Can Gordon’s somatic tracking/Process help with ocd/non-painful TMS symptoms?

Hello everyone. I am new to the forum, but I am not new to Sarno’s work. Over the years, my TMS symptoms have ranged from physical pain to gastro issues to skin to OCD. For me, the most painful has always been the OCD.

After reading The Divided Mind years ago (apparently at least 3 times because I have 3 different color highlights in in ), I could clearly see myself in that book. I remember doing the journal work that Sarno suggested. Things must have cleared ok because I fell off of the work and started to manage - just deal with the physical and mental issues. That led me to 2 different therapists, one focused on emdr with me, the other, and current one, uses Accelerated Resolution Therapy which has similarities to emdr.

And yet, what has brought me back to to the work- skin issues and major ocd. Especially with the ocd, it’s one of those things where therapy was helping for so long and it is back worse than ever. In between my past work with The Divided Mind and today, I found Alan Gordon on social media. I came across a post of his and it inspired me to “remember” and to pick up Sarno’s book again and get The Way Out, as well, for his perspective. As I was waiting for The Way Out to arrive, I started journaling again as Sarno prescribes and it immediately improved my mindset. Ok so here is my question….

I am more than halfway through Gordon’s book. I really love it. I see myself on those pages too - except in that his book has focused on chronic pain. I don’t have it like that. And I never did. Not like he has described. My question is - has anyone used his book - The Way Out - to help with non-pain TMS issues like skin issues or, even moreso, OCD? And had success? Can you even somatically track OCD? I am still playing around with this trying to figure that out. Is there a different approach anyone has taken for the OCD? I have been going through the search functions above and am not done with that yet. Any advice/experience would be greatly appreciated. Even if OCD is not a part of TMS that you have had to deal with, if you have used Gordon’s method for non-painful TMS issues, or any other method by someone else, I would love to hear about it.

Thank you for your time

 

Yes, you can track and just observe your obsessive thoughts. I’ve had many physical symptoms but they never touched the pain of non-physical symptoms (especially Pure-OCD that mainly shows up as thoughts)

To break out of the distressing mental loop, I began to observe and acknowledge my thoughts and redirect/return myself to whatever I was focused on doing.

With practice your mind will naturally and automatically redirect. It will become automatic and easy. You are unlearning some bad habits and behavior. Although it’s painful and distressing, I can tell you that it works. You are able to retrain your brain and create new positive brain pathways.

Hope this helps.

 

To add to @HealingMe - the process for the redirection is exactly the method of Claire Weekes who has written several books about “nerves” (they are older books, and translate to anxiety, depression, ocd like thought patterns etc). She gives clear and concise directions and I found them very helpful.

 

Ok thank you for this. Yes the mental aspect is way worse than the physical for me. But I see how they interchange. This gives me some hope for myself- ocd is a beast - the habits feel so hard to break at times- and if you have been able to unlearn it, then that is very encouraging to me. I will keep playing with the somatic tracking as well. Thank you for your reply.

 

Thank you. I will get a book of hers out of the library. I actually read one years ago, I can’t even remember which. I know she is very well respected, and I am in a different place to understand what she is saying, so I am sure it will be worth another go for me. Thank you for your reply.

 

I had OCD and effectively can interrupt an episode using 'STOP therapy'...The Doctor who taught me got his PhD studying OCD and though it is similar to TMS work, it's got a few specifics.

https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/could-tms-cause-ocd.20133/ (Could TMS cause OCD?)

In fact, since I began that I have had very few episodes...and that crap was almost worse than any pain. I can still work with TMS...with OCD, everything becomes tiring. It was actually Sarno's comparison in Healing Back Pain that helped me understand TMS better...TMS is like 'OCD of the body'...same mechanics, different vehicle

 

You are my hero on this concept! <3 Thank you thank you thank you! Working it hard right now.

 

I got Claire Weekes on audible and I listen every day. She is the biggest source of reassurance for me.

 

Ooh! Good analysis. TMS tries so many vehicles. It’s astounding.

 

I actually read your comments on that thread the other day when I was searching OCD threads lol. What does “binding” mean? “Binding the anxiety “? I have never heard of that before.

So as I read about STOP - so I am guessing that for the first couple of days you were jumping from doing one thing to the next because you were trying to stop the thoughts? My ocd tends to be on bodily things (checking and checking and over analyzing). I know 100 percent it is a distraction technique. So any time you had an obsessive or compulsive thought, you physically changed what you were doing- and that decreased the intrusiveness of the thought? And the desire to check and recheck?

I have not heard of TMS is OCD of the body except when I read your comments on that thread you linked yesterday. It’s hard to make sense but yet does make sense at the same time lol.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I will give this a shot because it certainly won’t hurt anything and may just help. Your success story is inspiring- thank you.

 

I agree - it really IS astounding!

