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Highly Sensitive - How This Affects OCD Treatment - Carrie Bock

135. Highly Sensitive? How This Affects OCD Treatment

Written by Carrie Bock on . Posted in OCD, Podcast Episode.

Inspired by a suggestion from our listener Ashley, today Carrie is diving into how being a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) affects OCD treatment. She explores why sensitivity matters and how it can shape your therapeutic journey.

Episode Highlights: 

  • What it means to be a Highly Sensitive Person and how it impacts daily life.
  • How being an HSP can influence the approach to treating OCD.
  • Carrie shares her own experiences with sensitivity and how she manages it.
  • Adjustments therapists can make to accommodate highly sensitive individuals in OCD treatment.

Episode Summary:

In this listener-suggested episode, we explore the intersection of being a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) and dealing with OCD. Ashley, a listener, reached out to share how understanding her HSP traits has aided her personal OCD treatment, and she wondered how this could factor into an effective therapeutic approach. I wholeheartedly agree that this should be considered, and in this episode, I explain why.

We first dive into what it means to be a Highly Sensitive Person, a trait characterized by heightened awareness and processing of environmental stimuli. I discuss my personal experiences as an HSP, from sensory overload in certain environments to needing silence after social interactions, and how this sensitivity can be both a challenge and a superpower.

The episode also covers the importance of tailoring OCD treatment for those who are highly sensitive. While Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the gold standard for OCD, it’s crucial to approach treatment with empathy and understanding, especially for clients who might feel overwhelmed by traditional methods. I emphasize the need for open communication with your therapist to ensure the treatment process is effective and manageable.

Finally, I talk about anxiety sensitivity and how therapists can help clients become more comfortable with the physical sensations of anxiety. My hope is that this episode helps you, whether you’re highly sensitive or not, understand that there’s a reason God made you this way—and that it can be your superpower, not your burden.

Transcript:

Today we have a listener-suggestion podcast episode. Just super fun. Ashley had reached out to me via email and she told me that she, for her own personal benefit and treatment, has found the research on the highly sensitive person to be super helpful helping her understand herself. She’s found that not every therapist has been open to hearing about that. And she wondered, how does being a highly sensitive person factor in to a treatment approach for OCD? In short, I agree with what Ashley is saying. It should matter. And coming up, we’ll see why…

Hello and welcome to Christian Faith and OCD with Carrie Bock. I’m a Christ follower, wife and mother, licensed professional counselor who helps Christians struggling with OCD get to a deeper level of healing. When I couldn’t find resources for my clients with OCD, God called me to bring this podcast to you with practical tools for developing greater peace.

We’re here to bust through the shame and stigma surrounding struggling with OCD as a Christian, sharing hopeful stories of healing and helping you replace uncertainty with faith. I’m here to help you let go of the past and future to walk in the present abundant life God has for you. So let’s dive right in to today’s episode.

I wanted to let you all know that this is your absolutely last chance to sign up for the Freedom from Mental Compulsions Challenge, happening on August the 5th at noon central time. So go to hopeforanxietyandocd.com/challenge We’re going to be talking about ICBT and how this can help with mental compulsions.

I am giving away a few prizes, coffee gift cards, and coaching time with Carrie, so we can’t wait to see you there. We’re in the midst of shifting websites, so I’m not sure which one we’re going to be on by the time this episode comes out. Hopefully long term we will be on carriebock.com. We’ll have all of my counseling and podcasting info housed in the same spot, which will be really helpful.

Before we talk about how being a highly sensitive person can impact OCD treatment, let’s first talk about what does that mean, something you maybe never heard that term before. There is a test, a self-test for you at hsperson.com. This is Elaine Aron’s website, and she’s the one who has done a research on being a highly sensitive person, back since 1991, she’s written several books, The Highly Sensitive Person being her signature most popular book, and then she’s written materials about having a highly sensitive child, which would be very interesting to read as well.

Some of the questions from the self test, “Are you easily overwhelmed by such things as bright lights, strong smells, coarse fabrics, or sirens nearby? Do you make a point of avoiding violent movies and TV shows? Do you need to withdraw during busy days into bed or a darkened room or some other place where you can have privacy and relief from a situation?” Do you make it a high priority to arrange your life to avoid upsetting or overwhelming situations? Those are just a few sample questions. There are several more on the website for you to look at, but the main thing to understand is that highly sensitive people are really taking in all of this environmental stimuli that’s around them, and they’re getting a read on the situation, taking in information before acting or responding a little bit slower to process information because they’re getting so much in because they’re just sensitive to everything that’s going on. The lights, the sounds, the people, the emotions of the people, just all of these different things are factored in.

One in five people, so about 20%, are highly sensitive. It’s not the same thing as introversion, although the majority of them are introverts. About 70 percent of HSPs, that’s a shortened for a highly sensitive person, are introverts. It may be confused with shyness at times. It’s not the same thing as being shy, but a lot of times, especially if it happens in children, and this happened with me, they’ll say, “Oh, she’s shy.” It’s never a good connotation when somebody says that, so please don’t do that to your children, and I will not do that to mine. At least in my case, it was never said positively. It was always a negative. This is not a medical or psychological diagnosis like OCD. It’s more of an understanding of your own temperament and how you process sensory information.

I want to share with you how being a highly sensitive person has impacted my life a little bit and steps that I take to mitigate it. There’s a certain big box store, which shall not be named, but you can probably figure out which one it is when I describe it, that I prefer not to go in. I have gone in there plenty of times and bought things, but it’s not my preference because you go in there and not only is it all the fluorescent lighting, which they’ve made quote sensory-friendly hours now where you can go early in the morning and the lights are more dim, and I’m sure that does help people, but it’s not just the lighting for me.

It’s the massive quantities of stuff that’s in this store. There’s aisles and aisles of stuff. You have to go in there and find what you need, which is not always easy, unless you know where the stuff is in the store. There’s lots of stuff, and then there’s even stuff in the middle of the aisles, where you’re trying to go through. Then on the end of the aisles, like the end caps, if you’ve ever worked in retail, you know exactly what I’m talking about. There’s stuff even hanging from the end caps. There’s just stuff everywhere. And it’s a lot to take in, and it’s a lot to go, “Oh, there’s all this stuff, but where’s my stuff that I need? How can I get in here and get my stuff and not 80 other things?” Because that’s the whole strategy, right? That’s the whole strategy of having stuff everywhere, is they want you to look at it and buy it. It’s too much for me. Most days I just don’t want to do it. That’s one situation where being highly sensitive has affected me.

Daylight bulbs are really huge in our household. We have moved, and there isjust been so many little things that you want to shift and to move or change out. And one of those for us has been daylight bulbs. We got into our house, and we’re like, Ugh, it’s all this, like, orangey, fluorescent lighting.

Can’t take it. Went to the store, bought some daylight bulbs, and honestly, we’re still switching some of them out. We have some recessed lighting that we’re not happy with, and I’m not even sure we have to figure out how to change some of those pieces out, but Steve and I are both on board with the daylight bulbs.

We just do not like, in our home, in our peaceful space, we do not like the other type of lighting that there is out there. Another way being a highly sensitive person, one thing I’ve learned to mitigate with that is I can’t always be around constant noise. Some people just have, they have the radio on all the time or the TV on all the time, or they’re constantly getting something into them.

And I do listen to a lot of podcasts as my jam or whatever helps me relax or wind down or different things sometimes depending on the type of podcast to listen to. But if I have a really busy day or a day where I’m around a lot of people, this is a big one. If I am around a lot of people, I just have a need for silence.

I don’t want anybody to talk to me and I have to talk with people in my life. It’s, it’s no offense right now if I’m really quiet. I just had a really busy day. I just want to bitch. You can hang with me, but please don’t try to have a conversation with me right now because it’s just not gonna go well. I can get really irritable if I’m around people all day and I don’t have that time for silence or time to decompress for myself.

I think some of that is an introversion thing, but some of it is also a highly sensitive thing. If I go to a concert, and this can happen in movie theaters, not quite as much, not quite the same. If I was to see maybe a really intensely emotional movie in a movie theater, it might affect me a certain way, but as far as for concerts, So in Nashville, we have the Bridgestone Arena.

That’s where the hockey team plays. That’s where they have a lot of like big concert gatherings, things of that nature. There are smaller venues, obviously, in other places. But to go into the Bridgestone Arena, obviously, it’s huge. There’s going to be a ton of people there. But then as well, there’s also going to be a lot of noise.

It’s going to be super, super loud. I am going to want earplugs that I may or may not have forgotten. Lots of lights. So between the lights, the sounds, the people, when I leave that situation, it could be a concert that I really wanted to go to and I really love. Doesn’t matter. But if I leave that situation, the only way I can describe it to you is that I feel like my body is on vibrate.

And it takes me a long time to wind down from something like that. I just feel like I’m still in the concert when I’m not in the concert. Like my body is still trying to process that experience. The concerts can be a challenge for me. I talked about this in our episode on introversion, but one of my highly sensitive things, this one has to do with decision-making and contemplation.

If I’m going to a new restaurant, I will always look at the menu before I go. My husband and other people don’t get this. They probably think it’s really silly. But it’s funny because I remember my dad saying that when he first used to take my mom out to dinner that she would have a hard time choosing like something to eat and so maybe I just come by this completely honest, but I definitely want to see the menu because I want to look at all the options and really contemplate, “What do I actually want to eat?” This is better now because we have online menus and ordering and things like that, but heaven forbid they change the menu from what’s actually online and then I get there and I’m like, oh no, like the thing I wanted, it will be like, oh yeah, we don’t have that anymore or we’re out of that ingredient, so we can’t make that for you.

It’s, Oh no, back to square one, but thanks to the internet. It’s really easy, typically, to look at the menu before you go to the restaurant, and that’s a step that helps me out so much. I don’t know if that helps you out either, if you have a hard time deciding on what you want to eat. I don’t think it’s just a decision-making process.

