The OCD Beard

Somebody else's bearded #IntrusiveThoughts ponderings account. I did a lot of CBT with ERP and it really bloody helped. You can win and take back control.

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

Last year I was suicidal. This year..

#CBT and #ERP works. It's exhausting, but do it 💪

#OCD

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

@venkat_id Feel free

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

I've been open about my #OCD recovery with #CBT on here in the last few years. Since then: I've established myself much better in terms of career, I met somebody incredible and got married... and as of a few weeks ago I became a Dad to a little daughter-shaped human.

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

What I'm saying is: no diagnosis should be an answer. All an mh diagnosis should be is a sign pointing you to what you need. And no diagnosis should cost money.

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

Thinking about this doc in relation to my own experiences with OCD diagnosis.

Ultimately, my diagn put me on a pathway to help. Fortunately, I no longer meet the criteria. So it helped.

[BBC Panorama @BBCPanorama]

BBC Panorama has discovered some private clinics are handing out unreliable attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses and patients are being offered powerful drugs

Private ADHD Clinics Exposed is on BBC iPlayer now

https://t.co/iPWx7UpGi3

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

But it's not my DNA, no diagnosis is. It's just a set of criteria you meet *at the time*.

In this context, I don't think it's wrong to ask questions when there's a diagnostic upward trend like in adult ADHD, especially when it costs money.

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

@jamesjammcmahon I was 23. My GP diagnosed me with "intrusive thoughts" rather than OCD. Much later a Psychiatrist gave me a more formal diagnosis. Tbh, I understand the value in my GP's words - she said I might not always meet diagnostic criteria, ie not b&w. And now in recovery, she is correct.

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

@Eternal56450485 Keep going

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

Completed my first month of a new job in big ol' London. The commute is tiring, but I'm amazed at what I've achieved compared to the little bubble I lived in for so long. I could never have imagined doing this before I received life changing CBT (with heavy emphasis on ERP) #OCD

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

In some ways #cbt is all about resilience. Or at least, working out ways of thinking that don't painfully internalise trauma or shield us, and instead promote confidence and resilience.

Learning to overcome is the only path.

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

It's a nice idea, but if human history and human nature has taught us anything, living without trauma is utterly impossible.

There will always be trauma in life. I'm sorry.

[Christle Nwora, MD @ChristleNwora]

Y’all. This is it.

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

Or perhaps that's a case of correlation not being linked to causation, and there are other factors at play in modern society.

The brain is mighty complicated either way, and we know so little.

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

I thought this was widely known already?

[The Guardian @guardian]

Little evidence that chemical imbalance causes depression, UCL scientists find https://t.co/gZBpcUeK2T

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

The odd thing is, the prescribed medications still seem to work, don't they? Somehow. I mean, if you look at the suicide rates of today compared to before medication for depression/anxiety was introduced.

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

@AshCurryOcd Is neurodiversity even a clinical thing? Perhaps it's helpful in some respects during recovery/treatment for finding support/solidarity, but the idea of OCD being part of a big rainbow of conditions feels a bit "of the times" rather than actually useful in and of itself, no?

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

Bollocks

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

@onlyjo_po Thanks ! Good luck. Happy to answer any Qs. I wrote a blog on the exposure battle here, too https://t.co/mzTHGMxWbP

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

Last year I was suicidal. This year..

#CBT and #ERP works. It's exhausting, but do it 💪

#OCD

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

@onlyjo_po Thank you. In total 16 hour long sessions w/therapist with 100% commitment to the exposure exercise homework - I'm couldn't calculate the hours spent doing that. Felt like forever, but so worth it. Still no big clinical symptoms 2 years later.

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

Can a psychologist make a diagnosis?

[TIME @TIME]

Watch: A forensic psychologist testified that Amber Heard suffers from borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder https://t.co/y1h4wjujX2

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

Ah, academic research/aka popular psychology. Basically Netflix. Not a mental health professional or actual clin psychologist and it shows.

[The OCD Beard @TheOCDBeard]

Never, ever do this if you suffer from intrusive thoughts. "Dr" of what, exactly?

[Dr. Jessica Taylor @DrJessTaylor]

@SnowySzafran Loads of people do - the key is finding out what they mean and why they happen x