Mental Health

[Gryffindorian]

Although I haven't been officially diagnosed, I currently suffer from intrusive thoughts brought on by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). I have been on Prozac for the past 11 years since I was first diagnosed with depression and anxiety back in 2005 when I was going through a tough time. That was when my doctor prescribed an antidepressant. It has worked well for me for over a decade, but last month I started to have intrusive thoughts again, possibly as a result of stress.

Recently I've been doing a lot of research on OCD, which at one point was considered to be a type of anxiety disorder but is now under a different category, and that's how I came to believe that I have this condition. I've always been an anxious person my whole life, but it wasn't until the symptoms manifested again that I knew for sure I had OCD. So I saw my therapist over a week ago, and he suggested that I increase my dosage of Prozac because the medicine seems to have lost its efficacy (Prozac poop out). It may take several weeks before I see any improvements, if any. He also recommended an 8-week mindfulness and meditation class taught by my health-care provider.

My anxiety level fluctuates throughout the course of the day and gets overwhelming at times, but I try to stay positive. This is a chronic condition, and hopefully with the right treatment (cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT and medication) and a healthy lifestyle (exercise, proper diet, good sleeping habits), it can be managed. Some say anxiety is hereditary (my dad has anxiety issues too, although he refuses to take medication). One particular type of treatment I wish to address is mindfulness-based CBT, which focuses on being in the present and acceptance without judgment and has been used in the treatment of depression and other anxiety disorders. It sounds simple; I have been practicing mindful meditation for months, but it's not always easy to concentrate. One type of therapy I'm interested in is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

Do you or does someone you know have a similar condition? Feel free to share your experiences and observations.

 

[Snaploud]

Yes, I have family members with this condition. A combination of CBT and medication is usually the best bet for long-term health.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I've had OCD since childhood. I have, I guess you would say, "de-habituated" myself from my worst compulsions and tackle obsessions as they crop up. I have no official training in CBT but from having read about it in the past it seems I more or less independently taught myself similar methods so my OCD doesn't interfere with my life much these days.

 

[mimic]

I have something similar to trichotillomania. I'll either tease apart split ends or run my nails along a hair until it shreds. I guess I like the texture of it? I don't know. It makes very little sense. Half the time I'm only vaguely aware of the behavior, and it mostly seems to happen when I'm bored or stressed. My mind is elsewhere so my hands occupy themselves by tearing apart hair. The overall effect is, naturally, that my hair looks terrible.

 

[Gryffindorian]

I will likely seek exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy. I don't have any visible compulsions, though I ruminate a lot (is that a compulsion in itself?), so I'm inclined to think I have Pure-O OCD. I wonder too if looking up information online is a form of reassurance-seeking.

 

[Kemaiku]

I was diagnosed with depression, anxiety and OCD around the same time over 7 years ago and was on prozac (well under the name they use for it here) for several years after that. Long story short, it did very little other than to make me drozy and did not help the depression at all, reduced the anxiety somewhat.

I've had friends suggest methods of CBT that have helped a lot more, but I don't think anythings going to entirely stop it. Finally stopped biting my nails so badly (down to not at all now), I've heard to people even needing hypnotherapy to stop that. Self harming finally stopped about four years ago, it was largely superficial anyway.

I've been walking more, eating better, forcing myself to stick to a better sleep routine, etc and it's reduced some of the issues. The anxiety is still one of the worst, I tend to not let myself relax most days and have a lot of restless habits, most of my friends and family are used to it by now.

 

[Taylirious]

I feel like I was let down by the mental health system in my area because I was forced to find help elsewhere that wasn't in my reach at the time. I did counseling and took the drugs but it seemed like a waste. Well the drugs were but it would be nice to have an unbiased ear and some kind of support to get out and do things.

 

[fireproof78]

I have anxiety, and possibly depression. I have also studied counseling for the last ten years, and have worked closely with friends and family to provide support during the tough times.

Had a real scary wake up call when I felt like killing myself. My wife recognized it, even though I didn't, and we worked with my pastor and a counselor to manage that. The feelings still come from time to time, but it's never overwhelming.

I hope to focus more on distance counseling through technology to provide access to rural areas. It's a new and challenging facet of the field, but definitely needed.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

post traumatic stress disorder with anxiety fits and depression here. I've been on meds for exactly 1 year now but am trying to keep the dose at an absolute minimum.
For 11 months now I'm on a cognitive behavioural therapy and after a bit of digging in the past we are now getting somewhere. I can wholeheartedly recommend that therapy (and my therapist).

