Many of us struggling with addiction are also contending with mental health issues, many of which can be severe and debilitating. One common mental illness many of us share is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. We form toxic thought patterns that we obsess about so much they become ingrained in our psyches, driving our emotions, behaviors and choices. Our obsessions are constant, persistent and recurring, causing us to feel sad, anxious and insecure. We feel so down on ourselves that we feel self-hating. We can develop compulsions in order to try to silence our cruel inner voice, to relieve our pain and to make ourselves feel better. These compulsions don’t stop our thoughts from hurting us, though, and they can actually cause us more pain in the process. Our compulsions can mirror addictions and function in very similar ways.
The compulsions we develop are often illogical. To our rational minds, they don’t make much sense. Often, they don’t serve any actual purpose or have any real meaning. They are simply the weird compulsions our minds have developed, just like the illogical obsessions our minds have formed. Our compulsions don’t actually stop our bothersome thoughts from recurring, and they don’t bring us actual relief. In the moment, however, we can be temporarily distracted from our toxic inner voice by engaging in our compulsion. We can find our compulsion soothing and calming. Our obsession has been calling us to engage in a certain act, and we don’t feel we can relax until we give into it. We can feel a moment of instant gratification when we do give into it, much like scratching an itch that has been nagging us and driving us crazy. That itch returns, though, because the programming of our subconscious mind remains intact and uninterrupted. Our compulsions don’t make us feel better for very long. Soon we’re back to our obsessive thinking, desperately looking for ways out of the mental and emotional pain we’re feeling. Any gratification we felt from the compulsions quickly subsides and is replaced by the return of our intense anxiety.
Our compulsions are often an attempt to help ourselves make sense of things, to process, manage and organize our thoughts in such a way that makes sense to us in our compromised emotional state. Our obsessions and compulsions are simply manifestations of our inner pain and fears that have yet to be resolved. Our tendency to obsess, overthink and over-worry can actually be signs of an imbalance in our spleen, just as our fear and anxiety can point to an imbalance in our kidneys. Recovering from our obsessions and compulsions requires that we approach them holistically, just as we would any other tough mental illness or addiction. Meditation, yoga and energy healing practices such as tapping or Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT, can all help us to heal from our intense mental and emotional pain, creating peace within ourselves and helping us to overturn years of destructive patterns.
At The Guest House Ocala, we have personal recovery experience and over 12 years in the recovery industry. We have helped countless people recover, and we’re here to help you too. Call 855-483-7800 today for more information.