A few days ago a client with very significant OCD reported much success in reducing her recurring fearful intrusive thoughts about muscle twitching she had been experiencing. She would have catastrophic fears that the twitches were the result of a disorder such as Parkinsons, MS, or ALS or another serious neurological disorder. The vicious cycle of anxiety causes the attention given the sensation to increase and intensify the sensation which further intensifies the catastrophic thoughts which in turn further increases the attention and fearful thoughts and so on and so on it goes. The result being the spinning of sensations, thoughts and fears.

In our prior session I helped her do Step 2 work to talk back to the fear she experiences with OCD and have a rational dialogue about the situation. I had her talk about times in the past when she has had similar muscle twitches and what seemed to have been their cause. I had her write down other explanations for the twitches other than a neurological disorder. She was able to immediately describe times in the past she has had muscle twitches that were the result of stress and tension. She was also able to relate some past twitches due to muscle strain after exercise. I had her write down the fact that she knows when she focuses on a sensation it intensifies it – what is called Amplification. I had her write down the fact that she knows if she has a fearful explanation for a sensation it also makes it feel worse and continue – another aspect of Amplification. I then had her write down what had recently been causing her to be tense and anxious before the twitches started. She was able to identify a few different issues that had indeed been making her stressed. She was going to be traveling for the next couple weeks and was to take the paper she wrote this down on with her and review it when she experienced her sensations – including talking out loud to herself.

She returned after her travels this week and was very happy and also surprised at how well she had been doing with not catastrophizing her sensations and therefore having very little of the twitching. She was amazed at how well it worked for her but was able to understand that it was because the words she read and at times spoke out loud were all very simple facts – she was just reminding herself of the facts that indicated she was safe. She was able to bring her spinning brain to a slow spin and then to no spin – and succeed in further retraining her brain.

if you have OCD, here are some TIPS TO DO THIS YOURSELF:

1. When experiencing a recurring fear, talk out loud to yourself and tell yourself other explanations for what you are fearing. Write down times in the past you experienced similar sensations.
2. Write down the cause for the sensation in the past.
3. Read what you wrote out loud so you hear the ideas – the spoken words activate another more rational part of your brain when it actually hears the words.