I noticed that my anxiety fits get worse when I am tired, therefore I take great care to get enough sleep. Custom-made silicone earplugs cost about $80 but are worth every Cent. I can't imagine life without them anymore.
What I've also tried is sleeping with my mp3 player on, loaded with a few hours of e-books. The constant murmur of a friendly and familiar voice helped me a lot.

Do you cook or do you live on takeaways and deep frozen meals? I noticed that when I have a lack of vitamins and minerals I get a lot more anxiety fits. So when I can't find the time and energy to cook, I take vitamin and mineral tablets. They are only the second best solution as both classes of substances can be assimilated much better in their natural form. Hence cooking with fresh ingredients is much better, but depressive people often lack the energy to do so.

 

[Gryffindorian]

Yesterday I thought I had an epiphany. I remembered something I had read in my OCD workbook. Thoughts are thoughts; they're not threats and not happening in the present moment. I was ruminating yesterday when a light came on inside my head and thought, finally, it all started to make sense. For instance, having intrusive thoughts make me feel bad about myself, but what is "bad"? Bad is a word; the word bad isn't bad. It's a word that consists of three letter that we attribute to a concept. Thinking of the word bad doesn't make one a bad person. When OCD sufferers assign value, meaning, and significance to an intrusive thought, image, etc., then it becomes a problem. So if a person is feeling threatened by germs and extremely worried about possibly infecting others, it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen. (Challenging one's way of thinking is a key concept in cognitive therapy.) There's definitely metacognitive awareness involved. For a moment there, I was elated, as if a dark veil had been lifted from my head. I thought, "Either my Prozac is finally working, or I'm really happy about this realization."

Later in the day, I noticed the tense, uneasy feeling was slowly coming back. I went to my mindfulness and meditation class as usual, and that seemed to help a bit. I came home and watched parts of the election coverage. Oh lord, was that a bad idea, but that's another story. I can tell I still have a lot of work ahead of me, but at least I can start practicing coping skills that I've learned. I've been doing 10-minute "worry exercise" appointments lately, and I keep an anxiety journal to write down my thoughts and feelings. I also do a 15-minute meditation every day.

 

[fireproof78]

Thank you for sharing. If you don't mind me asking, is there any one activity that seems to help more than others (or less)?

 

[Gryffindorian]

First, I want to say I'd like to combine medication with therapy, which is the recommended approach to treating OCD effectively. I've only been through the increased dose of antidepressant for roughly two weeks, so I think it's too soon to tell how effective it is. I've read it's anywhere between 6 - 8 weeks.

Also, from what I understand, there's no "one size fits all" approach, and people with OCD will have to find out what medication or therapy works best for them.

Having said that, I believe my mood has a lot to do with my varying anxiety levels. I was under a lot of stress the first couple of weeks of October, and by the third week, I began to have spikes of intrusive thoughts again.

I have been meditating more than usual, which seems to help. I keep busy and continue to do things I like (walking outdoors gives me more exercise, which is beneficial to the mind and body) rather than avoid situations or things that could trigger my anxiety. I drink chamomile tea and haven't had coffee in over a month. My boss said his son has OCD too, and he recommended a hobby, like drawing, writing, or anything artistic or creative to keep me occupied. Journaling or "worry exercises" can be quite cathartic. I set aside a few minutes every day to write down my problems without problem-solving or analysis. One free webinar from the ADAA website even suggested writing worry poems, haikus, or news articles about your worries. I look for TED Talks and webcasts online that can help me gain more understanding of OCD and other anxiety disorders

These past few weeks, I've had days with fleeting moments of emotional calm and balance, or I'm in a blissful, I-don't-care mood where my anxieties feel like a million miles away, and I'm my old self again. They are few and far between for now, but they give me a positive perspective on life.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

my sister uses a punching ball when she gets anxiety fits. She says that after a while she finds herself to be hitting in the rhythm of the music she's listening to.
Some people made good experiences with walking, jogging or bicycling. As a general rule, physical activity - particularly exhausting one - calms one down.

Another important point is to not feel guilty or wrong, just because one has a problem. There are no right or wrong feelings, only right or wrong actions. Killing someone is of course bad, but feeling that we'd like to kill someone is abolutely ok and to a certain degree even healthy because most of the time it keeps us from actually doing it. The biggest problem for most people - myself included - is to accept these "negative" feelings as something absolutely normal and to integrate them into our daily lives. Usually, we tend to lock them away but that makes them only stronger and sooner or later they'll break through the wall we erected around them. Then it gets much harder to get them under control than it would be if we had dealt with them as something normal and unimportant from the start.
For example: fear is useful - it warns us of dangers. If we suppress it it'll grow and make itself felt pretty violently. If we don't suppress it but just take a step back and look at it we can say to the fear: "thanks for the warning, I'll keep it in mind, but panic is really not necessary at the moment."
Sounds a bit childish but it really works.

