reassurance from persons within the clergy, and from family members, to ensure that her love and attention towards her child, along with her religious practices fell well within what would be considered an adequate demonstration of devotion.


A woman is involved in a Weight Watchers eating program. She feels the need to report her every dietary choice. On occasion, questions will arise as to whether she has accurately reported the amount of butter she might have placed on a bagel. Questions also ensue to whether she’s been 100% disclosing and honest in giving an accurate account if small portions of her food might fall off the plate. She is incapacitated in telling stories by the need to make sure that she’s included every detail, lest she be accused of being withholding information while not being completely honest and disclosing.


The additional element of “guilt” or “character threat” can be as compelling and distressing as the more predominant anxiety feature of OCD.


A patient came to me, and started Prozac at the onset of treatment. Within one month, the anxiety related to her scrupulosity was completely gone, yet her attachment to performing rituals was not at all affected because of her guilt, and her need to rid herself of the potential for her character indictment.

Within scrupulosity, issues of absolute honesty in the spoken word, and absolute legality in ones life choices, can become disruptive in the hyper-zealousness with which people feel compelled to live within. Persons who suffer from scrupulosity in regards to being honest will often engage in time-consuming rituals, in which they feel the need to review exchanges that were taken place on an interpersonal level. This review is intended to guarantee that there were no instances of providing misleading or false information. In this regard, persons once again feel the threat of guilt if they conveyed information that may have damaging effects to those who listened to them. There’s also a heightened scrutiny following any conversation where the person will strictly evaluate whether or not they have, unbeknownst to them, uttered an obscenity or some offense to the listener. This also tends to occur in written language to these people, such that they will check any correspondence repeatedly to ensure that when it leaves their control, there’s no misleading information, or no vulgarities included in the correspondence.

Persons who have a hyper vigilance about legal constraints will engage in a rigidly controlled lifestyle in which they feel compelled to avoid any potential legal conflict. A common manifestation within this form of OCD involves persons who are hyper-vigilant to ensure that their written information not contain any plagiarism, or contain ideas that are not uniquely their own. This determination to remain completely within the ethical guidelines, seen as “not cheating”, can manifest themselves in people placing footnotes on any written correspondence in which they identify that they have been assisted in their writing by something as commonplace as a spellchecker on their computer. Once again, in these forms of OCD, there is a combination of the anxiety due to not knowing whether one has stepped across the line in their morals or legal standards, and the guilt of having violated the law, violated innocent others, or God’s will. In developing a treatment package, these issues give rise to the potential that a patient not find it easy to differentiate between their anxious minds compelling threats, and their own potential rigid and high moral standard.
This form of OCD has the potential, more so than others, to involve what is called Overvalued Ideation. Typically patients suffering from OCD are logically aware that the threats that they encounter are irrational and unlikely. This dichotomy of thought, where on one hand they feel compelled to perform a ritual, and on the other hand are aware that the originating threat is irrational, produces a great deal of turmoil.

With Scrupulosity, there is an increased risk that the patient is not fully aware in a logical way that the threat is of an irrational nature. Its as if the disorder has taken over the part of the mind from irrational thought.

The tendency to overvalue the irrational threats and consider them logical and justified can diminish the prognosis of treatment success.

Treatment Considerations.

For that patient with scrupulosity OCD, a more intense risk is perceived during the course of treatment. This risk involves not only their well being, but also the risk of disapproval from God. This perceived heightened risk tends to produce a greater level of resistance from the patient to perform the exposure exercise, which is a necessary part of treatment. These exposure exercises must be approached in an aggressive, determined manner, in order for clinical outcomes to be positive.

Although medication is a very powerful frontline treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, it can sometimes have limited benefit for persons with Scrupulosity when the existence of this overvalued ideation is present.

The treatment course for overvalued Scrupulosity does not deviate significantly from other types of OCD. Generally, a hierarchy is constructed, in which persons gradually are exposed to gradually accelerating levels of risk. This involves increasing levels of risk that their character might be negatively judged. Exposure exercises at the lower level might entail things like a person sampling a grape at a deli, and then walking away, as if they're disapproving, but in their heart knowing they're stealing a grape. Another example of an exposure exercise might entail a patient taking off a very small piece of paper, and littering on the street. An example of a more middle range exposure could involve a patient repeating to him or herself through the day, that the Virgin Mary might not have been a virgin.

