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You are here: Home / Archives for OCD

OCD

July 7, 2020 by kmcl Leave a Comment

OCD Series: Stop Negative Thoughts – 2 Methods that Help

Persistent Thoughts Solved. Method 1:  4 L’s: Look, Label, Let-it-pass, Leave

This simple method works well with persistent, troublesome thoughts as it recognises that we are not the thought, it is something separate from us.

Ruminating Thoughts
Stopping Ruminating

Look – observe it

Label – it (fear of whatever), then

Let-it-pass –Watch it as it passes by, avoiding making a judgement about it (e.g. good/bad)

Leave – shift your attention to what you were doing (internal focus shift to external focus such as listening to the radio, making tea..)

Racing Thoughts Solved: Method 2 – The Bus

Imagine that you are driving along the Road of Life as the driver of your own bus. Like any normal bus journey, you stop along the way to collect passengers and let them off. It’s a fairly busy bus with people of all ages, shapes and sizes getting on and off.

Racing Thoughts Technique – The Bus

In your mind, take each thought or feeling in turn and make it into real passengers on your bus. Use both current and past memories, body states, memories or even fantasies. Of course, some people on the bus will be positive and friendly, whilst others will be annoying or obnoxious. Others may simply be repetitive.    

Some of these passengers (thoughts) are really quite positive: “My children are lovely….”  But a whole lot of them all together?  Perhaps not as much. And then you have the negative ones: bullying, blaming, shaming – “Don’t do it, you’ll show yourself up”, “Everyone knows, you’re really just a looser,” “Why bother?” “You’ll never succeed anyway, why start?”. These troublesome passengers are trying to make themselves heard, telling you how to drive, “Turn left, pull over there, speed up, slow down.”

So, driver, what do you do?  You could try to ignore, disagree, or tell them to be quiet. You can even try to be logical and reason with them.  However, by now you are not even driving the bus, any more, all you’re doing is trying to deal with your difficult passengers – and because there are some really troublesome ones, or lots of them, or both, they are going to take a lot of your attention. They even try to convince you that, if you listen to them, and obey them, do what they say, well maybe they might give you a bit of peace.

Overthinking: The Solution?

You are the driver and the passengers can’t make you do anything you don’t want. Are you going to let them take control?  Its surely better to simply keep driving the bus, making the stops you choose, moving towards the destination you want.

This technique helps with rumination and being stuck in feelings as it uses the fact that we see other people as different and separate from us. We can use this to help with gaining both acceptance of difficult feelings and separation from our thoughts and feelings. “We are not our thoughts”.  We act (drive the bus) despite everything.

Ken McLeish is Principal Therapist at Reflexions Counselling and Therapy in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Reflexions provides counselling and therapy for a wide range of issues. He can be contacted through the website: https://counselling-newcastle.co.uk .

Information contained in this blog is not a substitute for face-to-face therapy. It can only every be one view of a situation and may not be applicable to your situation. You are advised to seek specialist support. The work here is a personal view which may change over time and should not be taken as representative of Reflexions Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Ken McLeish BA DMS MBA MSc MSc Cert Ed UKCP Reg
Reflexions Counselling and Psychotherapy
Alderman Fenwicks House, NE1 6SQ
0191 5805080
https://counselling-newcastle.co.uk

Filed Under: Advice and Resources, Anxiety, Guides & Tips, Stress and Anxiety Tagged With: Obessive Thinking, OCD, Persistent Thoughts, Racing Thoughts, Rumination

March 1, 2018 by kmcl Leave a Comment

OCD Series: How to Stop Overthinking – concentration method

Stopping Overthinking

Why will this help me?

Quite simply, better concentration helps you to fully focus on the activity at hand, making you more productive and relaxed. This type of training means that your mind tends not to wander off down the dark path of unhelpful thoughts, obsession and overthinking. Concentration exercises are also quick and with practices starting at 4 minutes per day, they are fairly easy to fit into the busiest schedule. These exercises are associated with other techniques such as relaxation – see Progressive Muscular Relaxation (PMR).

Step-by-Step Exercises to Stop Overthinking.

  1. All you need is somewhere comfortable to sit where you can be by yourself.
  2. Begin with the first exercise- repeat once a day until you’re able to do it confidently without any interruptions for at least three minutes.  After a few weeks of practice you can increase the time to 15 minutes.

Becoming fully comfortable and confident with these exercises can take anywhere from a few days to a few months so take your time and try not to push yourself too hard at first.  If you’re finding it difficult to keep focussed, do not worry as this is very common. Everyone’s experiences vary and eventually you will be able to perform these exercises without becoming distracted. The key is to remain cool, calm and collected.

Learning Point:

It is important to be honest with yourself. Fully attend to the exercises and avoid thinking about anything else. If you do find yourself becoming distracted, stop the exercise and start again at least until the 10 or 15 minutes that you have set for yourself has lapsed

Once you’ve become confident in your accuracy, increase the time and when possible add a second session.For example, add an additional week of practice to each one.

The Concentration Challenges

Begin by doing the first task for 4 minutes. Once that is completed, move onto doing the rest of the exercises for 10 minutes, choosing a quiet place and time in which to do so. Only move onto the next exercise once you’ve completed the previous one. If you are disrupted or become distracted, start the exercise over again.

Exercise 1
Choose a paragraph from a book and then count the words in it. Stop, and then repeat. If you’ve counted the same number of words both times, repeat the counting process but this time with two paragraphs.  Once you’re confident in your ability to carry out this exercise, count the words of an entire page. Count mentally and only using your eyes.

Exercise 2
Count Backwords in your mind from 100 to 1 in 3’s. I.e. 100, 97, 94 to 1.

Exercise 3
Begin by picking a simple sound or inspiring word. Then repeat it silently in your mind for 5 minutes. Once you find it easy to concentrate on only doing this, repeat the exercise for up to 10 minutes without interruption.

Exercise 4
Select a fruit of your choice, then pick it up and hold it in your hands. Closely examine it- its smell, the way it feels and its taste. Concentrate on that taste without letting any other thoughts distract you.

Exercise 5
This is similar to exercise 4, however after 2 minutes of examining the fruit (as you did in exercise 4) put it down and close your eyes. Then, try to see, smell, taste and touch the fruit in your imagination. Try to imagine the fruit as clearly as possible. If the picture becomes distorted, open your eyes and look at the fruit for a little while, and then close your eyes and continue with the exercise.

Exercise 6
Pick up something small and simple such as a spoon or fork and concentrate on it. Observe the object from all angles without thinking of any words that relate to it, i.e. without verbalisation/saying the words.

Ken McLeish is Principal Therapist at Reflexions Counselling and Therapy in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Reflexions provides counselling and therapy for a wide range of issues. He can be contacted through the website: https://counselling-newcastle.co.uk .

Information contained in this blog is not a substitute for face-to-face therapy. It can only every be one view of a situation and may not be applicable to your situation. You are advised to seek specialist support. The work here is a personal view which may change over time and should not be taken as representative of Reflexions Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Ken McLeish BA DMS MBA MSc MSc Cert Ed UKCP Reg
Reflexions Counselling and Psychotherapy
Alderman Fenwicks House, NE1 6SQ
0191 5805080

Filed Under: Addiction, Guides & Tips, Stress and Anxiety Tagged With: Anxiety, Obsessive thinking, OCD, Runinating, Techniques for overthinking

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Reflexions. Alderman Fenwick's House, Newcastle
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