What’s Your OCD Story
What is your OCD Story? Today we’re going to explore how to tell and retell this story so it serves you.
Welcome to the Free Me From OCD Podcast. We’re here to offer educational resources, coaching and community support to help you say YES to your life by saying NO to OCD. I’m Dr. Vicki Rackner your podcast host and OCD coach. I call on my experience as a mother of a son diagnosed with OCD when he was in college, surgeon and certified life coach to help you get in the driver’s seat of your life. My vision is to help you move towards a future in which OCD is nothing more than the background noise of your full life. This information is intended as an adjunct—not a substitute— for therapy.
You know from your own experience that OCD impacts lives in a profound way.
No matter if you’re an OCD Warrior—actively managing your own obsessions and compulsions, or you’re an OCD Champion supporting an OCD Warrior, OCD can create drama in your life.
You have a story in your head about OCD. The question I invite you to consider is this: is your story helping you or keeping you stuck.
There are many elements that contribute to your story.
First there are the factual circumstances. These are the things that can be proven in a court of law.
Here are some questions to uncover the facts of your OCD story.
- When did you first notice something different?
- What were the things that you noticed?
- How did those changes originally impact your life?
- How did things change over the following weeks or months or even years?
- How did you come to be diagnosed with OCD?
- What treatments or interventions have you tried?
- What made things better? What made things worse?
- Did you share the diagnosis of OCD with others? What did they say and do in response?
- What responses were helpful What responses hurt you?
- What do you miss most about life before OCD?
Your human brain does not stop there. Your brain is a meaning-making machine. It puts the puzzle pieces to gather is a way that creates meaning. It tells the story about what all this means about YOU.
It’s meaning like, “I’ve tried three things and they have not worked, so nothing will work. There’s no hope for a better tomorrow. ”
Here’s the interesting part. You brain will tell you that the way you put the puzzle pieces together are true. They’re fact. If you try to challenge your brain , it will overwhelm you with compelling arguments to prove the point.
What if Edison said, “I’ve tried three ways to make a light bulb and none of them worked. I may as well give up.”
However, another meaning could be equally true. “I know someone with OCD who struggled for years and years and years and then there found something that really helped them.
“If if happened for this person, there’s the possibility there’s hope for me, too.”
What story are you telling yourself?
- If people knew about OCD, they would never be around me.
- No one thinks OCD is real. Maybe they’re right.
- I’m being punished by OCD.
- If they really knew my life, no one would want to hire me or date me.
I recommend that you dictate or write your OCD story on paper. Now you have some distance from it.
Review your story sentence by sentence.
If the sentence communicates an observed reality, write a “c” next to it for circumstances.
If the sentence is just a thought you have about the circumstance, write a T next to it.
Now take an individual thought. What are some other thoughts you COULD have that could be equally true.
Your brain will argue with you. "This is not a matter of opinion; it’s a matter of fact. "That’s okay.
If you can prove the sentence true in a court of law, you’ve described a circumstance; if the opposite thought is true even once, you are dealing with a chosen thought.
With any thought, ask yourself:
- Could the opposite thought be true?
- Which thought serves me better?
- How would my life be different if I believed the alternative thought?
So, that’s your own OCD story. Revisit it and reinvent it.
You can also serve as an empathic witness to the OCD story of others.
You can ask, with curiosity, “What’s it like being you?”
You can pose the same questions listed above.
Sometimes the best time to have this kind of conversation is in the car.
Please avoid the temptation to fix things or challenge their story. Imagine you’re Oprah just drawing out the story.
At the end, thank this person for sharing their story.
Recognize their courage and strength.
You might find yourself getting upset with the things you heard. Do your very best to stay calm. Keep your nervous system in the green zone of safety.
You might find yourself telling yourself a story about who you are, or how you contributed. If you notice your thoughts going there, bring yourself back to the other person’s story.
You can do your own thoughts work later. For now, you’re just witnessing the story of someone you love.
This may be the first time in years you’ve asked this question. You’ve been so wrapped up in the drama of OCD that you’ve disconnected from the other parts of the person you love.
You can consciously change your story about OCD.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself:
- What is the best and most optimistic future you can imagine?
- How will your life be different when that future unfolds? What would you be able to do then?
The meaning you make matters.
It can help you get freed from OCD or keep you stuck.
You can consciously change your story about OCD.
We call the process of choosing different thought you Thought Work. You get the thoughts out of your head, put them on paper and ask, How is this thought working for me?”
You have the opportunity to practice different thoughts. This can take some time.
So, you can retell your own OCD story.
You can also be an empathic witness to your OCD Warrior’s story.
You can ask, with curiosity, “What’s it like being you?”
You can pose the same questions listed above.
Sometimes the best time to have this kind of conversation is in the car.
Please avoid the temptation to fix things or challenge their story. Imagine you’re Oprah just drawing out the story.
At the end, thank this person for sharing their story.
Recognize their courage and strength.
You might find yourself getting upset with the things you heard. DO your very best to stay calm. Keep your nervous system in the green zone of regulation.
You might find yourself telling yourself a story about who you are, or how you contributeed,
You can do that thought work on your own. For now, you’re just witnessing the story of someone you love.
Thank you again for your listening ear and your commitment to yourself and to the people you love.
Please leave a review. It will help others like you find this podcast sand benefit from the ideas you’re hearing.
And if no one has told you yet today, I admire your courage. Managing OCD may be the hardest job I’ve taken on. Whether you’re an OCD Warrior or and OCD Champion, you’re not alone. There’s hope for a better tomorrow. You got this!