Jill Freestone, an anxiety coach specializing in OCD, discusses how scrupulous tendencies relate to quitting porn and offers tips for healing. They explore struggles with pornography addiction, harmful effects of shame-based teachings, navigating anger in a religious context, and the impact of OCD on faith and identity. The importance of understanding OCD and seeking evaluation and therapy is highlighted.
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Quick takeaways
Understanding the difference between healthy religious beliefs and OCD-driven thoughts is crucial in overcoming scrupulosity and obtaining true healing.
Identifying the red flags of OCD and scrupulosity can be essential in seeking help and finding appropriate treatment.
Deep dives
Understanding OCD and Scrupulosity
OCD, especially scrupulosity, can be a significant factor for individuals struggling to quit pornography. When OCD attaches to something of great value, such as religion, it can manifest as scrupulosity, which is a form of religious and moral-based OCD. This type of OCD can cause distress and anxiety related to religious beliefs, moral values, and the desire to do what is right. It often leads to a need for certainty and reassurance, excessive confessing, and an obsession with moral incongruence. This can prevent individuals from finding healing and make them feel stuck in a cycle of shame and guilt. Understanding the difference between healthy religious beliefs and OCD-driven thoughts is crucial in finding the right approach to overcoming scrupulosity and obtaining true healing.
Recognizing the Red Flags of OCD and Scrupulosity
Identifying the red flags of OCD and scrupulosity can be essential in seeking help and finding appropriate treatment. Some common signs include constant reassurance-seeking, repeated confessions, excessive guilt and shame, rigid black-and-white thinking, perfectionism, avoidance behaviors, and compulsive rituals. It is important to distinguish between healthy religious practices and OCD-driven behaviors, as well as to recognize the interference OCD can have in daily life, relationships, and overall well-being.
The Importance of Proper Diagnosis and Treatment
Obtaining a proper diagnosis and seeking treatment from a therapist who specializes in OCD and scrupulosity is crucial. Exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, paired with somatic healing approaches, can be effective in treating OCD and scrupulosity. ERP focuses on sitting with uncertainty and resisting the urge to engage in compulsion, while somatic healing addresses the body's trauma and allows for effective healing. It is vital to receive accurate evaluation and treatment to avoid unnecessary suffering and mismanagement of OCD and scrupulosity symptoms.
Understanding the Nature of OCD and Recovery
OCD is a complex and formidable challenge, but recovery is possible with the right understanding and approach. It is important to reframe the concept of 'quitting for good' and shift the focus from complete eradication of all urges and thoughts to a more sustainable perspective. Accepting uncertainty, learning to sit with discomfort, and incorporating self-love and self-compassion are essential in the recovery process. Identifying and questioning harmful beliefs, redefining religious perspectives, and embracing healing rather than pursuing perfection are key components in finding true freedom from OCD and scrupulosity.
Jill Freestone is an anxiety coach for teens and adults who specializes in helping them explore and understand life’s big emotions. She’s also an expert on the topic of OCD, and she’s here this week to highlight how OCD relates to people who want to quit porn and why understanding scrupulous tendencies can help steer you toward the path to healing.
Join us on this episode as Jill offers her insights on the basic characteristics of scrupulous OCD, why it becomes a problem, and how to identify if it may be present for you. We’re also diving into how scrupulous OCD keeps us stuck, why it feels like an obsession, and her top tips for beginning to question and heal these tendencies.