Using Mindfulness to Manage Your Anxious Mind

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’re all doing well.  In this post I suggest another tool that you might consider learning more about as many of my clients have found it helpful when seeking to manage their anxiety/OCD.                            

                      Using Mindfulness to Deal with Your Anxious Mind

Did You Lock the Door Properly?

Inevitably as you seek to manage your OCD and do the necessary exposure work, you will be bombarded with lots of anxious thoughts. Being aware that this is going to happen and having some strategies in place to deal with it, greatly increases your chances of a successful outcome. Most of us aren’t aware of our thoughts, but I guarantee they are there. It takes some practice to get better at observing what your mind is telling you when you’re anxious, but developing this skill is very helpful when seeking to manage OCD. After you close and lock the front door and walk away your anxious mind will make you start to doubt that you actually locked the door and will likely start bombarding you with all sorts of obsessions such as…

“Are you sure you locked the door properly?”

“If you didn’t, someone could break in and ransack your home!”

“Can you remember exactly what you did?”

“You need to be sure so you better go back and check!”

And unless you know what to do, you will likely turn around, go back and check. Since checking often (paradoxically) often leads to more checking you may find that checking once isn’t enough and you may feel the urge to go back and check a few more times.

Your “Guard Dog” May Mistake the Mailman for a Burglar

This is your anxious mind doing its thing and understanding and accepting these thoughts is an important step in your recovery. The basic idea is to accept that these thoughts are going to show up, recognize them as part of  your OCD and then ignore them and expect to then feel some (or often even a lot of) anxiety. They will virtually always greatly exaggerate whatever risk you are facing and will even at times completely lie to you and tell you there is risk when there is virtually none whatsoever. Rather than struggle with these thoughts, accepting and then ignoring them is a much more effective technique.  I also suggest (as odd as it may sound) trying to make friends with these thoughts. If you really think about why the thoughts are there in the first place, they are an attempt of your anxious mind to protect you from what it believes is dangerous. I have often suggested my clients view these thoughts as coming from a “guard dog” who is trying to protect you. Unfortunately, your anxious mind (the guard dog) is mistaking the mailman for a burglar and is sounding the alarm (giving you anxiety) unnecessarily. If your guard dog is trying to protect you, would you be mad at your dog or would you try and help your dog understand the difference between a burglar and the mailman?

Using Mindfulness to Manage Your Doubt/Uncertainty

Developing the skill of observing what your mind is telling you is one aspect of mindfulness and since getting better at this skill is so useful I often suggest my clients consider looking into Mindfulness Meditation. Mindfulness has many benefits beyond its application to OCD, but the specific skill of observing what your kind is telling you is very helpful when managing OCD. A very useful resource is the book “The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD (2nd edition)” by Jon Hershfield and Tom Corboy.

The Holidays Will Soon Be Here!

With Halloween tonight that means the holiday season will soon be upon us. Many of us experience more anxiety over the holidays so it’s not too soon to start making plans and see if you can have a more stress/anxiety free season this year. Let me know if you have any specific questions about how to best manage during this often complicated and stressful time. I’ll focus the next few posts on some tips you might consider. 

As always, let me know if I can be of any help and I’m happy to answer any questions you might have. This post isn’t meant as a substitute for therapy and so if you’re struggling with anxiety/OCD please consult a qualified therapist.  

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Stay safe,

Dr Bob

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