Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is quite literally one of the most difficult illnesses to deal with. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it ranks in the top 10.
Until the 1960’s most treatments barely made a dent.
Then in the mid-1960s, Victor Meyer came across some research that would become the standard therapy in treating OCD.
He found that when animals were exposed to the something that scared them eventually they became less scared. As long as they were made to face their fears directly, then any anxiety would dissipate through this exposure.
Now the medical profession had a viable tool to beat one of the fearsome and disabling illnesses on the planet.
Sounds great. A miracle cure…..or?
Although ERP therapy (Exposure Response Prevention Therapy) would become the most potent treatment to fight OCD, it’s not the easiest treatment to go through.
In fact, it’s difficult, expensive and without any guarantees of success. Even if you can afford ERP you’re likely to quit. Imagine having to face those things that scare you the most?
Here’s the interesting thing though. Exposure Response Prevention is based on experiments with animals. I know it’s more sophisticated now but the principle still remains the same.
Animals facing their fears.
You can’t force an animal to practice mindfulness. You can’t force an animal use its imagination against its fears.
Humans are much more dynamic of course. We have the ability to transcend time and space. This gives us an edge over our animal friends when it comes to ‘Safety OCD Checking.’
Why do I say this and why only this type of compulsive checking?
Safety OCD Checking is where you check physical things around your home, workspace, and vehicle. You repeatedly check the curling irons are off, the stove is off, the fridge door is closed, etc.
OCD is known as the ‘doubting disease.’
And this is what is happening with this type of OCD. We check, then check again, then again…in this continuous loop. We can see the stove is off but as soon as we leave the doubting disease kicks in.
Here’s the thing though. We only doubt after we leave the thing we’re checking.
What if there was some reliable way to REMEMBER that the stove was off after we leave the kitchen.
That’s where I come in. Over the last 10 years, I developed a memory system that helps people to remember. To remember that their stove is safely off after they’ve checked it. To remember all the water faucets are turned off. That the doors are locked.
To remove the doubt. Because without doubt, OCD becomes powerless. When we replace doubt with certainty we win.
There is no more OCD.
Our imagination is what gives OCD its power. With our imagination, we can make it powerless. But only with Safety OCD Checking…& only when we use this memory system.
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