More To Treatment Than Just Treating Our OCD

What causes our OCD?

We don’t know the cause of our OCD. It is believed by some that the origins of many obsessions relate to the kind of conflict about sex, aggression, guilt. Freud believed in this theory.

Dr. M. Scott Peck, an American psychiatrist and author of the best seller “The Road Less Traveled” believed that many of our mental health symptoms originate from the subconscious   mind and that it shows that something in our whole being or that our human spirit is not maturing and in need of repair. Though he does not talk about OCD, he speaks about anxiety.

The problem with this concept is that it means a lot of work on the part of the patient. A lot of soul searching. My experience is that patients want a quick fix for their OCD. And nothing more.

The medical system won’t address these wounds. Only the OCD. It’s too much work, it’s costly and it would interfere with the use of medications. The pharmaceutical companies fund much of the research. Our suffering becomes a commodity.

But what if our symptoms are a reflection of something in need of repair in our human spirit, in our soul, in our being.

Take, for example, the patient who has compulsions about personal hygiene. The person’s need to check or wash constantly isn’t so much about personal hygiene but rather has a low opinion about himself.

If the patient discovers the “wound” that is in need of repair, how, then, does he fix it? To fix his wound, is a lifelong battle.

 

Those who treat OCD and other psychiatric ailments would be wise to address the entire needs of the patient and not just the illness. Things like love, faith, hope, a sense of purpose, etc. can positively affect our illness. The psychiatric system refuses to do this.

When I have a focus, a passion for something, my symptoms are drastically reduced.

I think there is a direct connection when the medical system addresses the entire needs of the patients  - and not just OCD sufferers -  their symptoms are drastically reduced.

And by refusing to address these needs, are doctors not violating their Hippocratic Oath:”Do no harm?”

 

Dr. Jerome D. Frank, (1909 – 2005) American psychiatrist, professor of psychiatry at John Hopkins University Medical School once wrote that “any treatment that does not minister to the human spirit is grossly deficient.”

                                                       -   Ken Munro