I think it is the fact that a lot of times, especially go out to dinner with other people, you’re trying to look at the menu, and they’re trying to talk to you, and you’re trying to not be rude. They’ve decided what they want, you haven’t. It’s a whole thing. So I just prevent all of that the best I can. A big part of being highly sensitive is being super in tune to other people’s emotions and not just like picking up on other people’s emotions, but really feeling that and when you’re a kid and you don’t understand that you’re highly sensitive and you just feel everything really deeply, this feels like an absolute curse.

It does not feel like a good thing. You’re crying and somebody else isn’t, or you’re trying to hold something in maybe to not have a huge emotional reaction that you know is not going to go well. Being intuitive, picking up on the emotions of other people or feeling things very differently. As a kid, I never understood, or as a teenager, or even young adult, I didn’t understand probably until I was in my mid 20s how this was actually a positive thing for me and that this could be my superpower as a therapist.

It was hard to mitigate how do I separate my emotions of what I’m actually experiencing from other people’s emotions. and had to learn to be supportive of other people’s emotions without taking them on. And I wish I could tell you a cut-and-dry process to that, but I think it just happened over time.

I had to be comfortable with my emotional experience. I had to be comfortable with other people having their emotional experience. And then I could set up some healthy, just internal boundaries of allowing other people to have their emotional experience without taking it on, without creating responsibility for it.

Obviously, that’s a big thing. As a therapist, you’re there to come alongside somebody and support them through their process, not to just take bad feelings away or fix them somehow. And I will say that it can be challenging because society doesn’t always value being an HSP, especially if you’re a male.

That can be particularly tough. And I know that I’ve had males in therapy that are like, this is not a good thing. I have heard a statistic, although it’s been a while, that even though 20 percent of the population is HSP, about 75 percent of the individuals in therapy are HSPs. Which is why it’s really important for therapists to be understanding, even if they’re not a highly sensitive person, to be understanding how those traits are affecting a lot of their clients.

I love this quote from the highly sensitive person that sensitivity is anything but a flaw. Many HSPs are often unusually creative and productive workers, attentive and thoughtful partners, and intellectually gifted individuals, which is so beautiful. This can manifest beautifully in your life, whether that’s through creative outlets, whether that’s through being really attentive to your work, being able to connect.

That’s what I always tell people. If you are tuned into what somebody else is feeling, a lot of times it can help you connect with them in a really healthy way. Highly sensitive people are going to pick up on things maybe that other people don’t in the room. So in group work, this is helpful to say, hey, have you thought about how that wording comes across? Or because it seems rough to me, have you thought about, what about this person, can we include them? I know for myself if I walk into a social situation, and it’s been like this for a long time, probably because I was this person, but I can walk into a social situation and find that person sitting in the corner by themselves, not talking to anybody.

I can sense and read who in the room is anxious or edgy, and that is a gift in terms of ministry, in terms of being able to reach people. Now how does this affect OCD treatment? I couldn’t find a statistic on how many people diagnosed with OCD would also be considered highly sensitive, but I did find this comment in response to an article that someone had written about their experience, and I think it sums it up pretty well.

On the one hand, your mind is constantly processing everything around you in high detail, which can be exhausting. That’s the highly sensitive piece. On the other hand, your OCD tendencies can make you feel like you have to control everything around you, which can be totally exhausting. It’s a constant balancing act that can be difficult to manage.

Wow. That’s pretty intense there. How does this inform OCD treatment? OCD treatment tends to be pretty structured. There may be a therapist, let’s say they’re trying to follow ERP correctly, we would call that fidelity to the model. We’re trying to have fidelity to the model which has been researched and will, if we follow it the way that it’s written and supposed to be done, then our clients theoretically will get better.

That’s the goal and the idea. And so they may prompt a client to do an exposure that the sensitive person might feel is overwhelming or too much. They might need something broken down into smaller steps. So exposures are designed to be very gradual in nature. It’s important if you’re doing this type of therapy to make sure that you feel comfortable enough with your therapist to communicate when things feel overwhelming.

They’re not trying to give you a panic attack. That is not the point. Because you want to move through these hierarchies in a way that’s building confidence in tackling harder and harder things. But sometimes with ERP, there can be this mentality that’s a little bit like, hey, you’ve got to toughen up, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, just push through.

That can be damaging. I won’t say that with all therapists, but Just sometimes with that model, it can be like, Hey, this is hard, but you still got to do it. Especially working with very avoidant people. Obviously, you have to push people a little bit more and that makes sense. So finding that balance with the client and the therapist can be really hard because you don’t want to just be like, okay, whatever you want to do. After all, then that person is not going to get better.

So finding that middle ground. And I know I’ve had clients in the past drop out of EMDR therapy for similar reasons. Like, maybe they got overwhelmed, they didn’t feel comfortable enough to let me know they wanted to stop, or maybe they had residual effects after the fact, which can certainly happen. If things are really rough for you after your last session, if you feel like things are just not working or not going the way that you need or want them to, Your therapist needs to know that.

Like, we really appreciate the feedback because that helps us tailor things specifically to you. We’ve been trained in all of these therapy modalities, but the idea is really to tailor them in such a way that’s going to help you get better as that can be a challenge, right? Because people are so different.

So what may work for one person might not work for somebody else, and that’s okay. If you’re a highly sensitive person, just finding somebody that you feel comfortable with, that you feel that sense of empathy. Oh, they get it. They see where I’m coming from. Another thing that we can do in the beginning stages of OCD treatment is work on things like anxiety sensitivity.

Anxiety sensitivity is when you’re sensitive or afraid of the physiological sensations, the body sensations that accompany anxiety, like rapid heart rate, difficulty breathing, or dizziness. In session, your therapist may have you induce some of these distress states outside of a period of panic or high anxiety to help you get used to the body sensations and know that they’re not actually going to harm you. It’s not necessarily the body sensations themselves, it’s the feeling out of control of the body sensations when they come on sporadically. A lot of times it’s troubling for people. Ways to work on this, your therapist may have you turn in circles for dizziness, like run in place, or do jumping jacks to increase your heart rate, breathing through a coffee stir for dizziness.

These types of activities can be helpful because sometimes clients get triggered even during workouts, even though it’s normal during a workout to have some difficulty breathing or to have an elevated heart rate. You can learn, okay, I can be in this state, my body is not being damaged by it, it’s a normal reaction.

With OCD treatment, we’re working on retraining your threat detection system. So if you can feel those feelings in your body in a safe environment, like therapy, that would be the ideal. You can know and learn to tolerate them as uncomfortable as they may be. My hope is that this episode may help some of you understand yourself a little bit better and just know if God has created you as a highly sensitive person, there’s a reason that you are this way, and I pray that he shows you how that can be a superpower instead of a burden, because I know for me, for a long time, I just saw it as a burden.

And now I can see it as a superpower and I can do things in my life to take care of myself so that I am not overwhelmed all the time by sensory information. Until next time, may you be comforted by God’s great love for you.

Were you blessed by today’s episode? If so, I’d really appreciate it if you leave us a review on iTunes account or Apple Podcasts app on your computer if you’re an Android person and leave us a review. This really helps other Christians who are struggling with OCD be able to find our show. Christian Faith in OCD is a production of By the Well Counseling. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and should not be a substitute for seeking mental health treatment in your area.

The Rebrand Story of Christian Faith and OCD - Carrie Bock

Bonus Episode: The Rebrand Story of Christian Faith and OCD

Written by Carrie Bock on . Posted in OCD, Podcast Episode. No Comments on Bonus Episode: The Rebrand Story of Christian Faith and OCD

Join Carrie as she introduces the rebranded podcast, “Christian Faith and OCD. She shares the journey from “Hope for Anxiety and OCD” to the new focus, discussing the reasons behind the change, listener feedback, and the impact the podcast has had over the past three and a half years.

Episode Highlights:

  • The strategic decision to focus more on OCD and include “Christian” in the podcast title.
  • The significance of addressing scrupulosity and faith-informed therapy for OCD.
  • How Carrie found guidance through prayer and a Christian podcast coach.
  • Plans for the podcast, including practical resources for managing OCD
  • Upcoming webinar: The Freedom from Mental Compulsions Challenge

Episode Summary:

Welcome to a special bonus episode of Christian Faith and OCD! Today marks the beginning of our rebranding journey from Hope for Anxiety and OCD to Christian Faith and OCD. I’ve been hosting this podcast since the fall of 2020, and over the past three and a half years, we’ve seen incredible growth and transformation. However, earlier this year, I noticed a decline in our download numbers, which led me to reevaluate the podcast’s direction and purpose.

After much prayer and reflection, I realized it was time for a change. This rebrand focuses more intentionally on OCD, especially since our most popular episodes have consistently been those centered on OCD topics and personal stories. By adding “Christian” to the title, I’m ensuring that our content is clearly faith-based, which is crucial for listeners seeking spiritual guidance alongside mental health support.

Through this process, God has shown me the importance of sharing my knowledge and experiences directly with you, our listeners. While I love interviewing guests, I’m shifting towards more solo episodes to provide practical strategies for managing OCD from a Christian perspective. This rebrand also aligns with my passion for helping those with scrupulosity and other OCD-related challenges find peace and healing.

If you’ve been with us from the beginning, thank you for your continued support. And if you’re new, welcome! I’m excited to walk alongside you on this journey of faith and mental wellness. Don’t forget to join us for the Freedom from Mental Compulsions Challenge on August 5th, where we’ll dive deeper into how Inference-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (ICBT) can help you manage OCD.

Thank you for being part of this journey. Until next time, may you be comforted by God’s great love for you.

Transcript:

Welcome to Christian Faith and OCD with Carrie Bock, a licensed professional counselor in Tennessee. Some of you are wondering, did I hear that right? Yes, you did. Today is the day we are starting the process of going from Hope for Anxiety and OCD to Christian Faith and OCD. I’ve been alluding to rebranding for quite some time, and I wanted to tell you the story of how this process came about.

I have been hosting Hope for Anxiety and OCD since the fall of 2020. It’s been about three and a half years now. So many good things have happened. I’ve had Christians write to me expressing thanks that they were no longer afraid or ashamed to take medication, which is incredible. Several people wrote saying, Hey, I thought I had anxiety, but I listened to your show.