 

"Binding the Anxiety" is whatever ritual, counting, checking and rechecking we start doing. We think that the anxiety will leave if we 'do the right thing', but as we sufferers know, it just jumps to the next thing.

example: I am leaving my house...I realize "I forgot to unplug the coffee machine...I need to go check it or I will worry all day long"..so I go in the house to re-check it. While in the house I pee, , open up a piece of mail and then go back to my car.....wait...DID I check the coffee machine? I go back. I see the light isn't on...I go back to my car....."Wait a minute...there was a glare from the sun...maybe it is ON and I couldn't see the light."
so I check it again
and again
and again.
etc...

That is 'Binding the anxiety'. The anxiety is NOT coming from the normal, sane thought of truning off an appliance. I am like a record skipping...it just keeps playing the same line, and NOTHING I do seems to make it stop.
The truth is, the record needs to be SCRATCHED so it can't play anymore.

Yes. It was a little tiring at first, but it worked. Of course I only did it off of work, but I am usually so focused on work at work that only extraordinary anxieties triggered it. And I work alone a lot so I could talk out loud to it...like it was a possessing entity... a lot like 'talk to your head' that Sarno speaks of.

When I have some pain, I usually only have time to pay attention to it off of work. But that same 'skipping record' thought keeps 'checking and rechecking' to see if it's still there...just like OCD

 

@Baseball65 I remember you posting on my threads when I was going through denial that my OCD was TMS. I remember hoping that it wasn't because I was so accustomed to it running my life and I craved the familiarity of it (who wouldn't if you've had anxiety since your were 6). It's when you mentioned 'OCD of the body' that things began to really click for me. When I had my pain symptoms I would constantly check and re-check if I still had it upon waking in the morning, doing some new physical therapy, consuming a new vitamin. I was obsessed. 'OCD of the body' is deeply accurate. I was able to use this knowledge to tackle the obsessive thoughts I had. Majority of them were pure-O, checking my feelings around situations, objects, relationships, people. It's all anxiety, it's all the same, just TMS.

 

Ok this makes so much sense thank you. I understand what you are saying about binding the anxiety. Yes the anxiety is not coming from a normal place. It really is like a record skipping. Scratching the record makes a lot of sense and I never heard it put that way before. I do not mean to sound like I am making excuses, if it comes across that way, but it just seems so much easier to get rid of the pain than the ocd. I will work with your STOP method- I have never tried it so it is worth a try. Maybe it would help too if I keep thinking of the ocd as almost my brain being in pain, instead of the back or neck. I am so used to thinking it is something wrong with me and not a way to cover pain- emotional pain - and I am beginning to understand it also is a cover for physical pain too- when I am not in physical pain, it is the mental pain of ocd. I have been able to shift the physical pain- but does all of the pain ever really stop? Mental and physical? I know Sarno and Gordon say yes. I know you are saying yes. And I know there are success stories here. I need to go read some more. I really appreciate you taking the time to share all of this. These perspectives are very helpful.

 

Thank you for sharing this. I think I need to go back and look at your older posts. My ocd/anxiety started when I was 5, so I understand having it for so long. Mine comes and goes those- improves and worsens. I am trying to wrap my head around ocd of the body vs ocd of the mind. I am taking in so much information right now. With this last bout of intense ocd- I need to find a way to shift it. I know it is the symptom imperative- otherwise it would not be shifting and showing up like it does. You give me hope as well. Thank you.

 

You'll see in those old posts that My doctor told me there were two OCD types; "Born that way" and "Became that way" but there was no distinction between the two with success in using the therapy, just as there was no distinction between the groups using therapy vs SSRI's in their control group study.
Brain PET scans returned to normal in both groups.

I was a 'Born that way"..I could remember back as young as age 5 and 6.
If you read the old posts you'll also see that I didn't go to him for OCD...I went to him for Anger management. Right after I got better from TMS, I was in such a rage that I was near getting into physical conflicts with co-workers and I didn't want to get fired OR go to Jail..so I asked for help.

During our time he got to my childhood quick and the OCD 'came up'... He had me list every phase of it I could remember....and after he read it, said I was 'textbook'. In fact, my unabated anger was just a different manifestation of the same malady. He also said I was the most motivated patient he had ever had.

Pain is a GREAT motivator , whether Physical or Psychological....it all SUCKS.

I am always glad to help someone else get out of HELL, cause I remember how terrible it was. I often despaired of ever getting free, but I did. You can too.

 

I do remember from your posts that you said you originally went for anger. So even if you were “born that way” you can still clear the ocd by treating it as TMS? Ok no - I reread and I am reading that you mean there is no distinction by treating with with STOP, correct? I really feel like ocd was a manifestation of pain for me at that age - more as a “became that way” for me even at such a young age. However, knowing that it doesn’t really matter and success can be had regardless is what is most helpful. I, too, like you, am highly motivated. Therapy has helped me in so many ways, but this particular last round of OCD matched perfectly as a symptom imperative trying to distract me from feelings that I did not feel good about having and I didn’t really want to say were mine. Unfortunately my therapist is not versed in Sarno’s work or TMS. In this case, I am trying to provide extra support and healing for myself. Pain IS a great motivator, especially psychological, for me. I don’t want this ocd for me anymore. Thank for being so inspiring. It helps me see a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.

 

I don't treat it exactly like TMS. Because OCD episodes overwhelm our thinking, it's hard to get a point of reference to 'do the work'...
I have always thought the most important piece of Sarno's work is " I encourage my patients that when they find themselves focusing on the pain , to forcefully turn their mind to a source of recurrent rage..." (Pg 77)
My OCD was a distraction . It was never about anything that really mattered... "Did I turn off the coffe macgine"
"I need to wash my hands...I touched a dead person" "I am thinking gross thoughts and I am going to hell"
"What if that guy I shook hands with coughed into his hand..." "Did that guy look at me funny? He probably thinks i am a pussy...I better go ingratiate myself to him or go fight him"

See how none of those are true or real emotional stuff.? They are there to BLOCK me from emotional stuff.
When I am having to fight TMS I think of REAL painful thing intentionally...stuff my brain does NOT want to think about like "I am old and decaying...no one is ever gonna love me again" "I am scared. I have no family left...if I eat shit at work, I am screwed and will end up homeless" "My last GF left me alone and now I have no one to watch my dog" "I have been an orphan my whole life and it sucks because..."

I know those are real because they are NOT obsessive..they are thoughts that only came to me after much reflection and writing. I also know they are real because I do NOT think about them without trying.

I was always vaguely aware that my OCD thoughts and the ensuing rituals were not 'normal', but I always just thought I must be insane. Then I came home from work one day and the TV was on...it was a talk show and these people were saying stuff like "...and I'd drive around the block multiple times to make sure I hadn't hit someone and forgot about it"
I sat down immediately. I never had THAT Obsession but the mechanics sure sounded familiar. That was the first time I realized I was not the only sufferer. That alone was sort of reassuring.

The STOP therapy is useful because when that vague awareness arises, I can literally say "STOP" and it halts relatively quickly. That few times I was good and thorough about it made a strong imprint somewhere.. I wish it worked as well on TMS, but usually by the time a pain has snuck in it's been around a minute and it's the conditioning we are exorcising...takes a little more work. Reading, writing and of course the pg 77 drill.

Lastly...Just knowing it isn't real also de-escalated the intensity. There were a few times where it almost dared me to do some dangerous stuff to 'bind the anxiety' and it made me feel very alone like standing on the end of a pier.

It isn't real. It's just there to 'protect' us from something and the more I learn about that something, the less power it has. This is BEAT-able.

peace

 

Your story is so inspirational. Thanks for sharing that with us. This community is so wonderful and I’m so glad I’m here on this journey whether discovering things about myself or supporting others.

 

This is very helpful - thank you. My ocd thoughts are body related which makes sense because if it is not pain or skin acting up it is my mind looking for something wrong with my body. And it is most definitely a distraction- all of it is. I find it harder to convince myself, while in the OCD, that it is a mental distraction. As the anxiety wanes, I can clearly see it. That’s the struggle. Catching it while I am in it. Or maybe I need to see the signs it is coming on first and catching it there. I am not great with that either. But I can see it all after the fact.


I see what you are saying about real and obsessive thoughts. That makes sense as well. I don’t have the pure O so I can separate those two. Mine is body related. So either I have something real - pain, skin, digestive etc or my mind is searching for body problems ocd-style “am I ok?” “Check for this/that” “ is this normal?” Etc. so literally if it isn’t in the body, it is in my mind.

I will admit that I have done the drive around the block thing- only once each time though- so yes I have been there. That is rare for me to do though.

I wonder if I can catch the beginnings of an ocd spiral, if the STOP thing would work. I find if I get latches into the spiraling, I have to wait it out. I don’t know if i could STOP until the peaks of the spiral pass. But if I could catch it before spiraling, I can see how that would be really helpful.

Rationalizing the ocd like this helps. This last spiral had me feeling hopeless. Normally my attitude is one of “yes I can overcome this - it doesn’t always have to be like this” but this last time had me feeling defeated. It was literally right after a skin flare. When I felt that calm down, the ocd ramped up. I can see the interchange here. But I think I need to keep seeing through the ocd - as a protection and distraction technique. That nothing is actually wrong. What am I protecting and what am I distracting from? And yes I have been journaling through it and talking to myself about it- what I would write sun a journal but just saying it out loud to myself while driving or in the shower etc. so I am at least processing it or bringing it to light when I can’t actually write.

I really appreciate all the time you have taken to share your story. It provides me with so much hope and I will continue to reference my thread and work through what you have shared.