# Feeling Good *the new mood therapy* and whatever..



## Guest (May 8, 2007)

My doctor told me to go out and get a book. he prescribed it to me, actually. Its called "Feeling Good (The New Mood therapy). Its basically a CBT approach to treating depression.

my question is....will this program work (it assumes depression as the problem to treat) if I also have really bad OCD? Will this book help to do anything at all, or will i have to treat my OCD first. Can you just start treating the depression?

Lord knows..im probably going to start on it anyways. I just wanted to know.

-Eric


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## CECIL (Oct 3, 2004)

I don't think it particularly matters where you start. As you go along you will deal with all of the issues as they arise. They are all tangled up in a very complex web, so just pick a strand and start pulling


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## HalfAPerson (Aug 22, 2006)

Eric,

It was helpful to me. It helped me realize that a lot of the things I obsess about are cognitive distortions gone haywire.

It's a start...and definitely couldn't hurt.


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## Lunar Lander (Feb 17, 2006)

I think the parts about cognitive distortions will help you recognize some of your OCD thoughts and ignore them.


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## Guest (May 8, 2007)

Okay, Yeah I met with my doctor today and brought this up. He said basically the same thing. That CBT works for OCD too. So he said there were no problems.

OCD thoughts need exposure and response prevention. Which, I guess, falls in line with CBT and cognitive distortions....Idk im still trying to understand all of this. Regardless, I do have alot of distortions that lead me to depression.

ugh........idk. this is all confusing to me. im still trying to see how they weave in ERP to this book. im not seeing it. Pure O keeps itself alive by ruminating, obsessing. im just not seeing how doing cognitive distortion work will help with the OCD part. 
I realize my thinking is distorted.....but i cant stop doing it. that is OCD.

thats just what i think, anyhow.

Im going to start anyway though. wish me luck.

Eric


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## Universal (May 30, 2005)

I'm writing a paper on anxiety for health class. Yes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is what you're going to be learning. It's proven to be very effective for anxiety disorders. It helps restructure your thinking processes, to filter out certain mental distortions and things like that. It's quite neat.


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## CECIL (Oct 3, 2004)

From what I understand, the obsessive thoughts arise because of a desire to control and have everything "in order". That's because your emotional world feels out of control and in chaotic. So treating the underlying emotions and "distortions" (Don't like that word personally) may be able to relieve the obsessive tendencies.


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## Lunar Lander (Feb 17, 2006)

I found the book _Brain Lock_ helpful for OCD; it is basically CBT applied to OCD.

Also, identifying your distorted thoughts sort-of gives you permission to ignore them and go on to other things rather than go on ruminating.


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## Guest (May 9, 2007)

Yeah its all fear basically. I don't know if you call that a distortion or not. Or whatever. But I have lived with alot of fear for a very, very , very long time. My doc said there was a table in this book somewhere which lists all of the "defensive mechanisms" and we go through and deconstruct them. At least thats what I think he said.

I don't want to give up the obsessing, because I still feel the need to 'figure certain things out'. OCD is very, very, very tricky. It will manipulate you and twist you in every direction, if you don't know how to handle the beast. I was convinced for a very long time, that there was no resolve to my problems. For a very long time, I did not even know I had OCD. I just thought I had sexual problems (or that sexually, things didnt feel right), that I was dark, or that I was somehow bad inside and twisted, far from what I was supposed to be. I did not know, or want to accept, that OCD can make you have all of those problems. and at once.

Like I said, this has been a very confusing path for me. But I am finally moving in a direction which I think will help. I just hope that I am doing the right thing here.

Eric


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## suz (Mar 26, 2007)

jesusmyangsthasabodycount said:


> I don't want to give up the obsessing, because I still feel the need to 'figure certain things out'. OCD is very, very, very tricky. It will manipulate you and twist you in every direction, if you don't know how to handle the beast.


I feel pretty much the same way, analysing things is a part of who I am. I want to learn how to control what I obsess/analyse/ruminate about. But I don't want to stop that all together. It helps me to learn.


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## suz (Mar 26, 2007)

Eric,

I just read another thread and now feel like I shouldn't have posted here...


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## Guest (May 9, 2007)

CECIL said:


> From what I understand, the obsessive thoughts arise because of a desire to control and have everything "in order". That's because your emotional world feels out of control and in chaotic.


Makes much sense, thanks for that.


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## HalfAPerson (Aug 22, 2006)

connoisseur of... said:


> jesusmyangsthasabodycount said:
> 
> 
> > I don't want to give up the obsessing, because I still feel the need to 'figure certain things out'. OCD is very, very, very tricky. It will manipulate you and twist you in every direction, if you don't know how to handle the beast.
> ...


This was a hard pill for me to swallow as well. I like to think. Like to learn. Looove to question.

But ultimately I got tired of banging my head against a wall. I know certain topics trigger nastiness for me. I avoid those topics. If I'm feeling particularly stable I might do an anxiety check and if the coast looks clear I can peak in a bit further. If there's a _hint_ of sketchiness--I run.

