OCD and worry are different but do have some crossover in how they make us feel. They like to occupy our thoughts, consume our attention and cause us to feel distressed and dysregulated.
A common strategy for manging worry is to use a decision tree (shown in the diagram below) and then allocate, if needed, specific ‘worry time’ to process and manage those worries which can’t be easily dismissed or dealt with in the moment.
Image taken from: CBT Therapy in London’s website
When it comes to OCD however a more common strategy is to not give the thoughts any time and sit with the uncertainty, knowing that the nervous system should reset itself if we don’t engage with the thoughts.
As a result, I’ve always thought ‘worry time’ isn’t a valuable tool for OCD recovery however more recently I have seen a couple of benefits which I thought I would highlight and see if anyone else thinks they may be useful too.
I’ve spoken a lot about how when OCD hits we are thrown into our sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) and so at this stage engaging with the thoughts in any way is problematic. We will be thinking through a distorted mindset where our mind can make us believe anything is possible, this is inherently problematic as we are handing over our thinking to a bunch of assumptions which are fundamentally flawed.
OCD can feel very urgent and like it must be looked at NOW! But by allocating a time in the future when your system is re-regulated, the OCD brain will feel like its been heard and may quieten down.
We are not engaging with the thought as such but allocating a time in the future, if needed, to work through it from a more rational head space.
The benefits of this I see are 4-fold:
- You’re not engaging with the thought but you’re also not pushing it away, this means the brain (amygdala), feels validated and is more likely to relax.
- You are finding a time when you are in your parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system to work through any uncertainty, this means you’ll have your full cognitive functioning, reasoning and rational switched on.
- When worry time comes, the OCD thought might already have been dismissed, this is the ideal scenario – no need to do anything.
- Labelling the thought as OCD and delaying any ruminating until a later time, switches the mind back to the prefrontal cortex and away from the amygdala in the moment. These two systems can act a bit like a seesaw, so when we label the thought we take back control of our thinking brain.
When you reach your allocated ‘worry time’, if the thoughts are still about and being bothersome, I would highly recommend Byron Katies method to work through each thought in a rational & logical way.
I’ve mentioned this method before in previous posts but just in case you haven’t seen it here is the full example:
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Is it true? (If no, move to 3).
- Can you absolutely 100% know that it’s true? (Yes or no).
- How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought? (Explore physical sensations, emotions, and behaviours).
- Who would you be without the thought? (Imagine yourself in that situation without the stressful belief).
The Turnarounds
The final step is to turn the statement around to see if the opposite is as true or truer than your original thought.
I often find as soon as I ask the first question the answer is ‘no’ but I can always guarantee when it comes to OCD the second answer is always ‘no’ as OCD is all about doubt and uncertainty and if you have that it cannot be 100% true.
So use your OCD worry time to work through your thoughts in this logical, prefrontal cortex orientated way. Anything less than 100% certainty you have to let go and sit with that uncomfortable feeling, that’s the work we must do to become habituated to our OCD. I know its tough, I get it, but if we want to let go of OCD we have to let go of certainty.
I really hope this post helps, I don’t know how many times I’ve used this process to help let go of intrusive thoughts, thank you Byron Katie. If you want to see more of her work you can visit her website here.
Let me know if it helps you too and please share your experience in the comments below.
As always,
Stay Strong xxx
Conquering OCD 