How to stop hammering ourselves with the TOC-TOC of the TOC?

We all have a mind-machine gun that, when it feels anxious or restless, does not stop shooting thoughts at us of the entire possible spectrum: sometimes beautiful or hopeful, and many others dense, invasive, intrusive, involuntary, intensive, recurrent, uncontrolled, even degrading and insulting.

The extravagance or plausibility of the ideational content does not matter so much, nor the objectivity of its falsity, or the recognition of its equivocation; the greatest torture is in his incessant insistence. It is a persevering “tyranny of the absurd”.

Although many times there is the lucidity or clarity of recognizing that, beyond their clothing of truth, those thoughts obsessive are not true, his apparently invincible force manages to plunge us into an ocean of despair and anguish inevitable.

We will see in this article specific techniques and strategies that help to dismantle the vehemence of these painful convictions.

• Related article: "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): what is it and how does it manifest itself?"

The discomfort of repetitive thoughts

We have all been victims at some time of the tortuous obsessive thoughts (and then victimizers when we believe them). Before delving into the invaluable ways of their appeasement, let us ask ourselves how it is that they appear.

Very synthetically, we experience a circumstance, we give it meaning and we shape an explanatory thought (conscious or unconscious). Fueled by anxiety, it begins to grow and occupy more and more mental energy to the point where we cannot stop it at will.

What is it then that keeps this unpleasant symptom alive? Simple: the attention and dedication we give them, the seriousness and cognitive rigidity with which we welcome them. We believe what is true is not. Ultimately, we believe that Santa Claus and unicorns exist.

Keys so that the hammering of OCD does not harm us

The tactics to combat the tortuous mental invasion seek to disturb the normal development of the complaint and encourage us to distance ourselves from it. Authors such as Milton Erikson, Luc Isebaert, Fisch from the Palo school, Giorgio Nardone from strategic brief therapy, the Michal White's narrative therapy, among others have created proposals, even funny ones, to correct the scathing effect of the obsessions. Let's go for them...

1. name it

Assign a character to the obsessionFor example, "Mr. Clown". Treat it as an external object, not as an internal and own certainty. Observe it as if it were a voice or person independent of us, name it, for example: “here is my mind worrying again”.

• You may be interested in: "Emotional labeling: what it is and what it is for in psychotherapy"

2. tease the doll

Once we have realized that obsessions are a creation of the mind and unreal and have outsourced, for example, to Mr. Clown, we can mold him with plasticine or buy a doll that represents this problem. We can do various things: take it with us or place it in a special place in the house as a way of remembering that "we are at war" against it.

We can subject him to various humiliations (putting him ridiculous clothes) or humiliation (leaving him out in the open, hitting him, insulting him), buying and throwing him out insect repellent, putting it in the freezer certain days or moments and all the cruelties that we can think of to combat this unbearable "enemy external".

3. sing the obsession

Instead of thinking it over and over again and entering the tedious repetitive spiral, we propose put music from a children's song or even a little ridiculous. For example “I am a failure” would be a good refrain for a barra brava in a football stadium.

4. Not one more, not one less

Nardone suggests we repeat the thought an exact number of times, for example 10, "not one more, not one less." The purpose is to try that the decision of the repetition is ours and not of the obsession.

5. the last five minutes

This task is another way of increasing control over the symptom, circumscribing it to a time limitation. When the obsession attacks, with its faithful escort, the negative emotion, we will consult the time. If the clock shows the last five minutes of a half hour (eg. from 15:25 to 15:30; or 15:55 to 16:00 we'll get into that thrill.

If not, we will have to postpone that rumination until the next last five minutes of that half hour (for example: If 15:10 arises, we wait until 15:25; if it appears 15:38 we wait until 16:00). If after the prescribed five minutes our negative cognition persists, we must, once again, postpone them to the final five minutes of that half hour. Postponing something is easier than trying not to do it or fighting it. And it is also more friendly to avoid the frustration of not being able to stop the obsessive cataract.

• You may be interested in: "Emotional management: 10 keys to master your emotions"

6. the ruminating chair

When obsessions trigger, we will now impose a spatial limitation. We will sit in an ugly chair exclusively used for this and we will dedicate 10 minutes of time to the obsession, focusing solely on it. If we prefer to do something else, such as putting on music, we get to it. If the obsession returns, we will go and sit in the “rumination chair” of torture for another 10 minutes.

7. The ruminative half hour

We will stipulate half an hour of homework, in the morning and in the afternoon (eg. at 10:00 and 17:00), like it's time to take an antibiotic. We will dedicate that half hour to "ruminate" and write down our uncontrollable ideas, until the alarm clock indicates that the time has expired. If we run out of ideas but the half hour has not yet passed, we will continue writing in front of the sheet until the alarm goes off.

If throughout the day we are invaded by obsessions, we have to postpone them until the half hour scheduled to "ruminate" them. We introduce with this technique, in addition to a spatial and temporal limitation, a positive saturation effect. We can read the writing aloud and then burn it or throw it in a trash can.

• Related article: "Time management: 13 tips to make the most of the hours of the day"

8. Screw up

If our obsessions have the tinge of the authoritarianism of perfectionism, we will do small daily acts of gaffe. Writing an email with a spelling mistake, inviting someone to a coffee without having any money, wearing different colored socks, being late for an appointment, etc. This is how we try to learn how to de-catastrophize the consequences of slip-ups or mistakes.

9. Farewell and welcome letter

Like love breakup, we write a goodbye letter to recurring cognitions. We appreciate your services and we explain that we can now do without your annoying company. We can also welcome a new stage of control and decision not to let ourselves be manipulated by their annoying messages.

concluding

There are more effective proposals to combat the disruptive "mosquito buzz" of this invasion of rebellious ideas, which I will elaborate on in the next issue.

The mental hammer of obsessions is something imaginary to which we give credibility; it is a virtual reality, it is fiction, a macabre fantasy Disney. It seems real, but it is not. It seems strong, but it is a weak ghost. The most important thing: we are not what we think we are. The phrase that synthesizes all the strategies exposed to silence and silence once and for all the OCD OCD of the OCD is from the title of a book by Steven Hayes: "Get out of your mind and enter your life."