Breaking Free From OCD

I would say that in today’s culture most everyone has heard of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. If you haven’t seen it portrayed in all it’s infinite, seemingly ‘crazy’ glory via the hit TV show Monk, you’re sure to have seen it played out on reality TV in recent years. MTV, Vh1, TLC, Discovery Channel have each found an audience over the years by spying into the private lives of men and women plagued by Ocd.

In case you’re not sure or in case you have a TV Sunday Night movie idea of just what Ocd is, let me just state that Ocd is far more than a need for cleanliness and symmetry in one’s daily life. It has, over the years, morphed from being considered some sort of insanity, to a neurosis, to a chemical imbalance, to an anxiety disorder. No matter what science prefers to label it today, it is a very real source of emotional and mental torture for more than 2% of the population. While parallel fights ensue in the world of psychology and biology over just what causes Ocd, there is no question that the millions of people who suffer from it seek relief over and over again. For some, that relief is found via medications, changes in diet and counseling. For others, there seems to be no relief at all. For me, it was my faith in God and the plan He gave me that set healing in motion for this once Ocd entrapped person.

Over 14 years ago I found relief for my Ocd, without drugs. In fact, taking a medication never occurred to me. I’m not against pharmaceutical help if needed. But for me, faith was the solution. In some ways I suffered the form of Ocd called ‘scrupulosity’. I was afraid every little thing I did was going to be seen as wrong in God’s eyes, that He was judging me harshly. I was afraid not to seek God for fear I would be rejected. But it wasn’t a healthy kind of ‘fear of the Lord’; it was a deep alarming fear of God, of people, places, death, circumstances…almost everything. Some people are so plagued by religious fear due to their Ocd that they never get past the religiousness to discover God and freedom through Him.

Ocd manifested in many other ways in my life besides what I now know was merely religion. (What I have now is faith and belief, not religion.) My memories of suffering with Ocd stretch back to the age of 8. With each passing year my compulsive behaviors became worse. By the time I was 30 I was nearly fully home-bound, unable to keep a regular job and afraid of everything.

Fear – that’s the driving force behind Ocd. A real, succinct, deep-seeded fear of…well, anything and everything imaginable. Sometimes the fears are rational and sometimes they aren’t. But the need to control something, anything, compels the Ocder to take action…any action, in order to feel better. Hence the counting, repeating, checking, touching, cleaning, hoarding….counting, repeating, checking…

Over time I have realized that if you have a lack of faith then fear will quickly invade your mind; your waking and sleeping thoughts. I also discovered that faith is not the opposite of fear but faith IS the ability to see beyond the fear into the eyes of truth. If fear is darkness then faith is turning the lights on! The opposite of fear is courage. Being courageous is stepping out, moving forward and living even though you feel fear. All you have to do is turn on those lights. Once you can see the lies fear creates in your mind for what they really are, then the brain of the person with Ocd can begin to dispel the many lies that make them feel compelled to obsessive, repetitive, nonsensical actions.

I am a seasoned, experienced, non-suffering Ocder. I wrote a book to help others out and to share the amazing path God took me down in order to manage and heal from the inside out from fear and Ocd! The brain of someone with Ocd is compelling, intelligent and sharp. I learned to use my Ocd to control my Ocd! And that means you can too. God lifted my fear and helped me move beyond the Ocd behaviors that plagued me.

My quest is to help others see that Ocd IS something you can live with, control, eradicate, deal with, move beyond and you CAN keep it from stealing your joy. Through faith, even if your faith is currently enveloped in Ocd, you can find healing.

To read more of my story and how God helped me break free from Ocd, check out my book "Breaking Free From OCD".
Softcover version: Breaking Free From OCD
iTunes iBook: Breaking Free From OCD
Amazon Kindle: Breaking Free From OCD

For more information about Karen and how to schedule her to speak at your conference or retreat, go to www.womaninspired.com

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Beyond the walls of fear

Have you ever lived with a wall of fear around you? A thick fog of fear that you cannot seem to see beyond? It's as if you're stuck there…You know you should be knocking that wall down but you don't have the strength to do so. So you stay within those walls. The walls can even be strangely comforting. You feel secure because they are familiar, habitual; consistent. Knowing that you have the walls of fear is one thing but the idea of not knowing how to exist without them is a whole different kind of frightening thought altogether and so you do not dare break them down to see if you can indeed live without them around you. You do not dare rid your life of them or of the very thing, person, feeling, events, relationships that helped to build them in the first place.

The resistance to break the walls down inherently comes from the sense of comfort in the middle of pain; a kind of comfort that only someone in the same position would understand. To others, that comfort looks disastrous, ridiculous, and even insane…for they see the dangers lurking. They see the future you might likely face if you stay where you are. But you cannot see beyond today or tomorrow. You have become comfortable in your pain – in your fears – because at least you know what to expect then. You know, at least at a reasonable rate, how to successfully deal with the wall of fear on a daily basis. It's your wall. You know every crack, every graffiti mark…every place where the wall has threatened to topple. So you let it stay.


But what happens when the walls close in on you – moving ever closer – smothering who you are? Stunting your growth and keeping you from becoming who you know you can become? Then what do you do? Lay in wait until the walls come so close that all God's light is blocked out completely? Becoming a dark, dreary, sorrowful shell of who you should be? Perhaps you are already a mere shadow of the person God meant for you to be by now. Perhaps the very dangers others see lurking are the ones you live with on a daily basis...and these dangers seem too daunting to tackle on your own and so you stay where you are - comfortable, though not comforted; secure in the habit, though not safe from the dangers..feeling unable to break free.

For many of us, that is our exact scenario. Perhaps the reasons for the walls vary amongst a thousand different stories, but the walls are the same. The story is familiar. The ending all too familiar for many. Will it be your ending as well? Or will you reach up through the last bit of existing light and grasp hold of God's hand – allowing Him to pull you through? Will you see beyond the walls to grab a life-saving hand of a friend and allow him to help you break the walls down?

You have to make the first move. The walls are impenetrable from the outside except by God. You must be the one who reaches up to accept the help. You must be the one that looks forward to the future…who sees beyond the walls to the outstretched hands of friends and loved ones...and you are the only one who can say Yes to life…No to fear….

You are the only who can lean on the Lord's promises that He will never leave you nor forsake you. You must be the one who decides that growing into the child God is calling you to be is more important than hanging on to your fear and to what you wish could have been inside those walls. Letting go of what might have been to see what truly is - that is part of the challenge. You can do that - with prayer and God's help - you can see the truth of the fearful walls you are living within. You can move into the Today He calls you to be in! Saying Yes is the very first step. You can do it…God will reach for you but you must take hold of Him and never, ever let go…
For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear; I will help you. Isaiah 41 1:13

...Karen

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