Can Philosophy be Helpful in Treating OCD?

[deValentin]

One day I found myself obsessionally wrapped up in the task of trying to solve a certain existential problem. At the same time I had a scheduled appointment for a professional to come the next day and install new flooring in my home. My responsibility was to remove all furniture from the part of the house where the new flooring was to be installed, and I knew it would take me at least half a day to do so as I was working by myself and some pieces of furniture were very heavy. As my obsessional thinking was starting to infringe upon the half a day I had set aside for shifting the furniture, I started to get nervous. What if I couldn’t be ready on time? What would my family and the technician think or say? What would that do to my self-esteem and my reputation as a normally responsible person?

As my distress grew, a thought from the Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius came to my mind: “Learn to ask of all actions, 'Why are they doing that?' Starting with your own.” So, I started to ask myself, ‘What was I trying to accomplish?’ Was I attempting to solve an existential problem with a clear conscience without worrying too much about how long that would take me and whether that would interfere with my other tasks? The answer was clearly, ‘no’. Actually, I was trying to settle an issue that was disturbing me without having to pay too high a price for my ruminations.

That realization brought me a tremendous relief because I realized that OCD didn’t completely ‘kill’ my values. I didn’t have to find an infallible argument to convince me to end my ruminations. My values were still there. I just had to let them play an effective role in my actions. What prevented them to play that role is that I was constantly invested time and energy into my ruminations. So, the only role my values could play was to drive me to pursue my obsessive goals in a distressed manner, worrying I couldn’t reach them on time for me to be able to assume normal responsibilities.

When I read about people checking obsessionally their stove before leaving their house and doing it under extreme pressure to find certainty as quickly as possible for fear of being late for work, I’m confirmed in the belief that OCD doesn’t obliterate all our values. Our values are still present, but they express themselves in a different manner. Mothers who can’t hug their children for fear of contamination are still feeling sad for not being able to show them physical affection. Individuals who are obsessionally afraid of harming their loved ones are nevertheless distressed by the heavy toll that obsession takes on their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

So, it’s not a matter of desperately trying to bring our ruminations or compulsions to a mind-appeasing conclusion, so we can return to normal living. It’s a matter of refraining to give in to them so we can let our real values express themselves fully. We’ll never get over betraying our real values, but if we manage to live in line with our values, it’s possible to get over not attaining our obsessional goals.