Hi Primula,

Some time ago I was reading about the use of Mindfulness in treating Sensorimotor OCD. That theme of OCD is all about focusing on controlling a normally automated bodily function like breathing.

What they were saying was that rather than work on stopping the compulsion (like in ERP) they encouraged entering a Mindfulness stage (probably via meditation) and then purposely watching the bodily process. The idea was to change the thought about it from needing to do to being comfortable with it just happening.

I thought that sounded useful for many things. I wonder if that could be of use in your case because it's clear you need to accept something that has been forced on you? You have little choice but to adapt to this new thing, so changing your thinking is going to be the real way just like it would be if you had a chronic illness (and therapy does get used in that circumstance too).

It was just a different way to the usual CBT style way. It sounded useful and from what I've seen of ACT, that seems big on accepting things as they are and not making them trouble you more by adding to them (pain doesn't equal suffering, for instance).