OCD Recovery Center (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder): OCD: Common Recovery Tasks and Life Management Issues in OCD Recovery

Common Recovery Tasks and Life Management Issues in OCD Recovery

At the OCD Recovery Center we are sensitive to the inner suffering and struggle that persons with OCD go through - often on a daily basis. For a significant percentage of persons with OCD even effective medication and exposure and response prevention behavioral therapy leave many issues and needs untended. Additionally, obsessions and compulsions are not the only manifestations of OCD. A person with OCD often thinks differently and approaches life differently than someone without OCD. These differences can create ongoing sub-clinical depression, life stress, conflict in relationships and blocks to spiritual and personal growth.

Some of the common lifestyle or life-management issues encountered in OC-Spectrum disorders recovery are:

Reassurance seeking
Avoidance
Depersonalization
Loss of being-doing balance and life and life spontaneity
Obsessive thought patterns
Subtle symmetry issues
Control issues and an artificial "flattening" of natural mood and experiential life changes
Isolationism
Parenting issues
Avoidance of projected future anxiety
Relationship difficulties
Career difficulties
Trust issues
Difficulty living in the present moment
Vacation and travel challenges
Daily self-care
Self-esteem
Elevated baseline anxiety
Externalizing OCD thoughts
Dealing with doubt
Managing exposure / habitation cycles
Comorbid psychological difficulties such as depression, generalized anxiety, phobias, and panic.

While exposure and response prevention behavior therapy remains the cornerstone of OC-Spectrum disorders recovery, crucial life-management issues such as these must often be addressed as well during the recovery process. OCD Recovery Center has developed specialized interventions to assist OCD and spectrum disorders patients with these essential lifestyle issues.