OCD & Anxiety Treatment: Recovery is Possible

OCD & Anxiety Treatment: Recovery is Possible

https://www.restoredminds.com/5-Rules-For-Recovery

In this episode, I discuss the idea of recovery and why believing in recovery is so important. Your beliefs can help or hinder your recovery process. When a person is struggling with anxiety operates from the idea that recovery is possible, it can change her/his whole perspective and the path in his/her recovery process. In this episode, I discuss the idea of recovery and the beliefs that a person struggling with anxiety should adapt to achieve success.

TRANSCRIPT

(00:06):

All right, hello and welcome to this episode where we're going to talk about recovery. And so, um, you know, on our series of OCD and anxiety treatment, I want to talk about the idea of recovery, right? And because obviously that's generally, you know, what we're all striving for. Um, you know, especially as we initially get into this journey, right? When it shows up in our life, we're looking for recovery, right? And I want to talk about what that means and how your beliefs about recovery can really alter whether or not you really reach recovery and the beliefs you bring into the treatment process, how, how they can really help you or hinder you. Right. Um, so when I talk about this idea of recovery, let's talk about what that means when we talk about dealing with OCD and anxiety. And so a lot of people are of the opinion that will, recovery recovery means that I don't have any anxiety or I don't have any thoughts I don't like, and it's just, I live in this kind of state of bliss, right?

(01:08):

And the reality is, is that's just, that's just not true. Right? That's just, that's just like such a wild belief, um, in it. And more importantly, it's an unobtainable or an unrealistic expectation of what life should be like because life has its challenges, right? And, and you know what? Oftentimes when I give like talks or presentations, I'll ask this question in the crowd, I'll be like, okay, Hey, look how many people have ever experienced anxiety, right? And almost always every single person will raise their hand. And what that shows is like, look, the feeling of anxiety is actually an abnormal thing, right? Like that's a normal part of life. Now what happens is when we try not to feel that and we, you know, bury those feelings and we try to get rid of them, we try to control them. We try to do all these things to make sure we don't feel it.

(01:57):

That propels it and that, and that makes it to the point in that can often propel it into, you know, certain disorders that we all know is anxiety disorders, right? Um, but I, but I want to talk about this idea of recovery because a lot of people, what they'll do is, you know, they'll, they'll start, you know, looking for help or something like that and maybe they, you know, find restored minds or they again, hop on the phone with someone and they're like, well, I heard, I heard that anxiety's chronic or that I heard OCD is chronic. You can't get better. You can't recover. And you know, the, the conversation you know, for, for recovery really starts there. Right. You know, do we believe that recovery is possible or do we believe that, you know, this is something that you're going to deal with forever because if you believe that you're going to deal with this forever, right?

(02:44):

And that you're stuck with this forever, obviously that's gonna really be a, be a deciding or like a very big detriment to what you're going to bring into the retreatment process. Right. And so when, because if you're, if go into something with the idea of like, well, I'm, this is going to be something I deal with for, for forever. I, I, it's not possible for me to get better. That's going to be a very big detriment to your recovery. Like I'm just telling you, it just is. And, and that's why I always, I, you know, I really encourage you to maintain and hang onto the belief that recovery is possible because what recovery really is about is about getting out of that lens, right? It's about, because when you're in the lens, everything just feels chaotic, right? So recovery really is about getting out of that lens of anxiety.

(03:34):

And if you don't know what I'm talking about in the episode right before this, I really go into the depth of the lens of anxiety, right? And what that is, right in recovery is about getting out of that lens and then staying out, right? Not getting sucked back in because, um, and, and cause when we're in, we're in that lens, we're trapped in that lens. That really is the chaos of anxiety right there. And in recovery is not about not experiencing anxiety because again, that's a normal human emotion and intrusive thoughts as well. Like everyone has those, you know, there might be that 1% of the population that lives in this state of complete bliss in their mind, okay, good for them. But for the rest of us, including myself, most people have intrusive thoughts they don't like in their head. Right? And when we talk about recovery, I mean one of the, one of the things that I really always encourage people is to, I want you, I encouraged them to adopt, adopt the belief that recoveries inevitable.

(04:31):

Because what you believe is going to determine your behaviors and your behaviors are ultimately going to determine your success. And so behavior always follows belief, right? If you ever want to know what someone really believes, you watch their behavior, right? Like, and so like if a, if a salesman for instance, you know, like I use this analogy sometimes if he tells you that this chair is great and he's trying to sell you a chair and you know, telling you all these great features about it and he tells you how strong it is, but he won't sit in it. That shows you that he doesn't believe that the chair would hold them right? Like his, his behavior is what actually determines, like it will always follow belief. And when it comes to recovery, when we talk about the idea of ERP will, if, if you're going to end ERP, what I mean is exposure and response prevention.

