Articles by Dana Terrell:
• What a Panic!

• Supporting Your Loved One with Panic Disorder

• What is Brain Spotting? How does it compare to EMDR therapy?

• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Swine Flu Virus

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• Cover your nose when you sneeze.
• Wash your hands often*, especially after sneezing.
• Use soap or alcohol based hand cleaner.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth.
• Stay away from obviously sick people.
• Stay home if you’re sick.
• Avoid unnecessary travel to Mexico.
• Call your doctor for advice if you feel sick.

*Dana Terrell’s note: a reasonable “often” might be 5 to 10 times a day

Some of the following would be part of OCD spectrum:

• Washing hands 20-30+ times per day
• Washing for 10-20+ minutes each time
• Using a “super germ-killings recipe” of soap, alcohol, and other harsh substances
• Skipping work or other activities until the virus reports are down to zero

However, it is important to remember that OCD sufferers are all very unique, and often find it difficult to relate to someone who has a different obsession/compulsion from their own. To a person with OCD, her own obsessions seem very reasonable, while others are clearly irrational. One of my clients was highly anxious about contracting HIV from contact with a possible gay waiter, even though his rational mind knew that there is no known case of this happening. To his OCD mind, it seemed not only possible but imminently likely. 

Another interesting point is that sometimes the term OCD sufferer is a misnomer.  They will be suffering when the obsessions and rituals are blocked. But if their life allows unimpeded exercise of compulsions, they may feed quite comfortable. Their life can go this way, getting more and more controlled by obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors. This is especially true if they do not have a loved one or two paying attention to the compulsions and beginning to call them on the irrationality of their behavior. Occasionally, those with OCD enlist the help of loved ones in maintaining compulsions. They may draft helpers to keep doorknobs cleaned, to wash their own hands more frequently, or to help them with checking rituals, etc.  Anxiety, subtle or not, tends to be the driving force in their decisions.

Personally, I have not had any of my current clients complaining about swine flu fears. But there are those with compulsions of different kinds. The treatment I use for treating OCD was developed by an EMDR therapist: Marcia Whisman, LCSW. She is an Anxiety Disorders specialist in St. Louis, Missouri. It is considered an experimental application of EMDR, because she is a clinician, not a researcher.  However, I have found it to work very effectively.

We do not consider OCD to be a curable condition. But the client can learn to manage her anxiety and gain the ability to discriminate: Is this a real fear? What real issues would I be addressing if I were not fixated on a compulsion right now?  The EMDR OCD protocol integrates aspects of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which is proven to help OCD. But it also uses the bilateral stimulation of Eye Movements  which has been shown in EMDR research to diminish the emotional distress associated with an experience, as well as the urge to act it out through compulsions or other kinds of impulses, such as addictions or anger problems. As the distress is first stimulated and gradually relieved through application of Whisman’s Integrated EMDR and OCD protocol, the client spontaneously begins to think more positively, realistically and adaptively. In the beginning of therapy, they may actually feel more anxiety than before, but they soon learn that they can handle it. As the close of treatment nears, the degree of anxiety felt is manageable, and correctly attributed to the real anxieties in their lives, which they are addressing proactively, rather than avoiding. It is very rewarding work for client and therapist.

Most professionals consider OCD to be a genetically based condition, as it tends to run in families. However, trauma therapists conduct thorough histories of childhood and adult trauma and generally can find relevant traumatic experiences that engender anxiety in a growing child. One of my clients described a mother who was highly anxious about any little nick, scratch or cut. As she cleansed the wound, she said “we have to clean this really well so you won’t get sick and die.”  Witnessing his mothers catastrophic thought patterns filled this young boy with anxiety. Even in adulthood as a capable and successful man, he lived for 15 years with hidden fear that grew worse with time, until he sought treatment for his OCD. Again, the interesting thing is he only feared AIDS, no other disease.

If you recognize your own obsessions or compulsions as you read this article, and see that the circle of your life is constricting as your compulsions expand (try timing yourself on your excessive behaviors to see what the current state of affairs really is). Ask yourself, what would I rather be doing with my time? Which goals have I been neglecting as I tend to my obsessions? These questions are the beginning to facing reality and changing it. Best wishes to you or your loved one in improving your quality of life.

Dana Terrell, LCSW, AC and a directory of other trained EMDR therapists can be accessed online at:

www.sandiegotraumatherapy.com
©2009 Dana Terrell, LCSW, AC, San Diego therapist
San Diego, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, OCD, swine flu virus

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