thanks azalea for your thoughts. i have had a close loved one on several ssri's and saw disaster upon disaster. it turns out one of her antidepressants increased her suicidal thoughts (we ask ourselves what is the point there?). i guess i am a bit cautious about mood disorder drugs.
i am at once fascinated and horrified by the comment from the book you mentioned regarding prozac and serotonin. it underscores how we call ourselves scientists and find one thing that a neurotransmitter does and leap into it with drug companies and marketing and all and we don't even know what the effects really do until we do some involuntary "human experiments" in the drug industry. with mood disorder drugs especially i think it will be a long time before we know exactly what serotonin does and how it behaves, let alone the drugs that change it.
this is one of my big reasons for being cautious about drugs, but i am still open to suggestions if there truly is research for it. (and not medical spin. there is a lot of medical spin. i am very well-acquainted with medical spin. my fiance does a lot of that.)
i am also a psychology graduate who is now doing a psychology-based masters (although i never did much into drugs.)
exploring all options: will do. the first thing is to come clean and tell someone who can refer me or something.
i have 100% faith that this will "go away" eventually. in the meantime, i still don't sleep, still am causing permanent damage to my body, and in fact have done this behaviour on and off every day for the last 10 years. 10 years? yes, eventually i believe i won't struggle with this anymore but if it's been here for 10 years and i haven't done anything about it, i don't see why "not doing anything about it" will change anything.
maybe i don't really understand what you mean by ignoring my compulsions? my compulsions do not in themselves bother me, although i "know" that they are inherently unhealthy for me. someone who cuts themselves on a regular basis is not disturbed by the blood or the cutting, but they know that it's unhealthy.
not sure about every other person who's had ocd but for me the compulsions are as shameful (in terms of hiding it from other people) as hiding anorexic behaviour. (i am very glad this is an anonymous forum.) i do not mean the compulsions are embarrassing in themselves. but the "ignoring" solution does not change the fact that you live in constant shame (or whatever portion of your life is taken up by the ocd.)
btw, for me it's not hopelessly pervasive, just persistent: doesn't take up a huge part of my day (mostly just my sleep and study), but i can't stop it from doing so.
the obsessions bother me i guess but it is not possible to simply "ignore" the obsessions. imagine if you have an obsessive thought, it pervades all your other thoughts and unless you knock yourself out you will be thinking about it. and if you meant "permit the obsession and deliberately not do the compulsion," that takes such a huge amount of effort (is it possible?) that frankly i would rather just do the compulsion if it requires that much effort. is there any technique you know of that will help me "deliberately not do the compulsion"?
- in the meantime, i still forget to sleep.
- when i don't forget to sleep, i feel guilty that i'm doing my compulsions and not sleeping.
and i still don't sleep.
- shame: having to hide it from other people or they will comment.
- the compulsion in itself involves hurting myself.
- yes i don't want scars or permanent damage (i'm sure have permanent damage already, though i know it could be worse) but no matter how much i tell myself this it doesn't prevent me from doing it.
i do not see how "ignoring" any part of it will make me more healthy. isn't "ignoring" what i have been doing for the last 10 years?
(really sorry it has been so rambly)
i am at once fascinated and horrified by the comment from the book you mentioned regarding prozac and serotonin. it underscores how we call ourselves scientists and find one thing that a neurotransmitter does and leap into it with drug companies and marketing and all and we don't even know what the effects really do until we do some involuntary "human experiments" in the drug industry. with mood disorder drugs especially i think it will be a long time before we know exactly what serotonin does and how it behaves, let alone the drugs that change it.
this is one of my big reasons for being cautious about drugs, but i am still open to suggestions if there truly is research for it. (and not medical spin. there is a lot of medical spin. i am very well-acquainted with medical spin. my fiance does a lot of that.)
i am also a psychology graduate who is now doing a psychology-based masters (although i never did much into drugs.)
exploring all options: will do. the first thing is to come clean and tell someone who can refer me or something.
Tehidden Wrote:The only real way to beat OCD is to suffer through the agony of ignoring your compulsions. Eventually after ignoring them long enough you'll realize that life continues just fine without doing them. It's just that simple, it's just that brutal.what evidence is there for this intervention?
i have 100% faith that this will "go away" eventually. in the meantime, i still don't sleep, still am causing permanent damage to my body, and in fact have done this behaviour on and off every day for the last 10 years. 10 years? yes, eventually i believe i won't struggle with this anymore but if it's been here for 10 years and i haven't done anything about it, i don't see why "not doing anything about it" will change anything.
maybe i don't really understand what you mean by ignoring my compulsions? my compulsions do not in themselves bother me, although i "know" that they are inherently unhealthy for me. someone who cuts themselves on a regular basis is not disturbed by the blood or the cutting, but they know that it's unhealthy.
not sure about every other person who's had ocd but for me the compulsions are as shameful (in terms of hiding it from other people) as hiding anorexic behaviour. (i am very glad this is an anonymous forum.) i do not mean the compulsions are embarrassing in themselves. but the "ignoring" solution does not change the fact that you live in constant shame (or whatever portion of your life is taken up by the ocd.)
btw, for me it's not hopelessly pervasive, just persistent: doesn't take up a huge part of my day (mostly just my sleep and study), but i can't stop it from doing so.
the obsessions bother me i guess but it is not possible to simply "ignore" the obsessions. imagine if you have an obsessive thought, it pervades all your other thoughts and unless you knock yourself out you will be thinking about it. and if you meant "permit the obsession and deliberately not do the compulsion," that takes such a huge amount of effort (is it possible?) that frankly i would rather just do the compulsion if it requires that much effort. is there any technique you know of that will help me "deliberately not do the compulsion"?
- in the meantime, i still forget to sleep.
- when i don't forget to sleep, i feel guilty that i'm doing my compulsions and not sleeping.
and i still don't sleep.
- shame: having to hide it from other people or they will comment.
- the compulsion in itself involves hurting myself.
- yes i don't want scars or permanent damage (i'm sure have permanent damage already, though i know it could be worse) but no matter how much i tell myself this it doesn't prevent me from doing it.
i do not see how "ignoring" any part of it will make me more healthy. isn't "ignoring" what i have been doing for the last 10 years?
(really sorry it has been so rambly)