ang37
02-01-14, 19:32
I just wanted to share this with Everyone!:D
Obsessions are a common part of our lives. They refer to periods when we have sets of ideas that keep circulating around and around in our minds. They can be set up by interests, fascinations, hobbies and enthusiasm. Collectors, football fans, and people who are dedicated to a cause would all quite happily describe themselves as "obsessed". But obsessions can also be set up by the strong emotions of anger, jealousy, grief, depression and anxiety, and addictive behaviours such as eating disorders, and substance abuse. In these cases the obsessions are far from "fun".
In anxious obsessions, there are repetitive thoughts and images that are negative and highlight some sense of danger. Sufferers are likely to say the thoughts and accompanying feelings are powerful and difficult to control, and that they are "plagued" by the thoughts. "I can't get it out of my mind" etc.
A common anxious obsession, which can be part of agoraphobia, is what follows on from having a strong spontaneous panic attack. Because the panic attack is frequently accompanied by highly alarming speculations about death, severe illness and losing control, sufferers easily see panic attacks as terrible events and anxiously obsess about their possible return.
Sufferers recurrent thoughts may be about places where panic attacks may occur, whether body sensations (eg heart palpitations) might "bring on" a panic attack, whether help would be available, whether it would seen
by others, whether hospitals might be close by, etc
Another common variant (often following panic attacks as well) are obsessions about one's physical health. Body sensations are closely monitored and the repetitive thoughts are about possible signs of heart attacks, cancers and other deadly conditions. Equally common, is the anxious obsession about one's mental health. So one's own thinking process is closely scrutinized, and any extreme thoughts are obsessed over as signs of "madness" or schizophrenia.
Seen in this way, anxious obsessions are simply distressing long drawn out and repetitive versions of typical anxious thoughts. But it is the seemingly relentless aspect that gives the experience a particularly painful dimension. The relentlessness easily gives a sense of it being very difficult to control.
Anxious thoughts can convert to anxious obsessions when the content of the thought is particularly personally significant for the sufferer. Significance is often "What I really dread happening" . The thoughts can be "congruent" (some plausibility about the thoughts correctly predicting future bad events)or "incongruent" (far from what the person would normally be aware of thinking).
A typically painful "congruent" anxious obsession would be a loved one dying, ourselves dying and leaving loved ones to fend for themselves, a relationship failing with a life of loneliness beyond.
Equally painful is when the "thought" seems very far from the person's own moral code, such as a staunch Christian having anxious obsessions about the possibility of uttering blasphemous thoughts, or the happily married person having anxious obsessions about leaving their spouse. In the latter cases the person becomes distressed about the seemingly "unnatural" presence of the preoccupation ("How could I be thinking that"??? Or " If I think that, it means it may happen"). These "incongruent" ruminations often seem to represent being out of control, mad, possessed or immoral.
Anxious obsessions can occur in all anxiety states and all anxiety disorders. It is only when it is connected with strong "rituals" or "compulsions" that are attempts to "appease" or "neutralise" the obsession, that it becomes obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). For example when the obsessions are about avoiding contamination, and the rituals are frequent washing.
One of the best self-help manuals on dealing with anxious obsessions (and also OCD) is by Foa, an American psychologist, who has run clinics in this area for over 20 years. I have used her work and strategies as a vital basis for my work with people suffering anxious obsessions.
Essentially, the task is to learn to ACCEPT the existence of the obsession, without accepting it's specific content, all without fighting the actual obsession. Instead, the focus is on discovering that obsessions can be postponed, time limited, faced, and altered. This sense of control helps build confidence, which then weakens the anxiety component, and as this happens, the importance of the obsession also weakens.
Obsessions are a common part of our lives. They refer to periods when we have sets of ideas that keep circulating around and around in our minds. They can be set up by interests, fascinations, hobbies and enthusiasm. Collectors, football fans, and people who are dedicated to a cause would all quite happily describe themselves as "obsessed". But obsessions can also be set up by the strong emotions of anger, jealousy, grief, depression and anxiety, and addictive behaviours such as eating disorders, and substance abuse. In these cases the obsessions are far from "fun".
In anxious obsessions, there are repetitive thoughts and images that are negative and highlight some sense of danger. Sufferers are likely to say the thoughts and accompanying feelings are powerful and difficult to control, and that they are "plagued" by the thoughts. "I can't get it out of my mind" etc.
A common anxious obsession, which can be part of agoraphobia, is what follows on from having a strong spontaneous panic attack. Because the panic attack is frequently accompanied by highly alarming speculations about death, severe illness and losing control, sufferers easily see panic attacks as terrible events and anxiously obsess about their possible return.
Sufferers recurrent thoughts may be about places where panic attacks may occur, whether body sensations (eg heart palpitations) might "bring on" a panic attack, whether help would be available, whether it would seen
by others, whether hospitals might be close by, etc
Another common variant (often following panic attacks as well) are obsessions about one's physical health. Body sensations are closely monitored and the repetitive thoughts are about possible signs of heart attacks, cancers and other deadly conditions. Equally common, is the anxious obsession about one's mental health. So one's own thinking process is closely scrutinized, and any extreme thoughts are obsessed over as signs of "madness" or schizophrenia.
Seen in this way, anxious obsessions are simply distressing long drawn out and repetitive versions of typical anxious thoughts. But it is the seemingly relentless aspect that gives the experience a particularly painful dimension. The relentlessness easily gives a sense of it being very difficult to control.
Anxious thoughts can convert to anxious obsessions when the content of the thought is particularly personally significant for the sufferer. Significance is often "What I really dread happening" . The thoughts can be "congruent" (some plausibility about the thoughts correctly predicting future bad events)or "incongruent" (far from what the person would normally be aware of thinking).
A typically painful "congruent" anxious obsession would be a loved one dying, ourselves dying and leaving loved ones to fend for themselves, a relationship failing with a life of loneliness beyond.
Equally painful is when the "thought" seems very far from the person's own moral code, such as a staunch Christian having anxious obsessions about the possibility of uttering blasphemous thoughts, or the happily married person having anxious obsessions about leaving their spouse. In the latter cases the person becomes distressed about the seemingly "unnatural" presence of the preoccupation ("How could I be thinking that"??? Or " If I think that, it means it may happen"). These "incongruent" ruminations often seem to represent being out of control, mad, possessed or immoral.
Anxious obsessions can occur in all anxiety states and all anxiety disorders. It is only when it is connected with strong "rituals" or "compulsions" that are attempts to "appease" or "neutralise" the obsession, that it becomes obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). For example when the obsessions are about avoiding contamination, and the rituals are frequent washing.
One of the best self-help manuals on dealing with anxious obsessions (and also OCD) is by Foa, an American psychologist, who has run clinics in this area for over 20 years. I have used her work and strategies as a vital basis for my work with people suffering anxious obsessions.
Essentially, the task is to learn to ACCEPT the existence of the obsession, without accepting it's specific content, all without fighting the actual obsession. Instead, the focus is on discovering that obsessions can be postponed, time limited, faced, and altered. This sense of control helps build confidence, which then weakens the anxiety component, and as this happens, the importance of the obsession also weakens.