 

[Gryffindorian]

The biggest problem for most people - myself included - is to accept these "negative" feelings as something absolutely normal and to integrate them into our daily lives. Usually, we tend to lock them away but that makes them only stronger and sooner or later they'll break through the wall we erected around them. Then it gets much harder to get them under control than it would be if we had dealt with them as something normal and unimportant from the start.
For example: fear is useful - it warns us of dangers. If we suppress it it'll grow and make itself felt pretty violently. If we don't suppress it but just take a step back and look at it we can say to the fear: "thanks for the warning, I'll keep it in mind, but panic is really not necessary at the moment."
Sounds a bit childish but it really works.

That's very true. People with OCD are well aware of how irrational their reactions and compulsions are, and yet they have a hard time dealing with the anxiety and other emotions. I myself am having a hard time grasping the idea that intrusive thoughts do not represent reality. I need to learn to manage the "thought action fusion" mentality. Seems like I have the knowledge; I just don't know how to use it yet.

ERP sounds like an effective approach to this problem because of the exposure and habituation. Mindfulness acceptance is a useful tool as well, and that's something I'd like to delve into.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

Seems like I have the knowledge; I just don't know how to use it yet.

Same here. I'm too afraid of my own fears to permit me to have them. (now that does sound crazy but I think you get what I mean)

 

[Gryffindorian]

There is a method in CBT known as cognitive defusion. Basically, it teaches us to think outside of ourselves and see thoughts as they are. For example, a person who has left her house worries that she may have forgotten to turn the stove off. She begins catastrophizing, thinking her house could burn down, thus resulting in the loss of everything she has. Rather than give in to the urge to go back and check again (after having done it several times already), she notes to herself, "I just had a disastrous thought," acknowledges it, and moves on.

One of the things I want to ask my therapist is, how does one make a distinction between self-reassurance and coping skills like, "Thoughts are just thoughts"? Seeking reassurance is just a form of compulsion, which just adds fuel to the fire.

 

[publiusr]

I think I had a touch of this, where I would have to go back and check locks. No medication though--and I have learned not to worry so much.

 

[Gryffindorian]

A lot of people without OCD tend to double check, wash hands, or arrange things in a certain way, and I think it's normal as long as it's not done excessively or it doesn't interfere with his/her daily life.

We on the other side of the spectrum have a more difficult time living with uncertainty, especially with our warped perceptions and interpretations. We know how irrational our ritualistic compulsions are, but we do them regardless if only to temporarily relieve our anxiety.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

acknowledges it, and moves on.

That's the difficult part I'm still working on. It's pretty hard in a panic fit to step back mentally and analyze the problem from afar. Imagine a person in the process of drowning to calmly think "ah, I have water in my lungs and now my cells will gradually perish from a lack of oxigen until in about 15 minutes I'll be brain dead". Indubitably some people can do so, but it requires an inner calm and detachment which are exactly what people lack who suffer from anxiery fits (else we wouldn't have them at all).
And then there's also the problem of what I'd like to call secondary fear: after a while you start to be afraid of getting a panic attack.

 

[think]

I practiced biofeedback until I was able to align my brain waves into regular patterns,.. to my dismay this is how they decided I was suffering from a thought disorder of a schizophrenic nature. So, by definition schizophrenia is a patterned brain wave synchronization alignment but this of course is frowned upon in most modern societies,.. sadly as a result of getting looked down on by modern society I developed major depression from this "suffrage" in my life. I am not suffering from depression.. much any more,,. and have been picking and obsessed with that picking since I don't know when,.. before biofeedback in high school in junior high I combined yoga and self hypnosis for sleep solutions that lead to the biofeedback,..yoga started at about five or seven years old by joining in with the yoga group that meet at my house with my mom,.. mindful meditation can reach that level where one is so present that the are invariably full of themselves and unless taken lightly it becomes overwhelming with a .. a kind of state of being high,.. CBT and DBT can be assets to life unless continued states of being high are going into the obsession form,..by overruling everything else. Western and eastern or Asian Froms of treatment in combination with therapeutic growth and expansion into now is how I am enjoying what is real in my life.

The warning is. That When it's pleasure is obviously obsessed on there is dangerous results if continued as an obsession.. I have found Wellbutrin or that type of chemical therapy is able to alter the constant focus on the obsession at hand,..to a point,,, but I had maintained a level of 450 milligrams for over a year leading to a maniac episode and hospitalization just over a year ago now I take 300 and feel well again, a starting dose is about 25 or 50 depending.

My other medicine and personal experiences there of are very numerous and beyond the scope of this post,.. for now....peace