Thought stopping doesn't workOne of the most common questions I get asked is….How do I STOP thinking about my fear? How do I stop obsessing? How do I STOP the anxiety. If you’re like most, you’re searching videos to learn how to STOP your symptoms. There in lies the TRAP. We don’t learn to STOP thoughts or fears…we learn to respond differently to them….which in turn allows symptoms to decrease. If you start off you search or mindset with….how can I stop……Don’t do it! It’s a trap! Seriously. You’re just training your body to continually check To see if you are still having thoughts or not. Which actually produces more thoughts. It is actually natural for the brain to automatically start pushing thought we don’t want. Which is why it takes practice to lave them back. Let me take you through what to do instead of pushing thoughts away or ignoring them. So how to avoid suppression? To get out of the thinking that you need to STOP thinking about your fears. Well, you can start by learning to notice when these thoughts occur. Allow thoughts to be thoughts. Not put any meaning to a single thought. A thought is bad or a thought is good. When a thought brings anxiety or distress, we tend to label it as bad. When our brain hears bad, it goes to this automatic process of pushing. Practice having a thought than simply saying, “oh cool, there is the thought again. You’re welcome to stay as long as you want” As your learning to accept a thought is a thought you’re also practicing not doing a compulsion. A compulsion is anything you are actively choosing to do to remove the thought, or to reduce your anxiety symptoms. For instance, if you have a distressing thought you quickly shake your head to get it to go away. Maybe you tap something a few times. It’s possible you go to the Internet to research different ideas about your thought. You might have to say a phrase for the thought to go away. These are all the things you have to be aware of and stop doing. Because we cannot accept a thought, take value away from it, and also do a compulsion of the same time. It’s like we’re not fully accepting the reality of the thought. It’s a halfway effort. Once you learn to accept our thoughts, even if you think it is the worst thing in the world to think. OCD can bring some pretty gnarly thoughts. It’s easy for somebody to say, yeah I can accept a thought about something small but this doesn’t apply to my big scary thoughts. Going back to what was said earlier, thoughts are thoughts. There is not one thought that has more value or power than another. Some choose to use act therapy. Acceptance and commitment therapy. This builds flexibility in your thinking and allows you to accept the thought. Without changing it whatsoever. At the same time some choose to expose themselves to the triggers or obsessions. This is so you can continually learn. Learn to not respond the way you normally would want to with a thought. For instance, I might pay attention and write down all the triggers I noticed that bring these thoughts. I might purposely expose myself to them. Not all at once, but starting off with something small. Maybe it’s looking at a picture of something, maybe it’s a video, maybe it’s hanging out with my kid, maybe is driving, maybe it’s cooking dinner, maybe it’s saying a certain word, maybe it’s touching something. Regardless of what it is, you are practicing engaging with this thing, not doing the compulsions, and pretty much acting like you don’t care. Allow the thoughts to come, allow them to leave. You don’t care how long they stay. They have no value unless you give it value. This takes practice, practice, practice. It is easy for anxiety or OCD to say, this one is important. This one is different. The tools that were just presented to me, do not apply to me. Let me tell you, your OCD or anxiety is no different than someone else. The next time you think, “I need to get rid of these thoughts. I need to get them to stop.” Remember that we are actually doing the opposite. You can even say, “oh boy, I love these thoughts.” “yes, thanks for coming my way.” “these are amazing!” “I wish you would stay forever.” These types of responses, help the brain know that you simply don’t care. Let me know in the comments, what response can you give your OCD and anxiety today when you have distressing thoughts? Thank you so much for watching, and I will see you next time. Thought suppression and OCDOCD thoughts won't stop
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What is PANDAS?Imagine your child waking up one morning and they seem completely different. Not a gradual change but an immediate change. Their language may be different, the way they are talking can be different, they are mentioning fears they’ve never mentioned before, their choosing not to eat, they are raging with anger, their anxiety is out of control, they may be doing a lot of tics. They may even have some psychotic symptoms such as seeing or hearing things. It may look like full-blown OCD symptoms all in one night. These personality changes can change in an instant. Let's talk about PANDAS. No not that kind of panda. You may or may not have heard of this. PANDAS stands for: are you ready for this: Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections