Can You Use CBT for OCD?
If you are suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the current COVID-19 situation has probably only made it worse. You might be looking for ways to make your life easier, move livable. And you might have heard about CBT or cognitive behavioural therapy.
So, the natural questions are, can we use CBT for OCD? Will the treatment be effective? And what can you expect from this therapy? A short answer is yes, we can, and we do use CBT for OCD. But let’s dive into more about this treatment in this post.
What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy?
Cognitive behavioural therapy is a type of talk therapy that focuses mostly on your current issues without delving into the past. It is also structured as a short term therapy delivering results in weeks or at most months.
It is based on the concept that your thoughts, feelings, and behaviour are connected. Thoughts create feelings, feelings create behaviour, and behaviour creates thoughts. The goal of CBT therapy is to help you identify the patterns that start this circle of creation of unwanted or uncontrolled behaviour.
Once you can identify the reasons, you will have an easier time avoiding the situations and even challenging them and looking to change them. You will learn that you are not the problem but your response to the intrusive thoughts is what created the situation.
You cannot stop an intrusive thought. But you can expect it and control your reaction. This is what CBT can do for OCD, make your life easier by teaching you the techniques to control your behaviour.
How CBT for OCD Works
The way CBT for OCD works is that you first have to realize intrusive thoughts happen to almost everyone. The difference is that people suffering from OCD give those thoughts a heavier meaning, often leading to high anxiety levels.
Then we want you to develop an effective way of responding to those thoughts. You will learn to identify and question the whole process that you usually took for granted. And after therapy, you will be able to give a different meaning to intrusive thoughts, one that will obstruct your life much less.
Finally, we will use small exposure techniques where we can gradually introduce situations that would usually trigger your obsession or compulsion until you can learn to deal with and control your anxiety and distress.
What I, as a therapist, am looking to achieve using CBT for OCD is to help you live a normal day. With as little stress as possible. This is why we don’t dwell on the past and possible reasons for your condition. But we focus more on how to deal with the daily stressors.
Looking for CBT for OCD?
I use CBT in combination with Reality Therapy and with that, we can treat more than just OCD. If you are suffering from anxiety, depression, anger management, low self-esteem, stress, OCD, post-traumatic stress, or some other mental health disorders, feel free to call me on 086 3835910 or contact me here.