I started listening to the personal stories of OCD and realized, Hey, I think that’s me. I have OCD. Of course that was life-changing for them to have that knowledge. I’ve been able to meet people, and see people for counseling that might not have found me otherwise across Tennessee had it not been for the podcast.

I’ve even had people travel from out of state to do counseling retreats with me, which I talked about in a previous episode. That’s been amazing. But earlier this year, I noticed that our downloads were declining and I thought, okay, we’re really only producing an episode every other week. I realize that’s a slow pace.

I did that because of having my daughter being pregnant, and going through the process of having an infant. If you’ve been there, you know it’s a lot, okay? I took a little bit of a step back for the last couple of years while my daughter was growing up and recognized, like, this is a good time to go ahead and start putting out an episode every week.

So we started doing that a few months ago. What I didn’t know about the download decline was that it wasn’t just about people getting lost or dwindling away from listening to the show. It had to do with an Apple update where if you were subscribed to podcasts in Apple’s they would download for you.

People’s phones were filling up, they didn’t like that feature and Apple decided to Scrap that with an iOS 17 update, things are no longer auto download. What that means in the podcasting world is that we had a lot of false downloads. We were looking at statistics where maybe a bunch of episodes were downloaded, but people weren’t really listening or people weren’t really necessarily following.

Now all of our download numbers are more accurate picture of who’s actually Initiating that download and listening to the show as I was going through this process Recognizing like okay things had been going up and up and up for a while And then things had kind of leveled off and they were going down I prayed this prayer of desperation of God in late February saying I don’t know what I’m doing I’ve had this podcast for a long time over three years and I just need help.

I need to know Okay, God, what is my next step? What am I really doing here? And it was one of those pivotal moments where you’re like, okay, I’ve got to either keep doing this or I’ve got to stop. Like, it just felt like almost like there was no other option. Like, are we going to keep going? Can I still do this?

And I said, okay, God, if you want me to do this, you are going to have to send me some help to know how to make this podcast better and to grow this show. And. I was in the process and my husband and I were thinking about getting ready to move. I was listening to this organizational podcast. It was just organizing your house, different areas of your house.

I thought, well, this will be really great for me. As I’m decluttering, I’m getting ready to move. I’m thinking about how I’m going to want my house to be more organized when we move. That was a big push for me. Listen to this podcast, and she says something about her friend who’s a Christian podcast coach, and I was like, what, wait?

It was one of those moments where you said, did she just say that? Like, rewound for a few seconds, and I was like, “Oh, okay.” I wrote down the lady’s name, and God’s timing was so specific, she was just getting ready to launch her coaching program again, uh, for a six-month coaching program. I looked it all up online, and I said, okay, God, this is kind of expensive, but if you want me to do this, then you’re gonna have to provide the money because right now it’s not in the account.

Lo and behold, I received some money that I was not expecting. I brought the money into the business. I was able to buy the program and started really making some changes and revamping in that process. I talked to Steve about it. I said, what should I do? Is this okay to spend this money on this? What do you think?

He’s always been just incredibly supportive. Like I said, go for it. I think that this is what you need to do. God lined all of these different things up for you after you reached this breaking point and prayed about it. So here we are, and I started to look at the podcast with completely new eyes.

What were the episodes that you guys were listening to what was getting downloaded the most it just came down to the OCD episodes was a short answer, especially any personal stories related to OCD are probably our most popular episodes other than obviously a lot of people listen to the first episode to see Hey, what’s this whole podcast thing about?

Putting Christian in the title was very strategic because when you have a podcast called Hope for Anxiety and OCD, unfortunately, you get a lot of people contacting you, not realizing it’s a Christian podcast, maybe tuning in, not realizing, hey, we do talk about God and spiritual issues on the show. Unfortunately, we get a lot of what I call woo-woo requests, people that are like metaphysics crystals and some other stuff that I’m like, I don’t think so.

That’s not really what we do over here. Putting Christian in the title was very strategic for me. Focusing more on OCD was obviously very strategic, just in looking at the resources that you guys are looking for. I never would have started an OCD podcast three and a half years ago for a few different reasons.

One, there’s a little bit of an imposter syndrome being in this space speaking to these issues and not having lived experience with OCD. I would say the majority of people that I meet who treat OCD also have OCD. I know that that’s not always the case, but typically in cases of things like addictions.

Eating disorders, OCD, like very specialized areas. A lot of times people have some type of lived experience, either they’ve lived it or someone in their family has lived it. So for me, there is a little bit of an imposter syndrome saying I’m out here treating OCD and I haven’t had that specific experience.

I think that there are pieces of it that feel very relatable to me. The anxiety feels relatable because I’ve definitely had my fair share of anxiety in my life. The catastrophic thinking feels relatable. Perfectionism I can definitely relate to. I am a recovering perfectionist. I don’t consider myself a perfectionist now.

That’s something that the Lord has really worked with me on. It took a period of many years and lots of mistakes and lots of learning to be comfortable with not always doing things right, but praise the Lord I’m not there where I was before. So there are different pieces that I can consider that I can relate to, but I don’t have the lived experience that a lot of you guys have.

It was interesting because I talked with one of our recent guests that I did a personal story with about this, Crystal Probst, and she said it’s okay because one of her therapists that had a lived experience with OCD, she felt like understood her less than the therapist she saw that didn’t have the lived experience, and that was partially due to maybe different themes and different understandings that she felt like that person had.

The other reason I wouldn’t have started a podcast having to do with OCD three years ago is because I didn’t have a large client basis at the time that I started the podcast of OCD clients. Now that has shifted a lot since starting the podcast. I’ve been able to work with more clients with OCD, more clients that had a higher level of severity, and I realized that there’s a lot more help out there in general for Christians with anxiety than with OCD.

In the process of seeing more and more clients with OCD. It’s caused me to dig in a lot deeper, and gain even more knowledge, more training, more consultation with other counselors. I’m constantly learning new things and I’m constantly being challenged, but I enjoy that a lot. I think this intersection of Christian faith and OCD is so important because many people with scrupulosity feel like they’re dealing with a spiritual issue when actually what they’re dealing with is OCD.

So if they feel like they’re dealing with a spiritual issue, they don’t want to take that to someone who is not well versed in Christianity or doesn’t know the Bible. I also know there are significant struggles for Christians who are looking at exposure and response prevention therapy. Sometimes this therapy is not faith informed.

Some people do a really great job of being faith-informed and really knowing how to do sensitive exposures based on a person’s faith. There are therapists that aren’t Christian who are willing to work with your pastor or talk about it. What are the teachings or any of these exposures going against your belief system or would be inappropriate or disrespectful?

However, there are some other people out there that are potentially going kind of rogue. I hate to say negative things about therapists, but it’s just like any other field, there are some good ones and there are some not so good ones. Unfortunately, it’s hard sometimes for Christians to find helpful, appropriate OCD therapy where they feel like this person that they’re receiving help from has a strong spiritual background as well as a strong clinical background.

I know that it can be challenging for clients in ERP to write imaginal exposures. writing things that are not true about God and having to read those over or sit with them. I had a secular provider tell me that she’s recommended clients not pray for a time period. Someone else told me recently that they had heard about exposure of reading the satanic bible, which I don’t see as a religiously sensitive exposure.

These different types of things are coming up and I don’t say that to scare anybody away from ERP. There are some Qualified, healthy ERP trained therapists, we’ve had them on the show before, we’ve also had people on the show with personal stories who’ve received ERP and have had good experience.

Unfortunately, it’s just a mixed bag out there, and some ERP therapists are not trauma-informed. That’s unfortunate, since trauma exacerbates OCD symptoms, and 25 percent of people who are diagnosed with OCD also qualify for post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. That’s a good chunk. That’s a quarter of people diagnosed with OCD.

So that’s, trauma is something that has to be taken into consideration. This is one of the reasons that I have really latched on to ICBT therapy, inference-based cognitive behavioral therapy. For me, having a background in treating trauma, this is a much more trauma sensitive and trauma informed therapy treatment for OCD.

One thing that’s shifted with the show, if you’ve noticed and been listening over the last few months, is that this started out being primarily an interview show, and I do love interviewing people, I am gonna have more guests on, but I am transitioning this to a majority solo episode show with some guests sprinkled in who’ve had lived experience with OCD, Thank you Or professional tidbits to share with you guys.

Through this process of reworking the podcast, God has shown me that he wants to me to share with you the knowledge that I’ve learned and to use my voice to speak into the issues that you are all facing. I hear different things all the time, whether it’s from clients that I have, or people writing to me, or people that I’m participating in learning sessions with, and there’s so much that I want to share with you. And I want this show to be more practical tips for a lot of times. We’ve had a variety of different information. It’s a little bit been all over the place. Some people I’m sure have enjoyed that. So our tagline is practical strategies to greater peace. Because I want you to walk away with practical tools and guidance that you can get to have a healthier relationship with your OCD.

Ultimately, I would love for everyone listening to this to be healed, but I also know that just like some people have chronic health conditions, some people have chronic mental health conditions. That doesn’t make you less of a Christian, it is not your fault if you are struggling with OCD, but if we can’t get rid of something, sometimes we can have a different relationship with it.

I’ve seen this in my own life in terms of dealing with some back pain that I’ve had to deal with off and on for the last several years, uh, tailbone pain, and I have seen this in the life of my husband who has SCA, which is a neurological disorder. He’s an incredible testimony that God can still use you, even with your limitations.

He’s actually in Guatemala as this episode is coming out, um, and he’s ministering to children and teens there. I’m definitely so proud of him for that. Now I want to speak with some of you who are struggling with this change. Maybe you’re dealing with anxiety and you’re disappointed that I am focusing in on OCD.

I see you. I also know that some of this information, not all of it, but some of it is still going to apply to you. There are some of you with anxiety that are still googling too much. There are some of you with anxiety that are still dealing with whether you should take medication or not. There are some of you with anxiety that are catastrophizing and coming up with all kinds of worst-case scenarios.

