Shall add this to the OCD section on the left as I feel it may be important.

 

First, an apology for using the word 'recoveree' - I know it's inaccurate as it suggests the possibility of a full recovery (not possible, it seems)...in simple terms I guess this is aimed at those sufferers who've managed to exert a certain amount of control over their disorder and think they have it beat. Also, bear in mind I can only speak about those people whose obsessive nature is purely mental.

 

Folks, though that's great, don't get too relaxed - OCD tends to be far more intelligent and sneaky then that and it's a very easy to make the mistake of believing yourself to be totally cured because you seem to have a particular area of obsessive behaviour under control.

 

Let me explain. When my OCD first exploded onto the scene, it was strongly focused into fears about my sexuality and later broadened into fears about a sexually reaction towards inappropriate things. Hence I labelled myself with the 'H-OCD' and 'P-OCD' tags.

 

But those fears aren't actually your OCD - your OCD is this massive over-production of anxiety and a mentally out-of-control obsessive nature (caused by whatever you believe - chemical imbalance for me) and the fears are just those areas that the OCD uses/creates to funnel itself into. Just because you've talked the fears and wrested control of them back from your OCD, that doesn't mean your OCD is cured - it just means you've gained some success in denying it access to that particular area in which to 'ground' itself.

 

Of course, that means it can easily develop somewhere else as it tries to find a different area to funnel itself through (something I've been suffering from recently since getting my H & P under control and seeing it for what it was - just OCD-created fears without foundation).

 

That sounds kinda negative I know - but I'm struck by the fact that very few medical people tend to be honest with us, mostly due to a lack of knowledge and understanding on their part. Remember the focus of all this isn't so much to get whatever you are fearing or worrying about under control - it's to get the disorder that is making you do so under control, and that's far more difficult. I think perhaps too many people get a grip on that first part and think 'wow, I'm cured' , only to walk away from treatment and find themselves relapsing at a later date as they never tackled the real root of the problem.

 

Perhaps it's better to look at yourself as an obsessive who at this particular time is focused on one area, rather then linking it solely with that area - and possibly missing danger signs elsewhere.

 

Also, trust your instincts if this does happen - if you find yourself starting to obsess about a new topic, treat it the same way as you would a familiar one with whatever CBT/mental techniques work for you. One big hurdle I've found is that, because I put so much emphasis on the 'H' or 'P' part of being a 'H-OCD' or 'P-OCD' sufferer, I never really realised it was the 'OCD' part that was far more important in the long run. As a result I've found it far more difficult to apply the CBT/mental techniques to these other areas as they've arisen, simply because I didn't want to believe that the warning signs and the similarity in how it all felt mentally was yet another OCD obsession rearing up - and because I mistakenly believed that it was fine to overthink about other areas that weren't related to my 'H' or 'P', as those were the only areas my OCD affected.

 

Hope that helps.