Because this form of OCD involves the dual-barrel threat of anxiety, plus character indictment, it is often recommended that a patient receive some exposure to the more philosophical cognitive principles that disputes the belief or notion that people have definitive and specific characters. The principles of cognitive therapy hold that humans are fraught with imperfection and diversity. Due to this, it is not considered adaptive for humans to attempt to assess their stature overall, ego, character or place in God's eye. Cognitive principles encourage patients to perceive themselves as generic humans, without an additive sense of goodness of character. Instead, patients are encouraged to see that their behaviors can vary, and that ones sense of overall self is best off being accepting, rather than evaluating.

I can assure you that this therapeutic goal remains one of the most challenging within Psychology. Our society, school system, and religious institutions continue to be fraught with ego based philosophies which encourage people to become good or better persons. These ideas create a greater susceptibility for ones ego or stature to be harmed or diminished.
It is not unusual that professionals within the religious community, such as priests, rabbis and ministers, are called in the initial phases of therapy to sanction the seemingly irreverent nature of this therapy. It is helpful if these religious professionals have some knowledge of OCD, so that they can understand that the treatment course is not designed to have any impact on religious beliefs and devotions. They should be aware that treatment is solely targeting a disruptive anxiety disorder, which produces “seemingly” devout behavior that is really unrelated to the genuine degree of devotion to religious principles.

It is not uncommon that persons are referred for therapy by significant others, or those within the clergy, due to the tendency for those with Scrupulosity to not perceive their excessive behavior as being dysfunctional.

Some Final Thoughts.

It is of the outmost importance that therapy be directed towards increasing the client's tolerance of ambiguity and ability to increase the level of risk taken in relation to OCD. Clinical work can focus on assisting the client towards developing a greater tolerance of discomfort associated with the anxiety and guilt. It is being willing to tolerate such discomfort that leads to recovery. It is also paramount to understand that the goal of therapy is not to have the painful associations go away, but rather to look upon them as challenges to manage. This is one of the most difficult concepts for the patient to grasp with since most people who come to therapy believe that their problem is that they have the thoughts, rather than not managing the anxiety arising as a function of the thoughts, in a way which is adaptive.

It is critical to remember that with OCD, attempting to escape the anxiety or guilt produces the greatest damage psychologically. The thoughts themselves, while unpleasant, are survivable, where the attempt to escape is endless. It is the escape attempt that distorts the sufferer's behavior and adversely affects his or her ability to function in the world. Not being willing to face the spikes, sets the individual up for further attacks of the disorder.
On an encouraging note, once a client makes the decision to resist the spike, it is likely that the discomfort will dissipate within a fairly brief period of time, often 10-20 minutes at most. Those who have just begun therapy sometimes find this hard to believe. Fresh in their memories are images of hours, and sometimes days, spent agonizing over some spike, or getting a ritual right.
Through time, patients become aware that it is their ambivalence and uncertainty about whether or not to give in or not to a spike that produces the prolonged agony. As long as one waiver in the decision to resist, the mind is encouraged to produce more prompts of anxiety and guilt. Similarly, it is not helpful once within the throws of the disorder, for an individual to make a decision to resist giving in and then spend their time monitoring their anxiety and waiting for it to subside. That, too, increases the probability that the disorder will continue to create prompts as spikes. Checking to see if the discomfort is still there keeps the connection open to the anxiety and guilt producing thoughts. Ultimately, the goal of therapy is to see that both the disruptive thoughts and the anxiety are irrelevant. This can be achieved through altering ones mindset, and behavior with respect to these experiments.

Although some behavioral exercises might seem extreme, recovery is facilitated when the patient performs these exercises in a way which is aggressive and conscientious. It is encouraged that clients overcompensate in regard to homework assignments, which is opposite to the demands of the disorder. I've often used the “Bent Pole” analogy in explaining this to clients. In order to straighten a metal pole that has been bent in one direction, you must bend it back to an equal degree in the opposite direction. Over simplified as this analogy is, it expresses the underlying principle related to the rationale for the extremity of these exercises.
By not only disregarding the disorders demands, but taking the extra step of upping the ante or challenging it even further, clients can most effectively regain their equilibrium, the freedom, and obtain comfort in performing the routine tests of daily living of which they have be deprived by the disorder. The disorder deprives people of the aforementioned and treatment can help them obtain those back.