While we might address that a little bit differently in terms of treating anxiety versus treating OCD, some of the information is still going to be relevant to you, and if you want to hang around and listen to it, you’re certainly still welcome to. I see this. podcast as a ministry and God has definitely blessed me by allowing me to be a part of what is now a worldwide ministry.

I would have never imagined that I would be the host of something that’s going out into all of the world. I did not see that coming at all, but I feel so thankful to each one of you who listen. I know that we have a cohort of people who Download our episodes week after week after week. So thankful for all of you.

Even if you just pop in and listen a little bit here and there, I am thankful for you. And know that if you do reach out and send emails and talk to us or communicate with us, I do read all of our emails. I look forward to what God is going to do in the future in and through this podcast platform.

Please join me on August the 5th for a free webinar, The Freedom from Mental Compulsions Challenge, where I’ll be talking with you more about how ICPT can be helpful specifically for mental compulsions, although certainly it works for physical compulsions as well. I’m going to be giving away some free coaching sessions, so I’m excited to be doing that.

The goal is for us to have fun and learn together. To sign up for the webinar, go to hopeforanxietyandocd.com slash challenge. That is one thing I forgot to tell you. Our updated website is in process. Right now, we are working on getting everything switched over to carriebhock.com. That’s a funny story within itself, because I always thought that people who had their own domain name thought a little too highly of themselves and probably swore I’d never do it.

But, it just makes most sense for people who are looking for me, for counseling services, or for the podcast. So, It’s not live yet, but you will know when it’s live if you sign up for our webinar or you get on our email list. Hopeforanxietyandocd. com slash and challenge. See you there. Hope for Anxiety and OCD is a production of By the Well Counseling.

130. Need More Than Weekly Therapy? Is a Therapy Retreat Right for You? with Carrie Bock, LPC-MHSP

Written by Carrie Bock on . Posted in Anxiety, Counseling, OCD, Podcast Episode.

In this episode, Carrie shares the benefits and outcomes of therapeutic retreats, how they are structured, and how to determine if a therapeutic retreat is right for you:

Episode Highlights:

  • The typical structure and process of a therapeutic retreat
  • The use of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and EMDR 2.0 techniques to process trauma and reduce distress.
  • Identifying who is a good candidate for intensive therapy and who might need more foundational work before participating in a retreat.
  • Real-life examples of clients who have benefited from intensive therapy
  • Tips for managing your resources when considering intensive therapy versus regular sessions.

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Christian Faith and OCD, I discuss the benefits of therapy retreats and intensive sessions, a service I’ve been offering for about a year and a half. For those who feel stuck in their healing journey or find that weekly therapy isn’t enough, a therapeutic retreat could be the answer. I walk through what these sessions look like, from setting intentions to deep trauma processing using techniques like EMDR 2.0 and parts work. These retreats allow us to dive deeper and make significant progress in a shorter amount of time.

I’ve seen incredible results with clients who have come from out of state for multi-day sessions. Whether you’re dealing with trauma, OCD, or phobias, these retreats provide the space and time to address core issues that may not surface in traditional therapy settings. We’re able to trace present challenges back to their roots and process them fully, often leading to breakthroughs that would take much longer in regular therapy.

If you’re wondering whether a therapy retreat is right for you, I encourage you to reach out for a consultation. I’ll be honest about whether this approach would be beneficial for your specific needs. Intensive sessions aren’t for everyone, but they can be life-changing for those who are ready for deep work.

Thank you for joining me today. If you found this episode insightful, please consider leaving a review on iTunes or Apple Podcasts. Your feedback helps others discover the show and take steps toward their own healing. Until next time, may you be comforted by God’s great love for you.

Explore Related Episode:

Bonus Episode: EMDR Intensive Therapy Q&A with Steve Bock and Carie Bock, LPC-MHSP

Transcript:

Welcome to Hope for Anxiety and OCD episode 130. I am your host, Carrie Bock, a licensed professional counselor in Tennessee. I am so excited that you are here with us today to talk about “How do I know if a therapeutic retreat is right for me?”

I started doing day-long sessions about a year and a half ago. Since having the podcast, and not being able to work from clients out of state, I have had people come visit me for multiple days and stay locally and come to the office. We’ve seen great results from that. I want to open that opportunity up to more people. To some of you who are listening, know that you can go online to my counseling website bythewellcounseling.com and book a consultation session. I’ll have you fill out some paperwork and we can talk through what makes sense for you in terms of moving forward. And if it doesn’t make sense for you to take the time to do a therapeutic retreat, or I don’t think that you’re going to get good results from it, I will be honest and tell you, that I don’t take people on for these types of experiences who I don’t think are going to have a good result.

Let’s talk about the structure of an intensive session or therapeutic retreat. Clients will come in in the beginning and we’ll do a mindfulness-type activity to settle. If they are a Christian, we will definitely invite the Holy Spirit into that process. It’s so powerful. The Holy Spirit knows exactly where we need to go, and what we need to work on, and if we trust him in that process, even if it doesn’t make sense on the surface, things always go better.

I also really want God to be speaking into people’s hearts through this process, dropping in truths, not just truths that they know in their head, but also that that can permeate deep down into their spirit. into their body, their heart and mind so that they can love God with everything that they have.

Then what we do is we set an intention. The intention a lot of times has already been set ahead of time. We’ll talk about that In the consultation, what is it that you hope to walk away from if we are quite successful here and have a great therapeutic experience? What do you hope to be different or what do you hope to be responding to differently in your life?

Depending on the state that the client comes in depends on where I go next. Some clients come in. And they’re feeling very hopeless, feeling like why is this going to work, I’ve done all these other things, how is this going to be any different, maybe I’m that person who’s the lost cause who just can’t get any better.

I think it’s important for us as therapists to respect whatever shows up in the room. So if hopelessness is there for a reason, if it’s there to protect this person from trying too hard again and potentially getting hurt, then I can empathetically respond to that. And we can usually move from a state of feeling hopeless to at least feeling maybe open or curious as part of the process.

Other clients come in highly anxious because they know they are going to be working on things that they’ve been avoiding. We may have to take a little bit more time to calm their nervous system a bit before we can engage in the activities, and that’s okay. Other clients come in feeling okay, comfortable with the process, ready to go, ready to get engaged and get started. But wherever a person is at on that initial first day is fine. We just work with whatever is in the therapy room, knowing that things are going to shift and change as we go through the process.

Somewhere in that first or second hour, we’re developing a resource if this hasn’t been created previously. The resource is a healthy, adult part of self that can help wounded child parts heal, It’s very significant and powerful for trauma work to get that on board. It helps our brain be able to make shifts to know that you’re an adult now, that things are different. A lot is different than when you were a kid in terms of there being more things in your control.

lessening a sense of powerlessness, while at the same time, knowing when we were children, we relied so much on adult caregivers to meet our needs. Now that we are adults, we can start to learn to meet some of those needs ourselves. And also, we can open ourselves up to allow God to pour in and meet those needs for us.

We have a total of three hours before lunch, so depending on how time flows, what comes up in the beginning? We then are moving before lunch into a treatment process where we’re looking at what memories do we need to target with EMDR. Two pathways that people can go down here. One is they bring in the memories that they know are bothering them.

But another pathway that I often see is people know, okay, for example, I can’t seem to stand up for myself, I can’t seem to set boundaries, or I can’t seem to have any confidence in my life, I want to be able to do things, but I don’t feel good about myself, I feel worthless. And they’ll tell me, I’m not sure where this comes from.

I know that I’ve had some things happen maybe in my childhood, nothing super significant, nothing that seems major, but there’s just something there that I can’t seem to shake and I’m not sure where it comes from. We will take that presenting issue, looking at how it impacts that person in their relationships, in their work, in their social settings, in at home, at school, and we’ll trace that backwards. So there’s a treatment plan process that I do with people. We will go back and we are just allowing that, getting them into that vein of the nervous system through some questioning, allowing them to sit with what’s happening in their body, whatever’s coming up.

If we’re following that nervous system, then God will show us those next places that the person needs to go or bring those memories to mind that come up related to the present issue. It’s important to note that I never dig up stuff from the past arbitrarily. I’m specifically looking for things that are tied to the present issue that are keeping the person stuck in the present right now.

We’re not going on a fishing expedition to see whatever painful stuff we can dig up. No, what we’re doing is saying what’s here right now and what space in the past is stuck and is keeping you from being able to do the thing that you want to do in the present. This is helpful whether people have had a lot of trauma or a little trauma.

If you’ve had a lot of trauma, you may not know what specific things you need to target that are connected to this present issue. You know that targeting everything is going to feel like too much, and we don’t want to do that. We’re not trying to overwhelm your system here. So we have three hours in the morning.

We take an hour’s lunch break in the middle of the day, usually around noon. When we come back at one, we are usually ready to start getting into that trauma processing with EMDR. I found a couple of things that move EMDR along a little bit faster for my client. One of those things is EMDR 2. 0 involves working memory taxation, bringing that memory vividly into the space of the working memory, trying to hold it there while at the same time being distracted by the therapist giving you different tasks to do. It allows your brain to chew that memory up differently and reduce distress a lot quicker.

The other thing that helps people move along in the EMDR process and not get stuck or start looping has been integrating parts work. This allows people to process very painful things with much less distress. Both of these, the EMDR 2.0 and the parts work. It used to be that I would find people were very overwhelmed emotionally when they would tap into these memories. Since I’ve been using EMDR 2. 0 and parts work, people have been able to process without having the intense emotional re-experiencing. This is probably really good news if some of you have done EMDR in the past and you know how challenging it can be and how emotionally draining it can be, but it doesn’t have to be. I’m coming from a space now of doing EMDR for over 10 years, going through the entire process to become the highest level of training you can receive, which is an EMDR consultant.

I have worked my way around EMDR forwards and backwards. I’ve had people tell me, I haven’t been able to do EMDR in the past with a previous therapist or it didn’t do anything for me. They’ve still been able to have good results. There are some times when we go a little bit heavier on parts work because we need to focus on messaging that someone received and we may process through some negative messaging received from caregivers, but we can still add a mode of bilateral stimulation to that.