Say that five times fast. Pandas occurs when the strep virus triggers a misdirected immune response and results in inflammation on the child’s brain. Neurologists believe it affects the basal ganglia of the brain. It is Estimated that one and two children may be affected. A clinical diagnosis of PANDAS is defined by the following criteria: • Presence of significant obsessions, compulsions, and/or tics • Abrupt onset of symptoms • Happens before puberty • There is an association with a strep infection Obviously, the strep virus is very common. Many children get step. This doesn’t mean they automatically have pandas. When looking for strep, did you know that it can occur and reside in somebody’s sinuses, their ears, their gut, or in other areas of their body. So when individuals get a throat swab, the strep virus maybe missed. It has been said that the majority of strep infections are missed. Individuals may do blood work to see the amount of titers. An elevated anti-strep titer means the child has had a strep infection sometime within the past few months, and his or her body created antibodies to fight the strep bacteria. Some children create lots of antibodies and have very high titers (up to 2,000), while others have more modest elevations. One of the most common diagnostic tools I have seen individuals use is called the Cunningham panel. This tests the likelihood of the child having PANDAS. So here’s the dealio, a lot of emails and phone calls I get regarding pandas start like this…. “do you believe that pandas exists” --- is not such an interesting question? People ask this because there is a lot of information and even doctors who say that this does not exist. While I am not a medical doctor, but in the licensed professional, I have seen many individuals come through my office who exhibit a sudden onset of OCD symptoms and or tics. Sometimes mixed with rage and anger. Sometimes mixed with psychosis. And what I mean sudden onset, I mean sometimes literally overnight. How scary and confusing this is for parents. For me, I absolutely believe that pandas exists, according to research that I’ve studied as well as individual cases that I have. Because this is what I see, an individual with all of the symptoms is going through what they call a “flare” - where symptoms may increase and last for typically 5 to 6 weeks and then gradually dies out. This may be the time where they were exposed to other viruses or the strep virus in their body is elevated. This is a pattern that an individual may go through time and time and time again. Typically these infections dictate the need of an antibiotic. Penicillin seems to be the first choice because it is well studied. I wouldn’t believe it if I haven’t seen it with my own eyes, but when an individual starts their antibiotics, their symptoms start decreasing. The treatment that we are working on tends to work much better. Individuals may do what is called IVIG. It essentially is an IV that injects immunoglobulin, some say this is been able to reset the immune system. This is made from thousands of human donors. So as far as the medical side goes, in individual may see an OCD therapist to take care of some of those symptoms. We use exposure and response prevention. To teach the brain to respond completely different to the anxiety and fears that come their way. Individuals that experience pandas will have different OCD themes. These can be seen just the same as somebody that has OCD. So ultimately, what I want to get you to know out of this whole video is this. Get proper treatment if possible. Exposure and response prevention for the OCD symptoms, CBIT for the tics and a medical trained professional for the physical body and brain. I tend to go to the pandasnetwork.org to find a professional near you. With the information I provided, this is just scratching the surface. Parents trying to navigate through this, you are not alone. I hope this video is helpful for you. If your child is struggling with OCD type symptoms, please watch some of my other videos that might relate to what they are going through. Here’s my question for you? What you think of pandas? Have you or someone you know experienced this before? Strep and OCDTreatment for PANDASTreatment for derealizationMan, this video is a long time coming. Derealization. Have you ever experienced this before? It can be so scary for the person experiencing this. They can feel so trapped like there is no other way out. Derealization is a mental state or an individual may feel detached from their surroundings. People, objects, things around them may seem on unreal. You are even so aware that something is wrong that this can often be an obsession on how to make it right again. How to feel attached again. Unlike something like psychosis or delirium, individuals no that there are in an altered state that something isn’t normal. More than half of people will feel this disconnection from reality at least once in their lifetime. Hi my name is Nathan Peterson…..I am the creator the online OCD and BFRB courses and release videos every week that can help give you different treatment strategies for what you’re going through. Derealization is similar to Depersonalization. The difference is depersonalization will experience the