In conclusion, the factor that distinguishes someone who is simply conscientious or concerned, from one with Responsibility OC or Scrupulosity, is the amount of anxiety and/or guilt that she/he experiences in not performing the task, or good deed. If the occasion were to arise, where we were to observe some potential hazard in the street, we have the freedom to ask ourselves "if I were not to perform this good deed, what emotions would I experience?" If the answer is a significant amount of anxiety or guilt, or a strong feeling that you are less of a person, for failing to act as your conscience dictates, this is a strong indicator that you suffer from Responsibility OC, and it might be in your best interest to seek professional help.


Dr. Steven Phillipson, Ph.D.

 

Hope and Perspective

Posted by temoigneur on August 6, 2005, at 2:16:13

In reply to Broken Lens, Scrupulosity apt description, posted by temoigneur on August 4, 2005, at 23:12:36

Scrupulosity:
Religious Obsessions and Compulsions
by Carol E. Watkins, MD
© January 2003

What is Scrupulosity?
Religious belief, and membership in a faith community are important factors in the lives of many individuals. In addition to moral and spiritual guidance, they can provide a sense of purpose, structure and community. For a certain individuals, religious beliefs become compulsive, joyless behaviors. The individual may constantly worry that he or she might say or do something blasphemous. He may fear that he has committed sin, forgotten it and then neglected to repent for the sin. He may spend long hours searching his mind to try to ferret out evidence of un-confessed sins. He is unable to feel forgiven. Specific obsessions and compulsions vary according to the individual’s religion. An Orthodox Jew might worry that he did not perform a particular ritual correctly. He might obsess about this for hours. A Roman Catholic might go to confession several times a day. Another individual could believe that anything he does might be sinful. This individual might become so paralyzed with doubt, that he or she becomes afraid to do or say anything at all.


Scrupulosity and OCD
Religious faith and religious education are not generally the causes of Scrupulosity. Actually, Scrupulosity is a form of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. (OCD) OCD appears to be a biologically based disorder with severe psychological consequences. The disorder occurs in 2-3% of the population (5-7 million sufferers in the U.S.). About 10% of the first-degree relatives of affected persons also have OCD.

Obsessions are recurrent thoughts or impulses that make the person anxious (such as the fear that using a public toilet will make one sick) The obsessions persist despite efforts to control or suppress them. They feel intrusive and disturbing even though the person knows that they come from his own mind. Obsessions may include fear of harming someone, contamination or of doing something embarrassing.

Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts the person feels driven to perform, often with ritualistic rigidity, to prevent the anxiety connected with the obsessions. These may include urges to wash, count, check or repeat phrases to oneself.

OCD can occur in different forms. There are a variety of different types of obsessions and compulsions. The nature of intensity of these symptoms may vary over time. Aggressive, sexual and religious obsessions sometimes occur together in the same individual.

Differentiating Scrupulosity from Devout Religious Faith and Practice
Because these obsessions and compulsions are intertwined in the individual’s religious life, it may be difficult for him or her to recognize that he or she has a psychiatric condition. An individual with religious obsessions often may focus excessively on one particular concern about sin while neglecting other aspects of his or her religion. Most religions place a high priority on compassion and being a good neighbor. The scrupulous individual while focusing excessively on a few specific rules may neglect this more general dictum.

Religious leaders within the Roman Catholic and Jewish community have addressed these issues. Commentators in both of these groups have writings that label scrupulosity as a sin. One rabbi called it idolatry because the excessive devotion to a specific ritual (to the detriment of good acts toward other people) elevated the ritual to a god-like status. In his book, The Doubting Disease, JW Ciarrocchi reviews Roman Catholic pastoral writings over past centuries. He feels that some of the things that priests did to help scrupulous individuals anticipated current treatments for OCD.

Treatment of Scrupulosity
Like other forms of OCD, scrupulosity responds to medication and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Prior to studies in the 1980's, the usual view of OCD was that it was a relatively rare disorder with a poor prognosis. However, in addition to it being now recognized as much more common (2-3% prevalence rate), it is generally considered treatable. About 60%–80% of patients show some degree of response to treatment.

The serotonin system in the brain seems to be involved in the pathology of OCD, since the medications that have been shown to be help treat OCD increase the availability of this neurotransmitter. These medications include the serotonin re-uptake inhibitors: clomipramine, fluoxetine, sertraline, paroxetine, fluvoxamine, and citalopram.

