Guest guest Posted April 21, 2002 Report Share Posted April 21, 2002 Hi - Just have time for a quick note - but my son, too, experiences " bad thoughts " with his OCD - especially at bedtime. (He's 15 now). A great book is The Imp of the Mind by Lee Baer which is all about " bad thoughts " OCD. The trick for Sam has been to learn to recognize them as OCD and fight them. The medication helps but it's only about 70% effective in the best cases - can you find a resource for Cognitive Behavior Therapy with Exposure and Response Prevention in your area? Even though the medicine helps, Sam doesn't like to feel " at the mercy " of these thoughts - but he MUST identify them for what they are to fight them. Brain Lock by Schwartz has a 4 step process that Sam has used: 1) Relabel - Identify the thought as OCD, 2) Reattribute - remember what is happening in your brain to cause the thought), 3) Refocus - Change your behavioral focus - do something else. (For example, if you want to go tell your mother about it go play your video game instead), and 4) Revalue - Identify the thought as a worthless distraction that is easy to ignore. Sam really likes this - and it also gave me a better way to help him work through it back when we first started. He doesn't need my help anymore. Good luck - those thoughts can be so awful. Sam was convinced that he was going to be a school shooter at one point, he saw horrific images of his throat and eyelids being cut. It is truly torture. This network is a real godsend - there are lots of us out there trying to help our kids. Hang in there. Cyndi in VA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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