same thing except for adding a detachment of their own body, thoughts, and feelings. Almost as if you’re watching yourself as an outsider. I will have a whole separate video on this. Derealization usually happens in different pockets of time. Meaning that these symptoms may come in they may go. Some common experiences that people have are these: -The sounds around them can feel distorted, they can even seem too loud or too soft. - Often individuals will feel like they are in a dream state or have some brain fog. - The world around sees pretty lifeless, useless, what’s the point, you can seem fake that everyone is just doing their own thing every single day. - Objects around them can look wrong. They can look different than how they actually appear. Things may seem to sharp, others may seem too small or too big. You can even seem blurry. - Some may feel like there is something separating them from the world around them almost like an invisible wall. This wall that they cannot just break through. Some have experienced these for only a few minutes while others may experience this for months at a time. Individuals often feel like they are going crazy. They recognize that something is off. And all the brain is wanting them to do this is to find a connection again. Many will ask me: where does this come from? Guess what, every person is different. Some say that common events that trigger the derealization is emotional abuse or neglect. Others say it’s completely random. Some say it’s only linked to anxiety or OCD. There is not currently a medical way to see if this is something you are experiencing or not. When derealization manifest as part of anxiety or OCD the treatment I typically do is exposure and response prevention. Individuals may obsess and continually think about how to get out of these experiences. Their problem-solving is so much that they’re allowing themselves to continue being stuck in these Episodes. With exposure and response prevention the whole idea is how can you take power away from the bodily response or thoughts that you are having. Instead of pulling away from the experience we are moving closer to it. Meaning if somebody were to go through this experience right now, would focus on all the threats the brain comes up with an essentially answer every single one of them with either an uncertainty answer such as maybe maybe not, or we completely agree with the threat. If the brain says all know what’s happening what if you don’t come out of this. The answer is maybe I will maybe it won’t. Or I totally hope I don’t come out of this, man it be wonderful if I was stuck in this forever. When we agree with the threat it takes the power and value away from it. Instead what people try to do as they had the thought oh no it’s coming but I don’t come out of this. Maybe if I sit down it will go away, maybe for drink much water it will go away. Maybe I don’t go to that event because all make it worse. Maybe for research on the Internet it will go away. If I just on that answer I can get this to go away. The brain is coming up with plenty of ideas on how to solve this problem. We are no longer trying to solve this problem. We practice not doing compulsions. These are the things you are trying to do to problem solve yourself through this. You may experience the moment even mindfully. I don’t feel connected to the moment, cool what do I experience. What do I see, what do I feel, that it’s not to make sense of it all is to show yourself that your living life here in the specific moment. When people practice this exposure and response prevention every single time they go through an episode the brain finally gets it. It learns that it’s giving you these thoughts and feelings and disconnection and when you’re not responding to it the way it wants you to learns. He learns that if it doesn’t have value then it no longer needs to bring this into your life. You don’t give yourself a timeline of when this is going to go away. You allow it to be there regardless of what’s happening in your life. You allowed to leave if it wants to that you are not the person that is pushing it away. A lot of acceptance is needed with derealization. You will continue living your life the way that you want to live your life not changing anything because of this feeling of disconnection. Often I see derealization connected with OCD, if you’re looking for a little extra help with your OCD I do have an online step-by-step course that takes you through treatment. A link that down in the description below. Here is my question for you. Have you ever experienced derealization before? What things of help to you what things make a worse? Thank you so much for watching, and I will see you next time. How to stop derealizationHow to cure derealizationCOVID and OCDCOVID-19 and OCD. Wow. Can you believe it’s been a little over a year since the pandemic started? I’ve debated making this video multiple times and with multiple requests and emails I finally decided to take the plunge. I wanted to say with the disclaimer that I am not a medical doctor and I’m not giving you medical advice. I will however give you my thoughts on how somebody who struggles with OCD can do when it comes to the fears of possibly getting the virus. Not only the virus