Cognitive-Behavioral therapy - specifically ERP [Exposure and Response Prevention] - has been successfully used for the treatment of OCD. The idea behind ERP is that compulsions provide only a temporary reduction of the anxiety produced by obsessions. Furthermore, the only way to experience more permanent relief is to habituate (grow tolerant of…"get used to") the anxiety caused by the obsession--without performing the compulsion. Habituation is the key factor, and clinicians start by identifying triggers that bring on obsessional thoughts and compulsive behaviors. Then they develop a graduated hierarchy of anxiety based on the patient's report. The patient "challenges" him or herself by gradually moving up the hierarchy. In addition to exposure, the patient is instructed to refrain from carrying out the associated rituals or at least to delay the rituals by several minutes. .

This treatment can be adapted to religious obsessions and compulsions. However, the therapist must proceed with sensitivity to the individual’s cultural and religious beliefs. If this is not done, the therapy may actually increase anxiety and resistance.


Coordination Between Psychiatrist and Clergy
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It is often useful for the psychiatrist and the individual’s religious leader to work together. In some cases, with permission, the psychiatrist and the religious leader may speak directly. In many other cases, the individual in treatment can be the communication bridge. The religious leader can help the individual distinguish legitimate concerns about faith and guilt from stereotyped religious obsessions. As the person with scrupulosity begins to face his fears, he may experience a temporary increase in anxiety. The religious leader can then be a source of support and encouragement. In some cases, clergy will give the individual permission to visualize things that would usually be considered sinful thoughts if it is part of the treatment for this condition. If an individual is compulsively repeating a ritual until it is perfect, the clergy may need to give the individual special permission to perform a ritual in a less than perfect manner.

Although the psychiatrist may coordinate with clergy, the psychiatrist usually remains neutral about the individual’s particular religious beliefs. Psychotherapy and religious conversion are different things. However, within the context of psychiatric treatment, the individual is often able to gain control of his or her OCD and Scrupulosity. This can lead to freedom from excessive guilt and stereotyped religious obsessions. Ultimately, the individual is freed to experience a richer life in his or her family and faith community.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

References
Leckman et al Symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, American Journal of Psychiatry July 1997 154:911-917. Ciarrocchi, JW, The Doubting Disease, Paulist Press, New York, 1995.
Scrupulous Anonymous Liguori, MO (Newsletter--Roman Catholic)
The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) This contains an article on scrupulosity and how a Catholic priest might identify and deal with it in the confessional.
Obsessions, Compulsions and the Chistian A discussion of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder from a Christian psychology perspective.
Scrupulosity: An Old Concept Revisited From Lutheran Campus Ministries. A brief discussion of the concept of scrupulosity. Some of what is disucssed here might not be considered to qualify for diagnosis at the psychiatric level.

 

Re: Broken Lens, Scrupulosity apt description » temoigneur

Posted by crazy teresa on August 6, 2005, at 2:16:13

In reply to Broken Lens, Scrupulosity apt description, posted by temoigneur on August 4, 2005, at 23:12:36

VERY interesting! Might need to be posted to Adnimistration?

 

Re: Broken Lens, Scrupulosity apt description

Posted by Dena on August 6, 2005, at 2:16:13

In reply to Broken Lens, Scrupulosity apt description, posted by temoigneur on August 4, 2005, at 23:12:36

Yes - interesting indeed.

But I'm wondering - what's your point?

Are you pointing fingers...? Are you intending this for any particular person? Or just all of us who talk of faith?

I wasn't aware that a guest specialist had been invited and scheduled...!

Shalom, Dena

P.S. That bagel anology made my hungry! Yum!

 

And what does your name mean? (nm)

Posted by crazy teresa on August 6, 2005, at 2:16:13

In reply to Re: Broken Lens, Scrupulosity apt description, posted by Dena on August 5, 2005, at 16:52:28

 

Re: Broken Lens, Scrupulosity apt description

Posted by spriggy on August 6, 2005, at 2:16:14

In reply to Re: Broken Lens, Scrupulosity apt description, posted by Dena on August 5, 2005, at 16:52:28

Whatever.