There are so many directions that you can go in a day-long session when you have the time. For example, with people dealing with phobias, we can look at processing that with something called a future template, similar to imaginal exposure. You’re imagining how you would like to respond to that situation in the future and processing and working through the body sensations that come up related to that feared experience. Some things are easier to expose yourself to in an imaginal sense versus in a real-life context. For example, if someone is afraid to get in an MRI machine, what we can do is have them imagine that process.

I could also play sounds that the MRI is going to sound like. We can look up lots of things on YouTube, and look at pictures. Whatever is appropriate for the person or whatever they’re feeling comfortable with, we can go down some different directions in regard to phobias specifically. We can process obsessions in terms of triggers to obsessions, that feared worst-case scenario outcome, having people sit with what if that did happen and process through the body sensations, emotions related to that, the feared scenarios.

We can have you practice saying things that you want to say out loud, looking at tone of voice, and assertive communication. These obviously are just a couple of examples, but I hope it’s giving you an idea of how much flexibility you have and how many different directions we can go down with those longer time periods and timeframes.

I often find multiple days are helpful for people who have more than one diagnosis. Examples of if they would identify that they have significant past trauma, and PTSD-like symptoms, while also having OCD. I would consider these clients to be some of my favorite to work with, really clearing through the trauma and then helping them with the skills to be able to manage the OCD in the present.

I have found that trauma certainly exacerbates OCD symptoms. Oftentimes, until we clear up that trauma from the past, we don’t know how much that is going to help clear up the OCD or bring it down to a level that is more manageable, where the person can live with it in their day to day life and feel confident in being able to have the skills to manage the obsessions when they come up.

I have named some of them, but let’s talk about what issues are good to cover in an intensive. I’ve helped people with a variety of things. Recent event trauma, traumatic grief and loss, so that if you work through the trauma, then the grief process will be able to move a little bit easier, a little more smoothly. We are not trying to take away anyone’s grief or sadness. We’re just trying to remove the traumatic pieces that keep them from going through that grief process or keeping them stuck.

Helping people with phobias, whether that’s flying, doctors, dentists, or anything medical procedure. I can identify and relate because I’ve had negative interactions with medical professionals. Hospitalizations as a child impacted me later in life when I faced other medical issues or uncertainties. Lack of confidence is commonly something that people seek more intensive or therapeutic retreat help for because it’s such a complex issue. And that confidence can interfere with someone being able to date.

It could be interfering with them getting a job promotion or interfering with their ability to set boundaries. It could be that you have an unhealthy family member who keeps roping you into some of the same unhealthy patterns, and you’re constantly getting triggered by that person while at the same time wanting to maintain a relationship with them.

We work through, what that looks like to heal from the past hurt from this relationship. What does it look like to move forward and have a healthier relationship with someone? You can only control that health from your end. You can’t control the entire relationship’s health. But I’ve seen people be more at peace in stepping back from relationships a little bit or engaging in a different way than they have before.

I find panic attacks to be something that we can target with EMDR processing. The first panic attack, the worst panic attack, how you’d like to be able to go out and not have the fear of having another panic attack. If you have any other issues going on that you think might be appropriate for a therapeutic intensive, certainly hit me up on the contact page.

Let me know what your thoughts are, and a little bit of what you’re trying to work through, and we can certainly always schedule a consultation and talk that through to see if this modality is right for you. Who is not appropriate for a therapeutic intensive if you’re in active addiction? Right now, you’re probably going to need to seek help of some substance abuse treatment.

Obviously, there may be other mental health concerns going on. You may want to find a co-occurring treatment facility where they can treat the substance abuse and the mental health. Eating disorders can be super challenging and you may need some more intensive treatment. If you’re at a level where you need to seek residential treatment, a therapeutic retreat or intensive may not be right for you. That’s something to keep in mind.

Those I’ve found that do the best with this type of therapeutic setting have a level of openness towards the healing process. They believe that it’s possible. They’ve tried other things in the past. They have a certain baseline level of self-awareness. I don’t take people on for these types of experiences that don’t have a connection to their emotions, that don’t have a connection to their body that aren’t sure how to give feedback or express what they’re thinking or feeling. Those types of individuals need a lot more baseline work of mindfulness, of tuning into their own experience, of developing a little bit more self-awareness. And then they might be ready at a later point for a more therapeutic retreat-intensive type setting.

I want to talk to you about other considerations you may have when thinking about this type of therapy. We have three valuable resources. Time, Money and mental energy and depending on how you want to split those resources up in terms of receiving therapy That’s going to help guide your process. Do you have the time to go to weekly or every other week of therapy?

There have been times in my life when I was looking for A grief support group. I was looking at being involved in something like that and I kept running into not being able to find something that was what I was looking for or that would fit my schedule appropriately. I had so much going on with having a very young child at that point in time because I couldn’t find something that fit, and I knew I really did need some type of more grief and loss work to happen, I chose to go to a day-long grief retreat myself. Let me tell you, it was absolutely incredible. I talked about it in a previous episode in terms of my grief and loss journey.

I was seeing a therapist regularly, but something still felt a little bit like it was missing. I had such a great awareness through the process of the activities at this grief retreat that I thought I came there for one purpose, and then by the time I left, I realized that there was something else inside that I needed to grieve that I hadn’t yet. That was what I ended up working on. It was an incredible process that I hadn’t recognized or realized through going to therapy on a regular basis.

In today’s society, many people are busy. I talk to people who are literally running seven days a week and they feel like they cannot add one more thing to their schedule, yet they know they have things they need to work on. Maybe they’ve tried to go to weekly therapy and they end up canceling because the kid gets sick or because work then interferes and says, you have to be over here. They just can’t seem to get that consistent rhythm or momentum of weekly therapy so you have to take time into consideration. You also may have something to work through that has a time deadline.

For example, if you’re pregnant and you’re trying to recover from your first traumatic birth, you’re time-limited on how long you have to receive therapy before you give birth again if you’re already pregnant. Maybe you tell your spouse, yes, we’re finally going to take that trip that we’ve always wanted to take for our 10th anniversary across the ocean, but you’re afraid to fly. Now you know you’ve been avoiding dealing with it, but hey, I need to work on my flight anxiety before I get on the plane. We talked about time as one of our resources.

Now let’s talk about mental energy. Usually, when I tell friends or family that I do day-long sessions with people, the initial response is, “Whoa! That’s a lot of therapy.” That sounds like a lot. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen that thing on social media that’s like, Choose your heart. Staying married is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard. This is one of those, I would say, choose your hard because I know people that come into weekly therapy that say, Man, it’s hard to unpack this stuff and pack it back up and then go be with my family or it’s hard to unpack something and then feeling like I’m just starting to get hit the emotional nerve or I’m just starting to get going on the processing then the 50 minutes are up, and unfortunately, your brain is going to continue to chew on things. That’s just what it does. It’s trying to find resolution.

When you have a longer therapy session, you’re giving your brain the gift of time. Yes, six hours of therapy in a day can be a lot. I’m not going to lie to you or sugarcoat that. You may want to take a nice, long, happy nap afterwards. However, living with pain day after day is also exhausting. Let’s talk for a moment about money.

On the surface, a therapeutic retreat is more expensive. However, when you remember that we’re actually saving time by condensing the process, I believe that people save money in the long term. I remember one client that I did a one-day session with, and She had so many memories that she just needed to process through and unpack that was holding her back in her day-to-day life, things that she couldn’t get off her mind.

It was a very rare sort of intensive in a lot of ways because the targets she essentially picked and knew what things were bothering her. A lot of times we have to go back and do a process and dig for those, but she knew what she needed to process. I remember we just went through the day and I was like, okay, what’s next? She would process it and go to the next memory. Okay, what’s next? At the end of that session, I told her this would have taken you a year in therapy to get through all of these memories. I honestly believe that. But her brain was just so ready and her nervous system, she wanted that healing. She was open to it and we just were able to go through it so that she didn’t have to keep carrying around the pain of those memories over and over and over again.

I can tell you from the therapist’s perspective, I enjoy the longer sessions because we start to see a thread running through very quickly. In all of these different memories, you experienced this, and that is the piece that has followed you around for your whole life. Today is the day that God wants to break that chain for you. Today is the day that you can say, I don’t have to live. Under that lie anymore, I don’t have to live with that limiting belief. It stops today. There is not anything else that lights me on fire more than that, guys. It’s so incredible to see the work that God has done in people’s lives over these longer sessions.

I know for some of you, this episode really landed and you resonated with what I was saying. If that’s you, I just really encourage you to reach out on bythewellcounseling.com and click on the contact form. I would love to get in touch with you. Or you can go on there and schedule a consultation and we’ll talk more about if this is right for you.

Do you want to be the first to know what’s happening on the podcast? podcast. Join our email list at hopeforanxietyandocd.com. We have got some free downloads on there, and you have to actually click the download from your email to sign up for the list. So make sure you take that one extra step.

Thanks so much for listening and I’ll be back next week.

Hope for Anxiety and OCD is a production of By the Well Counseling. Our show is hosted by me, Carrie Bock, a licensed Professional Counselor in Tennessee. Opinions given by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of myself or By the Well Counseling. Our original music is by Brandon Mangrum. Until next time, may you be comforted by God’s great love for you.

127. Do I need therapy? How to Know and Why Summer is the Best Time! with Carrie Bock, LPC-MHSP

Written by Carrie Bock on . Posted in Counseling, OCD, Podcast Episode.

In this episode, Carrie explores the signs that indicate you might need therapy and why summer is the prime season to begin your mental health journey

Episode Highlights:

  • How to recognize signs indicating you might need therapy.
  • The benefits of starting therapy during the summer months.
  • Practical tips for evaluating your mental health and well-being.
  • The advantages of intensive therapy sessions for busy schedules or ongoing issues.

Episode Summary:

If you’ve been asking yourself, “Do I need therapy?” or if someone has suggested it, this episode will guide you through key indicators that therapy could be beneficial. We’ll discuss how feelings of overwhelm, difficulty managing daily tasks, or strained relationships might signal that it’s time to seek professional help.