but any sickness. Hi, my name is Nathan Peterson! I am a specialist with OCD and anxiety related disorders and the creator of the self-directed courses for OCD and BFRBs. I create videos every single week with tips and treatment strategies for OCD, anxiety, tics and Tourette’s, hair pulling and skin picking. Make sure you’re subscribed so you do not miss any of these. You probably know what COVID-19 is. If you missed it, knock knock knock hello is anyone there. This virus in pandemic has sure set panic throughout the world. And rightfully so. When this thing first started, I made an ignorant comment. I said this is no different than getting the flu, or putting so much value and power on this thing. Boy was I wrong. With the countless lives lost, jobs lost, and mental health issues on the rise, I could never imagine what was going to happen. Many people have asked me. Nate and I say uhuh, and they say so I’ve been doing treatment for my OCD, how does it now change because of the pandemic. This has been so difficult to figure out a great guideline. Because just like any other anxiety fear in our life, it is very uncertain. There isn’t going to be an answer that is given that is 100% sure. When it comes to contamination OCD and the fear of possibly getting sick. Individuals felt the need to wash more, avoid more things, Thus sending them through massive spirals where they didn’t know they were following guidelines for fear creating their own rules. Here is how I have been treating OCD in the midst of this pandemic. I have people create a guideline. How many times a day I want to wash my hands. Is it before I eat, after use the bathroom, or if I come in from outside. Maybe it’s if I physically see dirt on my hand. So typically maybe is five times or less a day. I then say, we will follow the guidelines of the CDC. Even if we think they are incorrect or wrong. We have to follow some type of guideline or else the rules that your OCD will create could be catastrophic. For instance the CDC said, if you are vaccinated you no longer need to wear a mask. So guess over going to do, no longer wear a mask. But this doesn’t mean I’m no longer wearing a mask but I’m just gonna stay inside. We are following all the guidelines. They say I can go to a restaurant, I’m going to restaurant. They say I can hang out with my other friends vaccinated, I’m hanging out with my friends. Here's the tricky part however, what about the things are not part of the CDC guideline. They can’t give every scenario possible that you are ever going to run into. This is where you take your best judgment. Meaning, the CDC didn’t mention if I go to my friend’s birthday party and is probably going to be 30 people there. What should I do? I say you do whatever you want to do. Sounds risky, but you do it following the CDC guidelines. They say wear a mask there’s over 20 people, I guess I’m wearing a mask. I also wouldn’t want individuals to solely focus on this the rest of their life. I want individuals to live their life, sometimes feel like they are risking a lot. But knowing that the base of what I said was I want to wash my hands five times or less a day. How my going to do this. Typically we use exposure and response prevention. We expose ourselves to things that make us scared or nervous and respond completely different to them. A lot of people hear this and I think that sounds pretty dumb. You want me to just go out and get myself contaminated and dirty and hug everyone I see. This is not an all or nothing approach. This means that I just went to the grocery store I got a lot of groceries other people probably touched, I’m putting them away in my pantry without washing them because the CDC did tell me I needed to. I did say however that if I come in from outside I can wash my hands. But did the CDC say I need to wash my hands with 5 to 10 pounds of soap? NOPE! Did the CDC say that the water must be scalding hot? NOPE! You may need to create your own guideline and foundation. I wash my hands for 30 seconds, one pump of soap, and the water may be hot or not. Overall I want somebody’s experience to be a thoughtful one. Not in anxiety one. Meaning my decisions are based off of just general thought not my decisions are based off of my anxiety. And if anxiety is there I might risk the rules that have created in my brain and learn to respond completely different to them. A lot of times the magic words to the things we don’t know or maybe maybe not. Meaning I’m choosing to only solve the problem when there’s a problem presented in front of me. This is so incredibly hard to do. Because people have gone sick, people have died. But we are living our life, OCD does not get to dictate what you do anymore. Because there is new value that is been placed in front of us doesn’t mean OCD treatment goes out the window. A task that some choose to do is to write down all the rules are brain has created because of this pandemic. See if they match up with the CDC and the ones I don’t they may choose to do treatment with these. They feel like they’re doing a lot of risk. But without the risk there tends to not be the reward. The sound so incredibly scary, but what I’ve seen time and time again that the brains really good at saying once I get vaccinated then I