 

You made me LOL! (nm) » spriggy

Posted by crazy teresa on August 6, 2005, at 2:16:14

In reply to Re: Broken Lens, Scrupulosity apt description, posted by spriggy on August 5, 2005, at 23:16:08

 

it means witness (nm) » crazy teresa

Posted by Shortelise on August 6, 2005, at 14:05:06

In reply to And what does your name mean? (nm), posted by crazy teresa on August 5, 2005, at 19:58:25

 

very, very interesting! (nm) » temoigneur

Posted by Shortelise on August 6, 2005, at 14:26:34

In reply to Hope and Perspective, posted by temoigneur on August 4, 2005, at 23:42:39

 

thanks for the perspective (nm)

Posted by sleepygirl on August 6, 2005, at 23:40:27

In reply to Re: Broken Lens, Scrupulosity apt description, posted by spriggy on August 5, 2005, at 23:16:08

 

Re: Broken Lens, Scrupulosity apt description

Posted by temoigneur on August 7, 2005, at 0:20:21

In reply to Re: Broken Lens, Scrupulosity apt description, posted by Dena on August 5, 2005, at 16:52:28


> Yes - interesting indeed.
>
> But I'm wondering - what's your point?
>
Hi Dena, the articles, particularily the first one, just struck me as unusually poignant, and I hoped it may give some people some insight, or be encouraging to some....
>
Are you pointing fingers...? Are you intending this for any particular person? Or just all of us who talk of faith?

I don't know anyone on this board, so I couldn't direct it to an individual, but I apologize for the following except, I understand how someone would feel judged:

"An individual with religious obsessions often may focus excessively on one particular concern about sin while neglecting other aspects of his or her religion. Most religions place a high priority on compassion and being a good neighbor. The scrupulous individual while focusing excessively on a few specific rules may neglect this more general dictum.
Religious leaders within the Roman Catholic and Jewish community have addressed these issues. Commentators in both of these groups have writings that label scrupulosity as a sin. One rabbi called it idolatry because the excessive devotion to a specific ritual (to the detriment of good acts toward other people) elevated the ritual to a god-like status.
>

I guess the accusation of idolatry would only factor in if one believes in a higher power. If one does, unfortunately it seems life has left it to us to decide whether one has any control in modfiying their scrupulous tendencies through CBT; pursuit of intervention from a higher power - although I can only see the latter idea exacerbating scrupulosity. Not exploring CBT, or so is labelled by the cited catholic and rabbidic clergy as sin.

I'm taught that sin is a greek term used in archery literally meaning, "to miss the mark". I suppose if one does believe that scrupulosity can be modified to some extent, sin in this case, could possibly be taken to mean a failure to engage in appropriate CBT therapy or the like - however, from my own experience at the receiving end of the therapist - patient relationship, I'm not convinced this therapy does work for everyone - (I certainly don't like the notion that I am responsible to correct this through more demoralizing CBT work. One thing is certain, I'm stuck with this condition for now, and if medication won't take it away, therapy is my only option, one I have avoided as much as humanly possible. So if you're feeling guilty and overwhelmed, I think it's the nature of the condition, but I'm very sick with it too - you're not alone:)

Take care,

Ben




 

Re: Hope and Perspective » temoigneur

Posted by Dinah on August 7, 2005, at 22:20:42

In reply to Hope and Perspective, posted by temoigneur on August 4, 2005, at 23:42:39

I have a great link for responsibility OCD. I'll have to look for it.

I first identified my own problem in Ethics class in college. When they talked about Scrupulosity I felt like Linus standing up and bowling the professor over by shouting "THAT'S IT!!!"

Years later, that's what I was diagnosed with. OCD. Not so much rituals as obessions. And mainly responsibility obsessions.

Oddly enough I married someone with OCD, and he also has OCPD. He diagnosed the OCPD himself when he was reading one of my books. :) So I'm not saying anything about him that he wouldn't say about himself. His OCD is similar but different.

Boy, can we feed each other sometimes when his stuff overlaps with my stuff.

There is hope, though, and a reasonably good prognosis. I've got my OCD mostly under control with CBT. The book "Stop Obsessing!" was my favorite, but "Brain Lock" is also good.

 

Re: Hope and Perspective » Dinah

Posted by gardenergirl on August 8, 2005, at 9:00:12

In reply to Re: Hope and Perspective » temoigneur, posted by Dinah on August 7, 2005, at 22:20:42

> I have a great link for responsibility OCD. I'll have to look for it.
>
> I first identified my own problem in Ethics class in college. When they talked about Scrupulosity I felt like Linus standing up and bowling the professor over by shouting "THAT'S IT!!!"

Oh my. This made me laugh out loud. I'm glad you had that "aha!" moment.

And I'll keep the books in mind for my clinical library. Glad they helped you.

gg
>


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