This increases your sense of isolation and adds to your stress, which only makes the OCD worse.
You have nothing to be ashamed or guilty about, and you are not going mad. It’s as simple as that. OCD is an Anxiety disorder and it’s not your fault that you have it. It’s not a sign of weakness or moral degeneracy. It helps to talk to someone about this, and if you don’t have someone you can confide in, then use a helpline or online service (see Appendix 2 for details). This will help you realise that there are many other people out there with OCD.
GROUP MEMBERS TALK ABOUT EXPOSURE FOR OCD
‘I have done exposure work, when I was seeing a clinical psychologist. This was extremely helpful and I felt I could discuss any subject with her.’
A NDREW
‘The therapist comes and says “how can I help?”
“It’s this damn illness of mine!” you reply with a yelp.
They’ll give exposure treatment to this bully you see.
Then this bully does nothing except run and flee.’
N ORMAN
Exposure for panic attacks
A fear of having a panic attack is often the underlying fear behind the broad phobias such as agoraphobia, claustrophobia and social phobia. In other words, you tend to avoid certain situations because you are afraid of having a panic attack, not because of the situation itself. It is more unusual for someone with OCD to have a fear of having a panic attack, but it is a factor for some people.
When you start to do your exposure work your main concern will be to get through each stage without having a panic attack. This is understandable, and each time you manage it you will feel a little more confident. The trouble is, deep down, you will still be afraid of having another panic attack.
What you really need is to unlearn that fear – can you imagine how it would feel, if you could shrug and say ‘let the panic come, it doesn’t bother me?’
This leads to a two-pronged approach to exposure work for panic. You should follow the pattern of setting goals that are arranged with increasing difficulty, and you should start work on them in the hope that you won’t have a panic attack while you’re doing the easiest ones and building your confidence.
At some point though, you will start to work yourself a little harder, and then you might well have a panic attack. You will need to know how to cope – because you can cope, even though at the moment you think that you can’t.
Coping with a panic attack
Usually when someone has a panic attack their instinct is to leave the situation they are in (the flight part of fight-or-flight). When the panic attack subsides, the person naturally feels that leaving the situation is theanswer – when you leave, the panic stops. Except it was always going to stop whatever you did – fight-or-flight is a short term reaction remember.
So try to stay put if you possibly can. If you really must leave, try to calm yourself and return to the situation as soon as you can – within a few minutes if possible – and carry on with your goal.
Sometimes the reaction of the people around you makes the problem worse. If you are clearly in distress, and people try to help you it can add to the panic. Perhaps the first time you had a panic attack a helpful person called an ambulance, thinking you were having a heart attack. Probably you thought you were too. Even though it turned out that you weren’t having a heart attack, the memory of that awful experience is still with you.
We would suggest that you start your exposure work with a helper, someone who understands and who can deal with kindly strangers who are concerned about you. Eventually you will set new goals that don’t include a helper, but while you are building your confidence it’s fine to have someone with you.
Breathing during panic attacks and exposure work
We’ve already explained that if you learn to control your breathing you can reduce your Anxiety. If you’ve been practising the
You have nothing to be ashamed or guilty about, and you are not going mad. It’s as simple as that. OCD is an Anxiety disorder and it’s not your fault that you have it. It’s not a sign of weakness or moral degeneracy. It helps to talk to someone about this, and if you don’t have someone you can confide in, then use a helpline or online service (see Appendix 2 for details). This will help you realise that there are many other people out there with OCD.
GROUP MEMBERS TALK ABOUT EXPOSURE FOR OCD
‘I have done exposure work, when I was seeing a clinical psychologist. This was extremely helpful and I felt I could discuss any subject with her.’
A NDREW
‘The therapist comes and says “how can I help?”
“It’s this damn illness of mine!” you reply with a yelp.
They’ll give exposure treatment to this bully you see.
Then this bully does nothing except run and flee.’
N ORMAN
Exposure for panic attacks
A fear of having a panic attack is often the underlying fear behind the broad phobias such as agoraphobia, claustrophobia and social phobia. In other words, you tend to avoid certain situations because you are afraid of having a panic attack, not because of the situation itself. It is more unusual for someone with OCD to have a fear of having a panic attack, but it is a factor for some people.
When you start to do your exposure work your main concern will be to get through each stage without having a panic attack. This is understandable, and each time you manage it you will feel a little more confident. The trouble is, deep down, you will still be afraid of having another panic attack.
What you really need is to unlearn that fear – can you imagine how it would feel, if you could shrug and say ‘let the panic come, it doesn’t bother me?’
This leads to a two-pronged approach to exposure work for panic. You should follow the pattern of setting goals that are arranged with increasing difficulty, and you should start work on them in the hope that you won’t have a panic attack while you’re doing the easiest ones and building your confidence.
At some point though, you will start to work yourself a little harder, and then you might well have a panic attack. You will need to know how to cope – because you can cope, even though at the moment you think that you can’t.
Coping with a panic attack
Usually when someone has a panic attack their instinct is to leave the situation they are in (the flight part of fight-or-flight). When the panic attack subsides, the person naturally feels that leaving the situation is theanswer – when you leave, the panic stops. Except it was always going to stop whatever you did – fight-or-flight is a short term reaction remember.
So try to stay put if you possibly can. If you really must leave, try to calm yourself and return to the situation as soon as you can – within a few minutes if possible – and carry on with your goal.
Sometimes the reaction of the people around you makes the problem worse. If you are clearly in distress, and people try to help you it can add to the panic. Perhaps the first time you had a panic attack a helpful person called an ambulance, thinking you were having a heart attack. Probably you thought you were too. Even though it turned out that you weren’t having a heart attack, the memory of that awful experience is still with you.
We would suggest that you start your exposure work with a helper, someone who understands and who can deal with kindly strangers who are concerned about you. Eventually you will set new goals that don’t include a helper, but while you are building your confidence it’s fine to have someone with you.
Breathing during panic attacks and exposure work
We’ve already explained that if you learn to control your breathing you can reduce your Anxiety. If you’ve been practising the
Similar Books