will feel anxious about it. Once this one thing happens I will be nervous anymore. Guess what happens, a person gets vaccinated and there still anxious. The brain thinks it’s problem-solving but is continuing to keep you trapped. It’s only going to know that you’re the boss if you treated that way. Sometimes going against the rules that you’ve created in your brain. I am in no way diminishing the effect that this virus is had on the world. I am diminishing the way OCD is making you think about the virus. Taking power and value away from OCD. It no longer deserves your attention. If you’re looking for a little extra help, I’ve created a very specific course for OCD that takes you through understanding yourself, the treatment, and building your foundation for success. I will link this down in the description below. Here’s my question for you. What rules are you following or are taking over your life because of this pandemic? Also, what you can start doing differently about your behaviors? COVID and AnxietySpreading COVID and OCDExposure Therapy For OCDWhen somebody is facing their fear, they repeat this process over and over again their body tends used to it. We’ve seen this in many different ways such as jumping into a really cool swimming pool. At the very beginning it is very cold but their body adapts and get used to it. We didn’t have to spend time convincing ourselves it was going to get better, it just happens. This can be seen when we are using exposure and response prevention. When you are exposing yourself to the upsetting fear it’s going to feel very difficult at the beginning. Overtime, you may face the same fear but notice that the anxiety level is a lot less. This is seen as the habituation model. That we essxentially are doing exposures to reduce your anxiety by half or more. You’re getting used to it, you’ve taken the value away from it. When it comes to the habituation model, it’s all about this anxiety reduction in your body adapting just like the swimming pool. We will often use us as a measure of success if you were doing exposures correctly. If you’re anxiety is reducing this is a good thing. There are definitely some drawbacks from using the habituation model. Anxiety is something that we want to take value away from as well. If we are focusing solely on anxiety and having us go up and down individuals can get stuck in paying attention to the anxiety and wondering if they are doing the exposure correctly or not. Let me start obsessing about the actual anxiety versus the actual fear. Many will start to question and wonder why they’re in anxiety is not reducing. Well evidence shows that the habituation model does work, individuals can you get stuck with these pitfalls often. This is why there is another approach to exposure and response prevention called inhibitory learning. While this is still being researched there is evidence that shows that this helps reduce OCD symptoms as well. The difference is not the actual exposure you were doing but rather the way you were approaching it. With the inhibitory learning model you are teaching your brain more than reducing anxiety. Exposures are all about what can your brain learned from this experience. It doesn’t matter if your anxiety reduces or not. It might not even matter if you have anxiety while you’re doing the exposure. The whole mindset is all about your brain learning something new. So if I was facing a fear that really caused some anxiety, the way I approach is designed is to face the fear, expose yourself to it and RESPOND differently to the fear. You sole focus is what am I teaching my brain by every movement, words I’m saying, what I’m thinking, how I’m behaving. If I avoid touching something because it’s contaminated, my brain learned that that thing is dangerous. If I touched it and acted like it wasn’t a big deal and didn’t do any compulsions, then my brain learns it’s not a big deal. You may learn time and time again that you faced your fear and NOTHING happened. That is what the brain is learning. If you’re confused by the two, here is an easy way to remember: The habitual model means your body is getting used to it and your anxiety is reducing. Inhibitory learning model means your mindset is all about what your brain is learning from the exposure regardless of the anxiety felt. Realistically, there isn’t the right choice comes to do an exposures. You do what you feel like is best for you. I have used both models together where I focus majority of my time making sure that the person knows that the brain is learning something. We use anxiety as a measure but ultimately it doesn’t matter if the anxiety reduces or not. If your brain can learn that the fear that you have is not happening and it is it because you’re trying to control the situation what is the compulsions and to me that’s one of the best ways to do an exposure. Let things be. Stop controlling. It feels like an experiment, but the experiment is worth taking for your brain to learn something major. That you’ve never been a danger. Inhibitory Learning For OCDHabituation For OCDMy OCD Feels UniqueYou are not special! WAIT! Don’t don’t run away! I needed to get your attention for a moment. If you leave now you think I’m just a big jerk. Here’s what I mean by this!
