Posted by Dinah on June 7, 2003, at 19:54:32
In reply to Re: Another CBT question. Very specific. » Dinah, posted by mattdds on June 7, 2003, at 13:57:47
Hi again, Matt. Yes, I am diagnosed with OCD. And have practiced both home-grown and formal CBT for it. The vomit thing is just one of many where I seem to get so far, and can't get any further. You'd think almost thirty years of exposure and response prevention would have me happily wading through the stuff. Especially with all the lovely vomit scenes that come up on TV and movies lately.
I get better, but not well. Like with cars, I don't drive around the block several times to see if that bump was someone I rolled over. But I still have the uneasy feeling that pedestrians are missiles aiming for my wheels. And no amount of logical thought shakes that.
Or my work. I no longer have to get up in the middle of the night to race to the office to make sure I didn't write obscenities on my work product. But I can't shake the sense that my work is evil, or will cause me harm in some way. Again, logical thought doesn't affect that.
And although I can do what I need to do with the vomit obsession/phobia, it always remains in the background. OK, I still do have some avoidance behaviors. I don't go to bars, and am very careful at amusement parks. But I can do what I need to do.
My therapist appears to think I'm all better on these things. Or better enough. He's pleased that the behaviors have mostly stopped. And that's given me the idea that as far as OCD is concerned, there is a limit for how much can be expected from CBT, or perhaps any sort of therapy or meds. That functioning as well as I can is all that I can hope for.
And maybe that's true. Maybe there are disorders that can only be managed to a certain extent.
poster:Dinah
thread:230572
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20030529/msgs/232262.html