DBT Skills and Managing OCD Symptoms Effectively
If you’re struggling with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), it can be hard not to feel like you aren’t in control. You might experience recurring, unwanted thoughts, mental images, or compulsions or feel compelled to repeat certain behaviors. Often, if you cannot organize things how you’d like or carry out these compulsions, it causes extreme anxiety and distress.
This is no way to live – but it is possible to regain control. Using DBT distress tolerance for OCD can be a powerful tool to achieve this goal.
Keep reading to learn more about OCD management, including the benefits of distress tolerance and other DBT skills for managing the mental discomfort that comes along with OCD, alternative treatments, and how reaching out to Catalina can help you regain control of your life.
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Key Characteristics of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition characterized by obsessions, compulsions, repetitive behaviors, and anxiety or emotional stress. People with OCD may struggle with emotional regulation, anxiety, or substance use disorders in addition to OCD.
Some people struggle with obsessions, which are recurring (and often unwanted) mental pictures, thoughts, or urges. These obsessions can be about anything – germs, religion, sex, and self-harm are some examples.
The compulsions associated with OCD are repetitive behaviors you might carry out to relieve emotional symptoms like anxiety. For example, checking to make sure the stove is off several times a day, counting, cleaning rituals, handwashing, or arranging things a certain way.
Many people with OCD also experience strong emotions like severe anxiety when they cannot carry out their compulsion. These can range from unpleasant to extremely distressing. DBT skills like emotion regulation, mindfulness skills, and distraction can help with this.
What is Dialectical Behavior Therapy?
For those with OCD, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a useful tool that teaches you how to cope with challenging situations (like compulsions), manage strong emotions, and have healthier interpersonal relationships.
It also promotes mindfulness, a useful tool for learning to be present and focused on the world around you, rather than the compulsive thoughts in your head.
When treating OCD, learning DBT skills promotes positive emotions, reduces feelings of anxiety and distress, and helps you understand what might trigger OCD symptoms. It can reduce the intensity of emotions OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and help you overcome obsessive thoughts and mental acts.
Distress Tolerance Skills for Compulsive Behaviors
When you start to fight against the compulsive behaviors of OCD, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) helps you manage the unpleasant, intense emotions that come along with that with distress tolerance skills. You’ll learn how to regulate feelings of shame, guilt, or fear that often accompany resisting unwanted urges.
Dialectical behavioral therapy also separates you from your compulsions. You shouldn’t feel ashamed or like you are being judged, as these negative emotions do not support overcoming this disorder. Those with OCD who go through distress tolerance often find that it improves overall emotional well-being, emotional resilience, and quality of life.
As you continue to put distress tolerance techniques into practice, it becomes possible to tolerate uncertainty concerning compulsions and intrusive thoughts. You can also apply what you’ve learned to other areas of your life, helping you manage anxiety and distressing emotions in a more beneficial way.
Another treatment approach used for distress tolerance is exposure and response prevention. During exposure-response prevention, you’ll be faced with triggers so that you can learn how to manage them and reduce distress in a safe, supportive environment.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness skills are another useful treatment approach for treating various types of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). This cognitive restructuring tool teaches you to observe obsessive thoughts without judging or acting on them. It can be applied to intrusive thoughts and painful emotions, helping individuals with OCD manage obsessions and compulsions.
Mindfulness techniques also help individuals with OCD reach an emotional equilibrium by teaching them to be present in the moment, instead of lost and focused on intrusive thoughts. This can be a useful tool for distraction, which can reduce the intensity of urges and unwanted emotions until you can overcome them.
For an attempt to learn mindfulness practices to be effective, however, the therapist-client relationship must have certain boundaries. A qualified mental health professional should provide a safe, open space where you can learn emotional regulation skills and process feelings without judgment.
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Emotional Regulation
The emotions surrounding obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are often intense. You might find it hard to tolerate discomfort and significant distress common when individuals with OCD don’t give in to obsessions and compulsions.
However, people learn to regulate their emotions by gaining the confidence to tolerate these negative emotions without giving in to compulsive actions. Over time, through practicing mindfulness and nonjudgmental awareness, it becomes possible to fight against unwanted urges and thoughts without responding to them, staying in the present moment. It allows you to process your feelings without judgment and emotional regulation becomes a habit.
Interpersonal Effectiveness
You may be wondering how interpersonal effectiveness skills, which improve communication and relationships, can help with OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). Left untreated, OCD habits make it hard to have healthy social interactions.
You spend so much time focused on compulsions and might be driven to seek validation from others because of social anxiety caused by your OCD and feeling like you don’t fit in.
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) focuses on interpersonal skills like self-validation techniques that can help you look to yourself for reassurance, rather than the people around you. It improves the health of your relationships, while emotion regulation skills make it easier to cope with OCD symptoms and still have healthy relationships.
Other Strategies for Managing OCD Symptoms
While targeted techniques are helpful, even eating well, exercising regularly, having a consistent sleep schedule, and limiting caffeine and alcohol intake can help improve symptoms.
Outside of regulating emotions effectively, learning to tolerate distress, and mindfulness techniques, here are some other ways to help with intrusive thoughts, mental acts, and other challenges individuals with OCD struggle with.
Distraction and Relaxation Techniques to Relieve Symptoms
Relaxation techniques are beneficial for relieving stress and anxiety. While it may become easier to ignore compulsive behaviors over time, in the beginning, fighting against these urges can cause emotional distress.
Beneficial relaxation techniques include deep breathing, yoga, meditation, visualization, and massage. Some people also find integrating distraction techniques useful for avoiding mental distress from fighting compulsive thoughts.
The best distractions are those that require thinking, taking up some of your brain power so you aren’t focused on obsessive thoughts, intense emotions, or other OCD symptoms. For example, playing a game, reading a book, doing a puzzle, engaging in a creative hobby, paced breathing, or calling a friend.
Dual Diagnosis for Co-Occurring Disorders
The thoughts and compulsive behaviors that drive OCD can significantly impact your quality of life. Some people turn to alcohol or drugs to relieve their OCD symptoms, while others might struggle with a mental health condition like anxiety, depression, borderline personality disorder, or other related disorders such as CPTSD in addition to OCD.
In instances like these, treating both disorders is essential to overcoming OCD symptoms and leading a fulfilling life.
Medication for OCD
In certain cases, medication might be recommended to treat severe OCD symptoms like intrusive, obsessive thoughts that might harm yourself or others. It can also be prescribed for extreme discomfort from OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder).
SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are the most commonly prescribed medications for OCD. They help moderate levels of serotonin in the brain, something that can help you regulate emotions.
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Find Help Overcoming the Compulsions of OCD at Catalina
Distress caused by mental rituals, compulsive urges, and intrusive thoughts can significantly impact daily functioning. These things can be incredibly overwhelming when you have to handle them alone, making you feel as if you have to give in to your compulsions. But with effective interventions, there is hope.
No matter how long your OCD symptoms have been impacting your life, it is possible to overcome your struggles with the right help. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) just might be the answer you are looking for. Reach out to Catalina Behavioral Health today for guidance on OCD treatment options.
We can answer your questions about DBT or other treatment options, verify insurance, and help you or a loved one overcome the impact of OCD on daily life.
References
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2963469/
- https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd
