How Can Repeating Obsessive Thoughts Decrease Suffering?

In obsessive-compulsive disorder, people are bothered by recurrent troublesome thoughts. For people with panic disorder, certain thoughts can help to precipitate severe anxiety attacks. Pretty much everyone else, to a lesser extent, has occasionally been bothered by repetitive thoughts. Depending on how these thoughts are handled, they may result in feelings of anxiety, sadness, worry, guilt and/or regret. How can an exercise in which one repeats "bothersome thoughts" actually decrease suffering?

My recent article in the March/April 2009 issue of The Therapist describes that the secret lies in how the thoughts are repeated. First for some background: to "decenter" is to take a figurative step back from our thoughts. Instead of a reality of "I'm not good," one learns that he had a thought "I'm not good." In cognitive therapy people are then taught to dispute irrational thoughts (sometimes called "cognitive distortions"). In mindfulness practice thoughts are non-judgmentally noticed and let go. So in both mindfulness practice and cognitive therapy it is key to learn that we do not need to believe all our thoughts. An important component of mindfulness practice is also to not resist our thoughts. Otherwise marked frustration may ensue. If we resist our thoughts, the object of frustration may change from "not being able to do anything right" to having too many thoughts that one can't do anything right. "If only my situation were different, I would be happy" becomes "If only I did not have so many distracting thoughts, I would be happy." Therefore, although decentering is an essential first step of mindfulness, it is only a first step. A second step is not resisting our thoughts.

In the "letting go meditation," one first relaxes by noticing his breath and progressively relaxing his muscle groups. Once relaxed, previously bothersome thoughts can be repeated with the instructions that the participant not believe or resist the thoughts. After each thought, the person again focuses on a relaxing breath and relaxes a muscle group. After doing this exercise, (more explicitly described in the article in The Therapist and demonstrated in the book and CD set Take the Stress Out of Your Life), the participant is almost always more relaxed. Despite repeating one's most bothersome thoughts, he ends up feeling very relaxed.

The letting go meditation shows people that it is not the thoughts themselves that create the anxiety and suffering, but rather the way we deal with the thoughts can contribute to the problem. Through this exercise people get a chance to practice dealing skillfully with very thoughts that they blamed for their suffering!

For more information about the letting go meditation, please check out the first article at this link: "New Ideas About an Ancient Practice: Novel Techniques to Enhance Mindfulness in Psychotherapy" and the book and CD set Take the Stress Out of Your Life.