May not be very englightened. But who cares? I'm happier for it.


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## Guest (May 11, 2007)

I Just started doin the cognitive work. And already I am runnin into problems..Just like i knew it.

I knew that once I started putting down my thoughts down on paper, they wouldnt fit right with this kind of program. That's because most of my thoughts, they are OCD thoughts. I was reading this article online on Dr. Phillipsons OCD page. It directly states (just as I had feared) that traditional CBT work for depression, should not be encouraged to treat OCD.

I have the link, if any of you would like to check it out. Its here. So..I stopped trying to fill the sheets out, as I feel it is pointless now. And I would write down some depressive thoughts that i have, which could be restructured, but right now i seem to have none. only driven, anxious thoughts, ocd thoughts. This shit sucks........it really really sucks. I keep getting thoughts like "who am i" "am i attracted to this person" and various other CHECKING type thoughts which cannot be answered. Yet I don't know how to stop doing them. To tell you the truth, dont even know what i am thinkin most of the time. its just a blur.

I almost feel like makin a sheet with 3 columns (spike(s) , Rituals , and alternative to Rituals.......would be a better alternative than what i had been starting. Checking, is an ocd ritual. so i would find alternatives this way.

here is the link. http://www.ocdonline.com/definecbt.php


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## Coming?Back2Life (Oct 20, 2006)

alrite m8, i took about 15 sessions of reverse therapy which is based on anxiety and costs ?80 a pop. It`s about expressing all of your thoughts and expressing yourself in certain situations, this worked for me in the short term HOWEVER! my anxiety grew bigger and bigger in these situations and caused me to have panic which i don`t mind tbh, it`s the dissociation which scares me most to be honest and after i spent ?2000 on this therapy i stopped and spent ?100 on the linden method (it taught me to get RID of these ridiculous obsessive thoughts which if i kept expressing, my mind kept them in the front of my mind and "empowered them" which made A SH*T LOAD OF SENSE TBH) it was more helpful to me hehehehehe i wish i had that money back now i really do  feels like a waste tbh. P.S linden method hasn`t cured me at all, far from it, but it HAS helped me cope with anxiety and dp/dr "sensations" along with finding this forum =D


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## Lunar Lander (Feb 17, 2006)

This is what I found in the article you posted:

_However, the majority of people with OCD are aware of the excessiveness and absurdity of their thoughts and perceptions._

I don't think you are aware of the excessiveness of some of your thoughts and perceptions.

Here's a bunch I can find in your post.



> Just like i knew it.
> I knew that once I started putting down my thoughts down on paper, they wouldnt fit right with this kind of program.


Sounds like the fortune teller error.



> It directly states (just as I had feared) that traditional CBT work for depression, should not be encouraged to treat OCD.


This is mental filter. You ignore the fact that Dr. Phillipsons makes an adjustment to CBT especially to deal with OCD thoughts. That's available to you right there. There's really no reason to despair about it; the same source that tells you it's not going to work (and I think it's a bit of an overgeneralization as well, as he only criticizes one aspect of CBT) gives you the alternative solution.

I think whoever wrote that article also misses the point that there is a big misperception by people who have OCD, that they are obligated or would do well to try to resolve their OCD thoughts, or that they should spend any more time thinking about them than it takes to recognize they are having them and move on. That's sort of the ubermisconception of people with OCD, and it's an example of magnification (another cognitive distortion). In the book _Brain Lock_, the author tells you to recognize when you find yourself obsessing, and refocus on whatever you were doing besides obsessing, and then in general as you do this you start to take an attitude where your obsessive thoughts take less and less importance.


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## Guest (May 12, 2007)

LOL Lunar Lander. ....damn. How many times have you read this book!? you know all the distortions, i bet. But thats good actually. right?

You have a point. I know i have some distortions. but i was frustrated when i wrote that, wasn't paying attention to that.

All I am saying is, I want CBT to work, but I feel like its getting thorny right from the beginning. Yes, Dr. Phillipson describes how to make changes to Cognitive therapy, but basically the two approaches become different. They do. 
In the article, he says that people with OCD know that their thoughts arent rational (this is the whole premise behind CBT). So reminding myself that these thoughts are irrational....its just not going to work for OCD I dont think.

*Once again, there has to be some kind of Exposure and Response prevention element here, which is missing. * Im still trying to figure out how to do this, altogether. If I just put the three columns down (Automatic thought) (Cognitive distortion)( Rational REsponse)........how would i work in the ERP work?

You say they are compatible, one in the same, but I don't see it. I just don't see it. Im trying to understand what you are saying, but i just cant. Even my doctor said CBT would work, like u did, but im just not seeing it. 
*Should I make a seperate list with (SPikes, rituals, and alternatives to rituals) to treat the OCD? while sticking to the CBT work also? *
Eric


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