Catch up session: What to do when you know you have OCD: Paying for therapy. ********************************************************************** So you have been diagnosed with OCD and possibly with other conditions and probably have been prescribed SSRIs. You may be prescribed anti-pshycotics too if you have harm thoughts as they seem to work well together. After medications start to work (immediately for some lucky sufferers and up to two months for others) you may believe you are so well that you dont need treatment. I disagree. Medications do not cure OCD, they just make us less anxious. To get control of your OCD you need therapy as well as meds. The problems I have found with relying on meds is that the effect weans off, OCD morphs, I use the meds for avoidance with disastrous results. Getting outpatient treatment for OCD. ********************************************* If you are living in the USA and have insurance you should look on the International OCD Foundation to find out where you can get top treatment. If you are in the UK and can afford treatment, using recommends will help. It is essential that the therapist has good experience of treating OCD as counselling alone will not help. Many therapists will give you a free session. If you are a long way from your nearest therapist you might find that skype treatment helps. I have not tried this so I do not know how helpful it is. My way of finding the right therapist. 1.Go online and look through the Yellow Pages to find an experienced therapist in your area. 2. Phone the therapist to ensure they really understand your type of OCD and have had good results. This is essential if you have Pure O as part of your symptoms. 3. Ask if they will do ERP as well cognitive treatment. If they dont know what ERP is then dont go there. If you cant go out it is essential they are prepared to come to your house. 4.Ask if you can ring them in the early stages of ERP if you are stuck. I honestly do think that paying for good OCD treatment is well worth the money as when you are very ill indeed any wait can make you worse. Some therapists will cut costs for you so it is well worth asking. Joining or setting up your own self help group will help you to keep up your progress after treatment has ended. If it is a choice between a holiday or treatment I would opt for treatment. If you are in the UK and cannot afford treatment because you are out of work you might find a charity in your area which offers very cheap counselling, group therapy, occupational therapy or mindfulness. The mindfulness courses in my area are free. I have only just found that these are on offer in my town as my GP never told me. So you might have to look online and see if your local charity can help you. MIND would be the first charity to contact if you are unsure. In my opinion, any treatment you pay for has to include ERP as without it you are not facing your fears and will be practicing avoidance and not leading your life of choice. OCD has a nasty habit of coming up behind you and giving you a huge wake up call if you keep pretending it is not there. So avoidance is very dangerous indeed. From my experience, practitioners use different cognitive treatment: including understanding how our brains work (which I find very helpful indeed); ACT (Acceptance and Commitment therapy); mindfulness; gestalt, as well as the basic cognitive therapy. You should also be told how to deal with panic attacks, how to relax and how to fill your day when you are better. If you dont fill your day with hobbies etc your OCD will sneak back in. I have found all these techniques useful and my tool box includes techniques from each therapy. There are other options which might be offered including EMDR. (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy developed by Francine Shapiro that emphasizes disturbing memories as the cause of psychopathology and alleviates the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). EMDR is used for individuals who have experienced severe trauma that remains unresolved. According to Shapiro, when a traumatic or distressing experience occurs, it may overwhelm normal cognitive and neurological coping mechanisms. The memory and associated stimuli are inadequately processed and stored in an isolated memory network.The goal of EMDR therapy is to process these distressing memories, reducing their lingering effects and allowing clients to develop more adaptive coping mechanisms. This is done in an eight-step protocol that includes having clients recall distressing images while receiving one of several types of bilateral sensory input, including side to side eye movements. (Wikipedia) I have tried this and it worked quite well but as I dont have PTSD I dont think it is the right therapy for me. Another way of dealing with trauma is horse therapy and that is really helpful as walking with horses is incredibly calming. *********************** Inpatient and intensive treatment. If you can afford it, and are really ill then, in my opinion, inpatient / intensive treatment is easily the best. Intensive treatment will probably last for five days and you can either work one to one or in a group. A great advantage is that you can make fast progress and there is no gap between sessions. You have to be prepared to work very hard indeed, be totally honest, do what you are asked, listen to what is told you and do all your homework. If you miss out one of your OCD Symptoms it may take over when your others symptom vanishes. Intensive treatment will cover all your symptoms and make it clear how you must deal with them. You will need follow up sessions, so if they are part of the package you should use them. I have found a weeks intensive course of great use but needed follow up treatment. Inpatient treatment is not for the faint-hearted but can be extraordinarily helpful for those with extremely severe OCD who can no longer function. You will no doubt have to change your own sheets, go out when you really dont want to, attend meetings with peers and meetings with professionals both of which can be stressful. So you need to be determined in advance that you will follow their advice, do your homework and attend all meetings. If you dont do this you are far less likely to get better. Treatment has to be intensive as you have to do all this on your own after treatment albeit with some outpatient help. So you have to see this as a last chance saloon, be brave and work like mad all the time you are there. You will have fellow OCDers with you and so you will be able to share, help one another and maybe help them with their homework as I did when I had treatment. ********************* OCD tends to get worse if you dont get treatment. So please dont think that it will just vanish. It doesnt. If your OCD is mild to moderate and you work really hard then one course of treatment followed by self help and support from fellow OCDers to keep you on track may be all you need. If it is severe you will need weekly, intensive or inpatient treatment followed by self help. In either case you do have to work on your OCD continuously to keep well. You do have to change your life style and you do need support. I hope this helps. Anne.
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 10:40:31 +0000
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