Mental Health Monday: Opposite Action

It’s Katie again.  This is my microwave. You may be wondering what a microwave has to do with Mental Health Monday. Allow me to explain. OCD comes in many different forms. One of the most common misconceptions about OCD is that it involves compulsive hand washing. That’s a branch of OCD called contamination OCD. I don’t have that kind. While scrupulosity is the form my OCD generally takes (more on that another day), I sometimes have harm OCD. That’s the fear of accidentally harming myself or others. Exposure response therapy (ERP) deals with exposing oneself to his/her greatest irrational fears as a way to remove the perceived threat and reduce the anxiety associated with it. One of the techniques I learned in ERP therapy this summer is called “opposite action.” Whenever I have an intrusive, irrational thought, I need to do the opposite of what the thought tells me to do. When I challenge the fear, I re-train my brain. It’s amazing how it has changed my life. Yesterday, I put something in the microwave and was standing near it while it heated. I had the thought that I needed to move away from the microwave because I might get cancer. I started walking away, but decided to do an opposite action instead. I went back to the microwave and stood in front of it until the time was up. Irrational thoughts like these happen all the time for someone with OCD, and I’ve learned that challenging them is the best way to overcome them. Know someone who deals with OCD or other mental illness? Refer them to our Instagram. There is a lot more discussion to come on this topic!