Therapy is a powerful tool for managing mental health issues like anxiety and OCD. If you’re experiencing symptoms such as persistent worry, obsessive thoughts, or a general sense of burnout, therapy might be the right step. In this episode, I’ll also share why summer is an ideal time to begin therapy. With a potentially lighter schedule, this season offers a unique opportunity to focus on self-care, build new coping skills, and address underlying issues before they escalate.

If you’re considering therapy but feel uncertain, I encourage you to listen to this episode and take that first step toward healing. Therapy is not a sign of weakness; it’s a proactive choice to invest in your mental and emotional well-being. Whether you’re looking for a few sessions to gain clarity or more intensive work through a therapy retreat, I’m here to support you.

Explore related episodes:

Bonus Episode: EMDR Intensive Therapy Q&A with Steve Bock and Carie Bock, LPC-MHSP

Transcript

Welcome to Hope for Anxiety and OCD episode 127. I am your host, Carrie Bock, a licensed professional counselor in Tennessee. Today, we’re going to talk about, “Do I need therapy? How do I know if I need therapy?” Maybe someone in your life has been telling you, “Hey! You need to go to therapy”. Let’s look at how you might really need to know if therapy could be a good option for you. Also as a bonus, “Why summer really is the best time to go to therapy?” 

Number one, maybe you’re not functioning in your day-to-day life as you normally do and as you would like to. Let’s look at different domains of your life. How about home? Are you sleeping? Are you able to complete activities of daily living, as some people call them?

Things like showering, getting out of bed, feeding yourself, going to work, or doing your day-to-day activities if you don’t go to work. You want to look at how you are functioning. Are you able to do some of these things? Is it a lot harder maybe than it used to be? That might be an indication that there might be some kind of mental health situation going on for yourself.

If you’re having to drag yourself out of bed every morning just to get going or to function, you find that you can’t sleep at night because you’re super anxious, just worrying about things all the time, that might be an indicator that you might need to go to therapy. What about work or school? That would be another area we might look at to see how you’re functioning.

If you are going to work, all you can think about is what’s going on at home in your household. You’re going to work, maybe you’re completing tasks, but there’s absolutely no joy. You just feel dry. You wonder,” Why am I even in this job anymore?” We all go through different processes with our various jobs or careers.

It might be super stressful and you’re having a hard time either dealing with the work stress or the home stress. Maybe you find that you are late to work on a repetitive basis because you keep checking all the door locks and you keep checking to make sure the oven is off and the curling iron has been unplugged, that might be an indicator or red flag to you, like, “Hey, this OCD ritual behavior is now starting to impact my work life.”

Maybe you have to do presentations at work and you get super nervous speaking in front of people. Maybe you have different job responsibilities than you used to have. Usually what happens when people come to counseling is something has changed, something has shifted. Maybe your work has been going fine, but you’re scared to fly, and then you find out work wants you to go to one to two conferences a year that are out of state. And you would have to fly because it’s not close enough or feasible enough for you to drive there and back. If your boss is coming to you concerned, like, “Hey, I’ve noticed you’re here, but you’re not really here.” That might be a good indicator that it’s time to get some help. Three, how are you functioning in your relationships? What about people that you live with at home? Whether it’s a roommate, or whether it’s a spouse, whether it’s your kids, do you find yourself frequently getting irritated at those people, or constantly getting into conflict or arguments?

Maybe there’s no conflict, sometimes people just get tired of fighting, and then there’s this underlying tension. Or lack of communication, so it can go either way. Sometimes the climate of the home is just we’re not talking at all, and that’s not healthier than people who are yelling all the time. Those are both in states of unhealth where.

Something needs to be done in order to have more peace at home. So you want to look at your relationships. Do you have friendships? Do you have people that you connect with on a regular basis? I know that we’re all busy, but at the same time, we all need some sense of community and connection. I know a lot of people struggle with anxiety or struggle with getting out there and socializing.

If those are challenges for you or things that are keeping you from engaging in relationships, maybe you want to date, but it absolutely terrifies you. I went to therapy for that many years ago before I met my husband. That was a thing for me because I had been through a divorce and I was hurting and didn’t want to get hurt again. At the same time, I’d done a lot of healing and felt like I was ready to move forward with my life. So if your relationships or inability to engage in a relationship, a future relationship that you would like, are impacting you, I would encourage you to consider therapy as an option. What about your relationship with yourself?

We all have a relationship with ourselves. Some people are super self-critical, they never have any grace for themselves, they never allow themselves to make a mistake, and in those situations, I would say that that’s pretty unhealthy and can keep you from doing things that you want to do in your life, can keep you from taking risks, it can keep you from taking a break and a much-needed rest.

You’re constantly pushing yourself. Usually, we have these two parts inside. One is pushing us towards good things, and one is self-sabotaging that in some way, shape, or form. The Bible calls this your flesh, sin nature, and then your spirit nature. If you’re a Christian, how are you seeing those things in your day-to-day life?

Are you engaging in self-destructive behavior, such as self-harm, addictive behaviors, drinking, or overusing, prescription drugs, those types of situations? How are you in relationship with yourself, with your soul, your spiritual connection to God, all of those pieces are really important. And then lastly, maybe you just need an outside third party or objective point of view on your current life situation. I remember there have been times where people have come to see me for one session just to ask, Is this normal? Usually, people who are asking the question, Is this normal? Typically what they’re experiencing is normal. I won’t say that that’s always the case, but a lot of times it is people who are going through situations such as grief and loss.

Sometimes you can have very conflicting emotions in grief and loss situations in a divorce situation. In a parenting situation, there can be conflicting emotions, and it’s hard to navigate on your own or tease out. Sometimes we feel like we’re supposed to be feeling a certain way. We say, Is this okay? Is this how I’m supposed to be feeling or is this a normal response? A lot of times if we haven’t experienced that before, or we don’t know someone else who’s been through it, or we don’t feel like we can actively share this with other people in our personal life, sometimes it’s helpful to have that listening ear to bounce those ideas off of.

Maybe you just feel like you need some different ways of approaching situations or other people in your life. Maybe you’re trying to learn a particular relationship skill, such as setting boundaries. That’s an important one. We’ve talked about that on the podcast before. We’ve talked about the importance of setting boundaries.

What is a boundary and how do I set one? So go look in our show notes. We’ll link to those episodes. Maybe you are wanting to go to therapy to learn some specific strategies for dealing with OCD. That would be a great opportunity for you to go to therapy. I think a lot of times people have these stigmas.

We have hopefully broken a lot of those down in our society, but they still exist in some circles. Like, if you go to therapy, that means something, like, seriously is wrong with you. That’s not the case. Sometimes you may only need to go for a few sessions. You may just need to get some objectivity.

I’ve had people come in that have told me that they’ve had those types of experiences. I’ve certainly had those types of experiences with clients where, They just kind of needed a little boost in the right direction or some problem-solving, and then they were able to go on their way. Maybe you do feel like you need a lot more, and that’s okay too.

Wherever you’re at, there’s no fear or shame surrounding getting help for yourself. Why is summer the best time to get therapy? This is a secret from the inside world of therapists. Summer is often a slower time for therapists. The reason is that people are genuinely feeling happier. The sun is shining outside, the kids are out of school, and there’s less stress in the home because we’re not having to maybe run them around to as many activities.

I don’t know. That depends on the family and the age of your children. You could be just as busy during the summer as a school year, but you may not be scrambling to find the red shirt to wear on red shirt day. But people are usually going on vacations during the summer. You may think, I’m feeling pretty good this summer.

Why do I need to go to therapy? If we’ve been through some of the other things and you know that you have stuff to work on, you know that you want to build in skills, you know that you want to be able to learn certain things, when you’re not stressed, that’s the best time to learn new skills. What I have seen happen over and over and over again is people will know that they have trauma to work through. Things from their past that they know are affecting their relationships in their day-to-day life. A lot of times, what they’ll do is they’ll wait until they hit a crisis point to get counseling. Hey, there’s no wrong time to come to counseling. If you’re in a crisis, absolutely come to counseling and get what you need, but if you know that there are some bumps in the road and you probably want to get help before it gets worse, that’s a great time to initiate therapy. Do not wait until things get super bad to feel like you have to then come in at that point. The summer is an awesome time to build in learning experiences.

You will probably get on the therapist’s schedule faster or a little bit easier. Keep that in mind. We really get super busy when people are like back in the swing of school around September, or October, things can be really slammed or in between holidays, sometimes holidays are busy, sometimes they’re slow, it just depends.

A lot of people will tell you, yeah, during the summer, therapists may look different. They may take more time off. I don’t know, but it may be the best time for you to come to therapy. And if you’ve ever thought, I don’t really feel like I have the time for therapy to go once a week to unpack stuff and then pack it back up, especially for clients who have experienced a lot of chronic childhood trauma, those are some of the clients that I find I work the best with.

What we have found works amazing is for them to come for an intensive day, for them to come for a therapeutic multi-day retreat so that they have the time and space to unpack some of those things in the past without having to go to therapy Unpack the past, pack it back up, and keep doing that over and over on a weekly basis.

Meanwhile, while crises are going on, oh, this situation happened with this family member, and now I need to take time away from trauma processing to process that, or this other situation happened, and now we’re focused on that instead of focusing on the past situations that are contributing to present responses.

If you have ever thought about maybe I just need to take some time for myself, maybe you’re a busy professional, you work a lot of hours, maybe you just say, I need to block off a day or a few days for some self-care, get a kind of a therapeutic retreat situation happening for me. Please contact me either through the podcast or through my counseling website, bythewellcounseling.com. I would love to explore that option with you a little bit more. Until next time. I hope you found this episode helpful, and I will see you again next week. 

Hope for Anxiety and OCD is a production of By the Well Counseling. Our show is hosted by me, Carrie Bock, a licensed professional counselor in Tennessee.

Opinions given by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of myself or By the Well Counseling. Our original music is by Brandon Mangrum. Until next time, may you be comforted by God’s great love for you. you

125. Help For When You Can’t Stop Googling Everything! with Carrie Bock, LPC-MHSP

Written by Carrie Bock on . Posted in Anxiety, Counseling, OCD, Podcast Episode.

