October Newsletter

The DVD gives three ways on reassurance in overcoming anxiety and panic naming the fear as ‘a child in need of reassurance’. Using the positive affirmation ‘It’s fine I don’t need to think about that’ when the thoughts come is one way of overcoming the problem. This is Level 1.

In Level 2 you are taught how to use your diaphragm and abdominal muscles to breathe correctly (which we all know is important in overcoming anxiety). He explains the importance of the muscles in the abdomen and diaphragm in breathing.

In Level 3 we concentrate on tightening the abdominal muscles and imagining them as having ‘three gears’, each ‘gear’ tightening the muscles more and more.

On the whole I found the DVD informative. It is better to watch someone explain what to do, than to read the same information. Of course, to begin with breathing from the diaphragm can cause dizziness, and if this happens, then it is advisable (As stated on the DVD) to stop straight away. For information on price , postage and delivery please contact the Anxiety Alliance registered address.

Brain Lock - Free Yourself from OCD - by Jeffrey M Schwartz MD - The Four Steps and Personal Freedom. The struggle to overcome the scourge of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) almost always begins for the most pragmatic reasons. Your life is being taken over by a strange power that seems to be stronger than you are. In this book (Brain Lock) , my goal has been to teach you the most effective strategies for neutralizing the opponent called OCD, whose tricks can be so devastating to those who don’t know how to fight back effectively.

Like most other bullies and aggressors, much of its power comes from its ability to intimidate the naïve and uninitiated. When seen from the clear-minded perspective of the Impartial Spectator, the true nature of this deceptive opponent comes into focus. With this insight, fear and dread being to fade, and the path to victory comes into view. This is what training yourself to do the Four Steps is all about.The power of the Relabel step is something that should never be underestimated. It’s the difference between knowing what’s real and living in fear of shadows. When you Relabel and make mental notes and remind yourself, ‘That’s just OCD - I don’t have to listen to that’ - a very powerful process is initiated. A change in the value and meaning that you give to the unpleasant obsessive thought of urge begins.

The power of the Impartial Spectator is called into play, which profoundly changes the nature of the interaction between you and your internal opponent. Now the battle is being fought on your home turf - reality - not on the playing field of your opponent, who relies solely on deception and illusion. Always remember that a firm grasp of reality is your greatest ally in the fight against OCD because in the end, fear and false messages are OCD’s only weapons. If you Reattribute those fears to their true causes, as you’ve trained your self to do, and Refocus on the wholesome behaviour for at least fifteen minutes, you may not win every battle, but in the end you’ll win the war. With the power of your mind, you will change your brain. Where once there was Brain Lock, a freer and more smoothly running thought process is now in place.

People frequently ask, especially early in treatment - ‘Will I ever be cured?’. A cure cannot be guaranteed, especially if you take it to mean that you will never have an OCD symptom again. But if cure means the freedom of never again running scared from the plague of OCD symptoms and not having the direction of your life dictated by the tyrant OCD then that goal is within the grasp of essentially every person who suffers the misery of OCD.

The larger meaning of the effort that people put into following the Four Steps is a message about what we all can accomplish when we let go of fear, practice mindful awareness, and decide to take control of our lives. The increased mental power that people with OCD develop, the power to notice small changes and understand their significance, and to go forward in the face of pain and fear, have wide-reaching effects not only on the lives of people with OCD but on the lives of those around them. This greater mental power can go beyond the realm of OCD I can lead you to a much deeper insight into what it means to Revalue our internal experience in light of new and more productive ends and goals. In doing so, you can expand your mental and spiritual horizons in ways you may not have considered before.

Consider the power of the simple question ‘Why am I doing this?’ In many ways the entire Four Step method boils down to bringing the perspective of the Impartial Spectator more clearly into mind when answering that question. No doubt, new information about how the brain works helps people with OCD answer this key question more realistically and more courageously. Yet it seems crucial to realize that what these new brain discoveries have in essence done is enabled people to see their own minds with grater clarity. And doing so enhances their ability to find their true goals and objectives.

We live in an age when many people who fancy themselves sophisticated thinkers - whether they are doctors, scientist, or philosophers - can state with greatest authority that the mind is just something that ‘somehow emerges’ from and is fully determined, by the physical properties of the brain. Anything that may be called a spirit, they’re too embarrassed even to talk about. Somehow it doesn’t seem sophisticated to them. For them, science must relegate the spirit and the will to the realm of mere superstition. To my mind, this is all very unfortunate. Far worse, I believe it reflects a profoundly false way of thinking. And one of the great accomplishments of our research on OCD, I believe, is that it helps us perceive more clearly just how the conscious and comprehending mind differs from the brain and cannot be solely dependent on it.

Consider what goes on inside a man who is fighting off an OCD symptom using the Four Steps. The intrusive obsession keeps bothering and imposing on him - ‘Go and wash your hands. Go and check the oven’ Before training in the Four Steps he listened right away, which tended to make the Brain Lock worse and worse. Tighter and tighter. After Four Steps training, his mental response is very different. He now says ‘I know what you are. You’re just OCD, just an alarm system in my brain gone bad. I’d rather be dead than listen to you, you miserable brain circuit from hell!’ then he goes and listens to Mozart or practices his golf swing or whatever. He considers his goals, reflects on his options, exercise his will, makes a new choice, and does another behaviour. In this way, he changes how his brain functions. Over time, his brain changes enough to that, with new advances in technology, we can measure the change, even take a coloured picture of it. Now, although some academics may say that this is just an example of the brain changing itself, any sensible person can see that the person in our example is clearly using his mental power to make the effort and do the work that it takes to change his brain and conquer the symptoms of OCD. A genuine spiritual (wilful) process has taken place, resulting in a scientifically demonstrable biological change in the body’s main organ of communication - the brain.

For a copy of Brain Lock - Free Yourself form OCD, please contact the Anxiety Alliance registered address for details.

Overcoming Panic and Agoraphobia Self-Help Course by Derrick Silove and Vijaya Manicavasagar

These are three separate books which give details of how panic and agoraphobia develop and how they impact on life. In the second book the authors outline triggers, life factors and controlling panic. The third book explains how to change thinking patterns and also how to deal with the physical sensations.

All three books are very well laid out, and apart from giving information on panic and agoraphobia, there are case studies, questions and answers, diagrams and work sheets.

On the whole these three books appear to be excellent value for money, and providing the sufferer is willing to take part in their own recovery, then these self-help books should work. It takes a lot of courage, time and determination on the part of the sufferer to overcome any anxiety problem. There is no magic wand that can be waved, but these books will certainly put sufferers on the road to recovery providing they follow all the instructions. It’s no good anyone saying I read the books, but they didn’t work, if they never followed the course correctly.

For information on the price and delivery please contact Anxiety Alliance registered address.