Simplistic but Very Important - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Message Board

fm5 · 10-28-2003, 11:51 AM

When I was at Edna Foa's treatment program in Philadelphia (excellent program by the way) one of the things my counselors stressed right away to me was "NO NEW RITUALS"!!!!!!!!!!

He was so right! It is soooooo easy to not create any new rituals than to try and stop them. It can sometimes take months to even years to stop doing certain rituals.

And it is possible to make a conscious effort not to add any new rituals to what you are already dealing with I have noticed. As the anti-drug ad from years ago said, "just say no" to them.

hangtenvetter · 10-28-2003, 06:44 PM

Sounds like good advice, thanks fm.

fm5 · 02-29-2004, 12:47 PM

I bumped this thread to the top because I know that this is SO important to remember.

imatestwentbad · 03-07-2004, 09:08 PM

bump
just say no to hand washing and bad dreams

TerryB · 03-08-2004, 04:58 AM

Thanks, I see my 5 year old starting weird rituals and I stop her an joke and this works great for a ritual that is not established. Once the ritual is established, only she can stop her behavior. Right now she's tempted to avoid stepping on cracks and we make a game of it and step on as many as possible to show that we are not afraid. She also started to run around the car 3 times before getting in but I catch her and throw her in the car seat - she loves getting "caught".

Terry