In this episode, Carrie talks about the downsides of Googling too much, especially for those with OCD and anxiety. She shares how seeking reassurance online can actually make things worse and offers tips for resisting the urge to Google.

Episode Highlights:

  • The risks of excessive Googling, particularly for those with OCD and anxiety.
  • How seeking reassurance online can escalate anxiety and spiritual confusion.
  • The importance of accepting uncertainty as a part of finding peace.
  • Recognizing the urge to Google and making intentional choices to step back.
  • Practical strategies for resisting the urge to Google and maintaining mental well-being.

Episode Summary:

Welcome to Episode 125 of Hope for Anxiety and OCD! I’m Carrie Bock, a licensed professional counselor based in Tennessee, and I’m thrilled to have you with me today. If you find yourself caught in the habit of excessive Googling, you’re not alone. Many people with OCD struggle with this same issue, and in today’s episode, we’re diving deep into why this habit can be harmful and how you can start to break free from it.

Are you constantly Googling for reassurance? Perhaps you spend hours reading articles, watching videos, or searching for answers online. While it’s okay to research things in moderation, excessive Googling often exacerbates anxiety and leads to confusion rather than clarity.

We’ll address the cycle of reassurance-seeking that many people experience. Just like asking others for validation in relationships or at work, Googling is a way of self-reassuring. But instead of finding peace, you might end up trapped in a maze of conflicting opinions, especially in spiritual matters.

It’s crucial to recognize the urge to Google as a potential sign of OCD. When you feel a strong, anxious need to find an answer immediately, it’s often a sign that OCD is driving your behavior.

Remember, not everything needs an immediate solution. It’s rare that Googling will provide you with the certainty you’re seeking. Often, the answers to your questions are not readily available online, and learning to sit with uncertainty can be an important step in your healing journey.

Tune in to discover how to manage your Googling habits, set healthy boundaries, and find peace without relying on endless searches.

Explore related episode:

131. Relationship Obsessions Combined with Scrupulosity: Pierre’s Story

Transcript

Welcome to Hope for Anxiety and OCD, episode 125. I am your host, Carrie Bock, a  licensed professional counselor in Tennessee. 

I’m glad that you’re here. I just want to remind everybody, we have some exciting news, we have some revamping of the podcast that is going to be happening this summer and hopefully, we will have some new artwork, a new website, and a new name. For more information about that, make sure to hop on our email list so that you can be an insider and be the first to know. It is hopeforanxietyandocd.com/free. We’ll get you any of those free resources and to be able to be put on our email list.

This episode is for some of you that really struggle with your relationship with Googling. Maybe you are Googling what you feel like is everything or you’re spending hours and hours reading articles, hours and hours researching things on YouTube. If you haven’t figured this out, this is not incredibly healthy for you or your mental health. It’s okay to research things in moderation, it’s okay to look into things. But there is a point where it becomes unhealthy and creates more and more anxiety. Googling is a common OCD obsession that I see in clients that I work with, and when I first started working with OCD, It was one of the red flags of maybe this person needs some more assessment if they are Googling all of the time.

Maybe we need to start assessing them for OCD. Googling is a way that people seek reassurance. You may have seen, or heard of reassurance seeking in OCD, where you’re asking someone in a relationship, “Hey, are we okay right now? You’re asking your boss, am I doing everything the way you want me to? You’re asking doctors like, am I going to be okay? Are you sure that I’m going to be all right? Googling is a way we have done to self-reassure, to find out from some article, or expert video that everything is going to be all right, or we’re finding for or against what we think is okay. 

Now we want to talk about how this can send you down a bunch of different rabbit holes where you see a bunch of different people’s opinions. It can cause you, especially in the spiritual realm from what I see with clients is it can cause you to become more and more spiritually confused, like, “Okay, well, this person about this scripture says this, and this person over here says that. You can get stuck on who is right, and who’s wrong.

If this person is saying this, does that mean I need to be doing that? If that person is saying I should stay away from seeing movies that are rated PG-13, does that mean that I’m a bad Christian if I go see this movie over here, the latest film? If this person over here says I should only listen to Christian music, does that mean I’m a bad Christian if I listen to secular music? What it does, the reality is, especially spiritually. It leaves you confused and causes you more disconnect from your actual relationship with God. Your relationship with God needs to, there’s a balance here. I’m not going to say it’s based a hundred percent. on just you and God because I do believe based on the scriptures that Christian community is an important part of our walk, that we can lovingly correct each other when we’re outside of bounds.

We need to just be very guarded and cautious about the people that we allow to speak into our lives. We need to make sure that they are aligned with the Word of God and our beliefs and understandings about the character of God. We don’t want to go too far off the rails and be following someone that is using obscure scriptures to make a major life change point.

Certain people may be convicted about some things. that you are not convicted about, and that is okay. Back to Googling and spending lots of time on YouTube, you need to be careful about that urge, so it starts with probably some type of obsession, and then there’s an urge to get on Google. There’s an urge that like, I need to know, I need to have this answer, I need to have this settled. What OCD is telling you is that you need to know and have that answer settled right now. That’s what you need to be cautious about. It’s not bad to know information or to try to research, but when there’s a strong, anxious, emotional urge that says you have to know it right now, go on and Google this. That’s probably OCD telling you or urging you to do those things. Then you can sit back and you have a crossroads, a choice at that point. Do I pick up my phone? Because now it’s so easy for us, we don’t even have to go to a computer anymore. We just pick up our phone. We can voice search in there.

We just say, “Hey, look up this for me.” We can ask it all kinds of questions. We don’t even have to touch our phones. I mean, people have Alexa in their home or they can say, “Hey, Alexa, look this up for me.” It’s so so easy for us. 

Be intentional. Maybe you need to leave your phone when you feel that urge, leave your phone in another part of the house and literally walk away from it or walk away from your computer. Make intentional decisions not to get on those things when you’re trying to go to sleep because that is going to activate your brain in a way where you’re trying to problem solve and figure everything out right now Here’s the truth that we can sit with it is very very rare that we need to have a solution Right now that we would need to Google Maybe there is a solution right now like in an emergency situation where We might need to call 911.

We might need to tell someone to stop doing something. We might need to walk away from a situation. None of those involve googling. A lot of times the things that you’re searching for are things that are hard to know right now. In this present moment, or you’re trying to find certainty about a specific situation that you’re dealing with, instead of sitting with, maybe the answers to your specific situation are not on the internet.

You’re trying to find other people who have been through similar experiences. I have done my fair share of Googling, especially when it comes to medical experiences. I did a lot of Googling when I was pregnant with my daughter. I had some various complications. I wanted to know, was she going to be okay? Was I going to be okay? Ultimately, that Googling gave me some information, but it really didn’t give me certainty. 

That’s what you’re wanting to know is, can Googling actually give you certainty? No, it can’t. It can give you more information, but can it tell you what’s gonna happen 100 percent of the time? No. As you’re learning through this process of dealing with OCD, part of that is learning to know, Hey, I don’t have 100 percent certainty. What’s going to happen in my experience? I didn’t know what it was going to be like to give birth to my daughter. Even though that was my first and only child, other people have had vastly different birth experiences, even who have had multiple children.

Just because you’ve had a child before, that doesn’t mean it’s going to go exactly the same as it did the last time. Googling about it can give you some broad strokes, some general ideas, but it’s not going to tell you the specifics of your situation. Keeping that in mind, you’re wanting to know, what is it that I actually need, and can Google actually provide that? Most of the time, the answer is a no. 

You may, if you do need some legitimate information, but you are struggling because you know that you’re going to spend two hours on it, It may be something where you ask someone else to get you, like, one or two articles to read that are informative, that is from a healthy, good source, not just something that someone obscurely wrote that’s about two pages down the search engine. A reputable source where you can gain that information without feeling overwhelmed by all of the information that is out there. Typically, we do not have to consume as much information as we believe that we need to consume. You do not have to look at all different sides or angles or videos. You can glean some information from one or two things and then allow that to be the information gathering and moving on.

If you were going to Google, you would want to examine for yourself, “What is it that I am needing to know?” That’s one thing. “What am I actually needing to know? What am I hoping to gain from this? If I’m really Googling just to reassure myself, Or just to get some sense of, like, obscure certainty that’s out there.” Then you need to put the phone down, put the mouse down, walk away from the computer or phone, and say, okay, I’m going be okay even if I don’t get the certainty right now. I have to sit with some of the unknowns that are in my present experience about the future. Typically, it’s almost like we’re trying to get Google to help us figure out the future and be able to have some false sense of control. I think that’s what OCD is trying to tell you that you can have. You can have some false sense of control if you just get a little bit more information about this. Maybe you’ll understand it. Maybe you’ll be more confident in your decision making. Maybe you’ll know what to do.

There may be times where you gather all the information and you don’t know what the right decision is exactly. I had to make a hard decision about whether or not to be induced with my daughter and that was tough for me because I didn’t want to. Looking at all the information and then being able to say, okay, well, at some level, I have to make a decision and so many times I see people with OCD being concerned in a perfectionistic way about making quote the wrong decision or feeling like there’s only one right decision to be made in the situation.

Sometimes life is about praying and waiting for the peace of God to steer us in the right direction. And sometimes we have two okay options that are not in violation of our spiritual nature or things that, they’re not moral decisions to be made. And sometimes we just need to go with one of those, and that may be really hard for you or feel scary.

You may not feel like you have the confidence to make those decisions. That means there’s a little bit more inner work that needs to be done within yourself to be able to say, “Yes, I can make decisions. It’s okay.” That’s a thing that all adults do. Sometimes we are not sure of ourselves and sometimes there’s just a decision to be made and we have to stick our neck out and make it. Sometimes it’s okay, it works out well, sometimes it doesn’t. That’s a part of our life. 

OCD wants you to believe that somehow you can have this absolute certainty if you have an abundance of information. More information typically does not give us more certainty. It can actually lead us to more confusion, especially if we find conflicting information.

