The post contains an audio clip from a recent session with a client who – since she is unidentified – wanted to share her success with others who struggle with OCD or other forms of intrusive worry. She has struggled with OCD since childhood and has been in therapy several times in her life, including use of various medications. She has had periods of significant remission of symptoms but acknowledges she has never been entirely free of compulsive behaviors.
Kristy is a client that portrays very accurately the degree to which she felt broken, depressed, worthless. She had debilitating anxiety and was extremely sensitive and fearful of any perceived disapproval of her by others and magnified it to the point that she felt others saw her as worthless and inferior too.
Kristy Story: I am a person who has struggled with debilitating anxiety and depression for as long as I can ever remember. I never was able to see myself as a person of any value and could only define any success in my life by an accomplishment, or a compliment from someone else. My feeling of value was always short lived because it was always dependent on me doing something very well, or on the opinion of someone else. My feeling of value was always short lived because it was always dependent on me doing something very well, or on the opinion of someone else. In and of myself, I felt completely worthless. By the time I was an adult I was essentially terrified of my own shadow and had put up so many walls to protect me from the big, scary,
My life seemed to be coming apart at the seams, right before my eyes: everything that could go wrong seemed to be going wrong, and I felt completely powerless to change any of it. Marital issues, a death in the family, financial problems. I was horrified that anyone would discover what a mess I felt like or that I even…