(05:16):

If you're going to engage in ERP but you're operating with the belief that I can't get better, well do you think you're really going to engage in it in the correct way or you're going to go have heart it? Because if you're expecting ERP not to work well, it's almost going to be create a self fulfilling prophecy, right? Because I can't get better. Right? And, and the reality is, is that I've watched not only with myself, but many other people have wild breakthroughs when it comes to anxiety recovery, right? And it doesn't mean that I've never felt anxious again after that. It does. Well, doesn't mean that I haven't had thoughts that didn't. I don't, you know, aren't that great in my head. Right. You know, things that pop up. What it does mean though is you get, you get out of that loop, out of that lens and you can [inaudible].

(06:00):

The reality is, is that you need safety behaviors and your compulsion's to actually to stay in that loop, right? And that's why when we look at anxiety recovery, it really is about removing those safety behaviors and habituating the anxiety, right? Through exposure and response prevention. And then your brain is able to categorize the perceived like anxious threat correctly. And that actually is where you're able to get out of the lens. Right? And so, but, but again, that belief that recovery is possible. And dare I say inevitable because if you really operated from that, what would happen is if you operate like let's just look at this example. Okay. Um, cause I was just talking to someone about this the other day. So we were talking about the idea of thoughts popping up right when they were in, um, you know, like certain social situations, right?

(06:54):

With social anxiety. And if you operate from the belief that recovery is not possible, when those thoughts pop up, it's gonna reinforce that idea that recovery is not possible, right? You know, you see, um, yeah, I'm having thoughts again, right? Or I'm feeling anxious again, right? Recovery is not possible. But if you operate from the idea that recovery is inevitable and not only that, it's, it's not only possible but it's inevitable. Well, those same thoughts when they present themselves are an opportunity for you to put your new tools into practice and ultimately conquer that specific fear. Same exact experience. But the belief that we hold about the experience is going to dictate how we behave towards it and how we behave is ultimately what's going to dictate if we get better. Do you see what I do? Do you, do you see that connection there?

(07:42):

Because it's so important that you understand this and if this is something you're struggling with, the beliefs that you bring into this are, are, are so much more powerful than any tools you'll ever learn. Like, you know, that's why I like whenever I work with someone or you know, if you go through, um, the restored minds, you know, overcoming anxiety program, right? I mean that's, that's the foundational work that we do. We don't even go into tools, you know, like initially, right? It's like we don't even talk about tools to like, you know, later on because if, if I can give you the best tools in the world, but if you're just like, well, this is impossible, right? Doesn't matter what tools I give you, right? It doesn't matter what any anyone does right there. And that's, and that's the thing is like maintaining the belief that recovery is not only possible but inevitable for yourself.

(08:30):

And Hey, look, there'll be people who I'm sure will go against what I'm saying and saying like, Oh, you know, no, this is chronic and Hey, you know what, let them do that, right? That's okay. What I'm saying, this is for you. Okay. If you're, if you're listening to this episode, you're, you're with me here, you can choose what you want to believe about what's possible and that's it, right? And if you want to believe that your recovery is not only possible, but it's inevitable, you can choose that to that belief, right? You have that freedom to choose that. And whatever anyone else says, that's their business, right? And, but if you do believe that you're going to act according to that belief, and that is what is actually going to propel you into real and true recovery. Because recovery is possible. If it's possible for one person that's possible for you.

(09:22):

Okay. And I've, and I've not only experienced it myself, but many other people have taken their lives back from anxiety and OCD. And so if it is possible for others, it's possible for you. And I maintain that belief with, with not only myself, but every single person that I've ever talked to and work with. And, um, you know, and I just, uh, just choose to operate from that place and so on. You know, just to summarize this episode, you know, the, what we tell ourselves and what we believe about recovery is going to be a huge factor in our ability to achieve recovery. Okay. And, um, you know, and I really hope that you're seeing that, um, you know, in this episode and, and again, like I, I'd really encourage you to kind of take note of what beliefs you hold now and what beliefs you want to hold moving forward.

(10:12):

Because the belief is just that it's just the belief, your belief about Santa Claus one day changed overnight, right? Beliefs can change really quickly actually. Um, and you know, so, so again, if this is something that you do struggle with, um, that that belief is really important and if it is something that you struggle with, we also have a bunch of resources over restored minds to help you on your journey. So we'll have, um, links down in the notes below and you can also just check out restored mines.com and do a, your free assessment, free guides, um, and also our programs as well. And so thank you so much for, um, for tuning in to the show. And I really do hope this, uh, this idea of belief is helpful for you. And, um, and I just really encourage you to choose the, to choose to adopt the belief that recovery is possible and because you'll operate from a much better place in your treatment process if you do. So. Thank you so much and I'll see you guys next week. Take care.