Look at your past experiences with Google and see how they have turned out. Sometimes people will tell me, “Well, I looked this thing up and it actually relieved my fear or my concern.” I found out that it’s very unlikely that this scenario would happen. If it was just something like that and then you stopped and you were able to let it go. If it’s something where there’s a lot of gray area and you’re Googling about it more than once or you’re almost looking for new information on it, Is that contributing to your mental health and saying no to OCD? It Doesn’t sound like it. I would encourage you to take some steps to be able to prevent yourself from going down that rabbit hole so often. As you do, it may feel uncomfortable at first, but you’ll notice that it gets easier and easier and easier the more that you resist that urge to Google. It truly is an urge, there is a feeling, you know. associated with it, but also you can say no to OCD and not give in to that urge to Google.

Hopefully, this helps some of you who are struggling with this area and the Googling. 

124. What to do When Compulsions Become Habits and Routines

Written by Carrie Bock on . Posted in Counseling, OCD, Podcast Episode.

In this episode, Carrie explores how compulsions can evolve into habits and routines, especially within the context of OCD. She shares insights on how these patterns can impact daily life and offers practical advice on breaking free from their grip.

Episode Highlights:

  • The progression of compulsions into habits and routines.
  • The impact of compulsive behaviors on various aspects of life.
  • Strategies for identifying compulsive behaviors and understanding the motivation behind the desire for change.
  • Techniques for developing awareness of compulsive actions and acknowledging engagement in rituals.

Episode Summary:

I’m Carrie Bock, your host and licensed professional counselor based in Tennessee. Today, we’re diving into how compulsions can evolve into habits and routines. If you’ve been managing OCD, you might have noticed that compulsions start small but can gradually develop into extensive rituals.

For instance, you might begin with a few simple actions before bedtime, but before you know it, these actions can stretch into a 15-30 minute routine involving checking locks, windows, and appliances. This isn’t about typical bedtime routines but rather compulsions that grow more demanding over time.

Similarly, rituals before leaving the house can become time-consuming and interfere with your daily life. You might find yourself repeatedly checking things, which can delay work or social engagements.

Here’s the deal: If you recognize these patterns in yourself, the first step is to avoid self-blame. OCD can be sneaky, and what starts as a small request can balloon into an all-consuming ritual. The key is to acknowledge the issue and decide why you want to change it. Whether it’s reclaiming time for loved ones or personal care, understanding your “why” is crucial.

I encourage you to listen to the full episode to gain insights on managing these rituals effectively and to learn practical strategies that can make a real difference in your life.

Check out related episode:

https://carriebock.com/podcast-breakdown//118-how-do-i-know-if-this-thought-is-an-ocd-obsession-with-carrie-bock-lpc-mhsp

Transcript

Welcome to Hope for Anxiety and OCD episode 124. I am your host, Carrie Bock, a licensed professional counselor in Tennessee. Today, we’re talking about when compulsions become habits and routines. 

If you’ve been dealing with OCD at all, you may notice that compulsions start out a certain way, but then they just develop once you do them so often, or you do them in certain situations or scenarios so often then, they eventually become routines, rituals, habits, however you want to say it. For example, people may have certain things that they feel like they have to do before they can lay down and go to sleep at night. Here’s the problem with OCD, it’ll start out with like,” Ah, just do this one or two things before you go to bed, and you’re like, “Okay, that’s not that big of an ask,” and next thing you know, you’re doing this.It’s like 15 to 30-minute routine and ritual stuff, and it’s all OCD functionally related. I’m not talking about normal things that people do to get ready for bed. It’s like checking the locks a certain number of times or making sure all the windows are closed and the doors and that the oven’s off and all of a sudden it becomes this whole thing.

There may be some similar rituals that people have about leaving the house. I have to do these specific things before I can leave the house. The problem is that it may interfere with getting you to work. It may interfere with getting to social functions or other things that you need to be at because you keep going back and keep checking and looking at things.

Your rituals may involve things like cooking, cleaning, or the trash, and maybe washing your hands a lot during those types of rituals. First, I would say, if you notice, “Okay, Carrie, yes, what you’re talking about, I’m dealing with some of those things.” The first thing I would say to you is don’t beat yourself up. You didn’t get here overnight. OCD probably was like a little demanding, and then a little more demanding, and then a little more demanding, and next thing you know you have this whole giant ritual. You Just to take out the trash. It happens. It’s sneaky like that. We don’t want to beat yourself up or be in a place of shame.

If you’re identifying like, “Oh, I have these things that I need to change because now it’s gotten to a level that feels out of control for me.” What I would say is to identify the compulsive habit, routine, ritual, whatever you want to call it that you want to change and why you want to change it. It’s important to know why you want to change it. Maybe there’s something that you want to use that time for instead. You realize I’m being robbed of time that I could be connecting with other loved ones in my life.

I’m being robbed of time that I could be using to for self-care exercise. Maybe your why is that you realize OCD is taking way more control in the reigns over your life than you want to give. And you say, “You know what? I don’t want to fulfill OCD’s demands anymore. I can’t stand this no more.”

Now, if you recognize yourself in the middle of this routine. You develop awareness even over that you’re doing it. Some of you may just kind of check out and you’re just going through the motions and that’s what you don’t want. You don’t want to check out and go through the motions.

You want to recognize like, “Okay, I am thoughtfully choosing to engage in this compulsive ritual right now.”  Instead of just it being like muscle memory for you, we all have that if we do things over and over and over again. Eventually, we don’t have to think about that we’re doing it. There are many tasks involved in driving that you don’t think about just because you’ve driven so much and it’s become a routine.

You know when to check your mirrors, when to push the gas, when to push the brake. When you’re going through this compulsive ritual, you’re going tell yourself, “Okay, I’m choosing to engage in this right now.” Maybe you can’t stop it right away and that’s okay so that you step by step know what you’re doing.

The first step is to really even recognize and slowing down. “This is what I’m doing and I’m identifying to myself, even if to no one else, I’m identifying to myself that this is a compulsive ritual. 

Now, like I said, number one was, you’re not going to beat yourself up for it, but then when you get to the next kind of phase, You can plan to somehow mess it up. If you are telling yourself you have to do something a certain number of times, maybe you start by doing it. The ideal is that you wouldn’t engage at all, but that feels really hard or too big. You say, “Okay, well, I’m going to do this maybe one less time. If I normally do it three times, I’m going to intentionally mess it up and do it twice.”

Also know that OCD is going to be really irritated about that. It’s probably going to be disruptive and tell you it’s not going to feel right, and it’s not going to feel okay, and you have to be able to tell yourself that that’s all right, that this is part of the process of saying no to OCD, is that it’s going to get upset, just like boundaries with anyone.

You set your boundary with OCD, it’s going be mad, it’s going to push you back, and it’s going make you feel uncomfortable. Let’s say, it’s okay, this is how I’m getting out of this brain obsessive compulsive loop. That somewhere in that process, I have to intervene and mess that, that loop up. Every time I go around the loop, it gets stronger. And because that’s ingrained in your brain, You can’t just say no once or twice and expect it to be gone. You have to consistently be able to work through that in a way. If you usually say your part of your ritual is pulling on the doorknob, maybe you leave that part out. Maybe you make sure the door is locked, but you don’t pull on the doorknob.

If you have mental compulsions, make an intention to not do them perfectly like you would normally do, or not doing them until they feel right. Subtract something until you get to a point where you say, “Okay, I’m going to completely disengage from this activity. I’m not going to do this anymore.” 

Make that an experiment, maybe see, so if I don’t do my entire ritual before I leave the house, are things still going to be okay? I may not feel like they’re okay, but are they still going to be okay? You’ll probably find that nothing bad happens that day if you don’t do it. It’s okay, but the idea is that if you can’t stop the compulsion right away, try to see if you can somehow mess it up or delaying the compulsion. Maybe you tell yourself this is not really as workable for bedtime or something like that, but if there’s something that you’re doing immediately, like A lot of times I’ll have clients who are confessing many, many times throughout the day.

They’re confessing stuff. They’re not even like taking a pause to know if it’s a sin or not. It’s just like, “Oh, I had a thought. I must confess that. Oh, I had an experience that maybe might have been a sin and I’ve got to confess that.”

One of the things I’ll tell people to do in terms of delaying is say, okay, why don’t you take some time either in the morning or at night and be intentional instead of just repeatedly confessing everything, be intentional about what do I need to confess today? Stick it to that time period. If you don’t even remember it, or the Holy Spirit doesn’t bring it to your mind, it probably wasn’t important enough for you to confess. That’s okay, you can let those things go and not have to be stuck up on them. You’ll probably find that you’re confessing a whole lot less. Does that mean that you’re less spiritual? No, it means that you’re being present and intentional with God with your spirituality to be able to say, okay, like I want to have a relationship with you. I don’t know if you could imagine having a relationship with anybody else where you were constantly saying that you’re sorry. That does happen sometimes with people and usually they’re saying sorry unnecessarily after a while. Pretty soon people aren’t really hearing the apology anymore. All I’m hearing is I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s like wait a minute do you even know what it is you’re sorry for anymore? 

Think about that relating that over to your relationship with God you want those times where you are confessing To be meaningful for you, I hope that this clarified some things of if you’re going to get out of something like an obsessive compulsive loop, you have to be so aware of it and so aware of the trickiness that OCD gets you wrapped into.

If you’re not aware of those things, it’s really hard to intervene and make changes. So many of the times we’re going through life, we’re just going through the motions, we’re just doing things, we’re not thinking about it. Mindfulness is something that I teach my clients that really helps you to be able to slow down, be intentional, be in the moment, be present, to be aware of what’s going on.

For those of you who are trying to make some intentional changes to your routines. I hope that this information was helpful for you. You can always find us on hopeforanxietyandocd.com. You can click on courses to find out more about the mindfulness course there. We are winding down on time to sign up for the OCD summer sessions that you can find at my counseling practice, bythewellcounseling.com. That’s an opportunity for you to learn this summer. You don’t have to be in Tennessee to participate. We’re going to have some webinar series to cover a variety of issues. I hope to see you there.