So here is what I mean by you not been special. First of all your special. You matter in your feelings matter. Because you’re even watching this video right now it shows a lot of strength. So what I’m really meaning is that the OCD that you are experiencing is not different. Individuals can often think that the topic or theme that they are going through this special, it’s different, no one understands exactly what they are going through, its untreatable, I hear all these videos online I see all this advice but it doesn’t apply to my theme. Errrrrr! Nope! Your OCD is not special or different. This to me is one of OCD’s biggest lies. If it can make you believe that you are untreatable and that you are different from what you are experiencing then it’s got you. Individuals will often tell me that exposures they hear the specific theme just don’t apply to them. That if people really knew all the details of everything there experiencing they would change the treatment. So this is something that is important to note, something to tell your OCD even if you think it is different than everyone else’s to remind yourself that OCD is OCD. That follows the same route as everybody else. It’s making you doubt in question yourself and who you are as a person. It’s making you question the threats in the future and if they can come true or not. It’s giving you an intrusive thought putting a lot of meeting on this thought making you feel anxious that’s wanting you to do something to fix it. Simple as that. When we see OCD simply becomes simple. If you see OCD is complicated, different, or special, than it has the upper hand. To take control is to see it simply. Do not see yourself as different or special. Like I said you as a person are unique and special. Your OCD does not get to join this party. So as you’re seeing the videos that I have, your hearing advice given, and you think it doesn’t apply to your theme. Remember that this is a lie. Give yourself more credit. You can even remind your OCD that it’s not special when it’s trying to take the light. Give yourself the opportunity to do treatment. I know what people say, “but if you only heard what I’m going through you’d be shocked. You would say that mine is different.” Don’t even allow your brain to go there. Instead he focus on living life and enjoying. This tactic the OCDs using is no longer going to be something you fall for. Treatment is available if you’re looking for a specialist. So here’s my question for you, have you ever felt that your OCD is different than everyone else’s? How To Stop Ruminatingmination is essentially trying to problem solve the perceived threat or fear. It’s not as easy to just say, “stop ruminating”, so here are some tips for you when you feel like you’re stuck in the OCD rumination.
Real Event OCD TreatmentReal Event OCD is a tough one. There actually is something that has happened in your past that is causing the rumination and anxiety. Even if it was 5 minutes ago. Luckily there is a treatment to teach your brain to no longer see this as a threat and ways to retrain the brain. OCD, Health anxiety, and uncertaintyJenna and I go through our health scares and talk about what to do when the "what if's" actually happen. We go through tips you can use for your OCD and health anxiety. Uncertainty is the key to feeling better. It's time for you to learn how you can sit with it comfortably. Living with uncertaintyhealth anxiety and uncertaintyPartner Focused OCD - ROCDHave you heard of partner focused OCD? It’s in the family of ROCD (relationship OCD). Essentially, an individual struggling with this may focus on aspects of their partner that really cause a lot of anxiety and obsessions. It can make them doubt the relationship. It can be their intelligence, physical aspects, and many other reasons why the relationship may not be right for them. Let us go through what partner focused OCD looks like and how to do the treatment. Relationship OCD TreatmentROCD Treatment |
AuthorNathan Peterson specializes in working with OCD and Anxiety related disorders and has done so for the past 7+ years. Archives
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