Obsessive Thinking (2)

Last time mention was made of three types of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as identified by Steven Phillipson: the common type of OCD which may involve hand-washing because of fear of contamination for example; the second is the "responsibility" type, who fears for the well-being of everyone else he knows and is driven by guilt; and lastly the pure-O type.

To counteract the third "pure-O" type where the person tries to push away the thought by thinking or imaginal means Phillipson proposed three methods that are not very helpful according to him. The first which is saying, Stop! ("thought stopping") or stinging oneself with a rubber band around the wrist, he says, has not been proved to be adequate. The second method is to point out the illogicality of the mental rituals. This approach hasn't proved to be effective either because invariably the sufferer already knows that what he thinks is illogical. Another option is to use analytic interpretations, which assign meaning to the "spike" (the worrying thought) with a view to resolving its power by understanding it. Phillipson believes this approach also to be detrimental because trying to find solutions to the thoughts will only prolong the condition.

Phillipson advises the use of behaviour techniques even questioning whether the addition of cognitive procedures adds anything to the former. We will outline his behavioural rationale and list some of the behaviour techniques he suggests next post.