Have OCD or suffer with OCD Tendencies? Fire Your Thought Interpreter.
Have OCD or suffer with OCD Tendencies? Fire Your Thought Interpreter.
When a neurotypical person notices an intrusive thought pop into their mind, they usually react by thinking, 'What a bizarre thought!' and carrying on with whatever they're doing.
Not so with a person who has OCD or suffers with its tendencies. We attach meaning to the unwanted thought and make it important when it's not.
But OCD is not a thought problem. It's a feeling problem. We attach meaning to thoughts when emotions like anxiety are experienced after the thought crosses our mind. Thoughts only become important when we interpret them.
So fire your thought interpreter. I'll tell you how I fired mine. I was inspired by a TED talk given by a Christian pastor who was addressing the issue of porn. He began his talk by reading a handwritten break up letter that he wrote. Writing a break up letter helped him end his porn compulsion and begin to recover.
So I also wrote a letter, using an online typewriter simulator.
Here's a screenshot of my letter: