The Hope Blog
Always a Solution
by James Callner, MA, AFOCD President. James Callner is an award winning writer, filmmaker and speaker on mental illness. I was desperate for solutions in 1982. That was the year my OCD symptoms hit their peak. I was 29 years old, teaching at a local college,...
Letting Go of Control
This article is an excerpt from James Callner's up coming book on OCD, "It's a Matter of Trust ~Life Lessons from OCD ~ A Memoir”. Mr. Callner is President of The Awareness Foundation for OCD afocd.org Life Lesson: Letting go of Control In the last Life Lesson I...
Spiritual Medicine
by James Callner, MA, AFOCD President. James Callner is an award winning writer, filmmaker and speaker on mental illness. Note: Use of the word "spiritual" is not meant as a reference to any organized religion; instead, "spiritual" is meant to be understood as one's...
Spiritual Prescriptions for OCD
by James Callner, MA, AFOCD President. James Callner is an award winning writer, filmmaker and speaker on mental illness. (This is an excerpt from James Callner's upcoming book on OCD) Note: Use of the word "spiritual" is not meant as a reference to any organized...
F.E.A.R. = False Evidence Appearing Real
Why has CBT/ERP worked for me and what is F. E.A.R. really? I believe it shifted and literally changed my brain structure and chemistry for the better by changing my distorted belief system caused by the medical condition of OCD. Sounds smart doesn’t it? But, the...
Checking on Highway 9~ twenty five years ago
Excerpt from James Callner's upcoming book on OCD: "It's a Matter of Trust ~ A Memoir of Hope" I was now working part time at the college teaching night courses. The OCD was manageable but I was only two years out of the hospital and it was a daily struggle to be on...
Creativity Challenges OCD
An Excerpt from James Callner's upcoming book "It's a Matter of Trust ~ A Memoir of Hope" In the 1990’s up to day I continued my pursuit of recovery though as many avenues as I could including 12 steps programs, Medication trials, Spirituality, Cognitive Behavioral...
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OCD Always Lies
Well, does OCD always lie? It’s safe enough to say that OCD always lies because the percentage of truth within an OCD thought is so low.
I asked a well-known OCD therapist and director of The OCD Treatment Centre in England this exact question: “Can I say to myself and to others whom I help that OCD always lies?”
She replied, “Absolutely, because the outrageous thoughts just don’t hold up to reality enough.”
Is there any amount of truth to an OCD thought? I have to say, in some cases, yes. But there is also some truth in the thought that a meteor the exact size of your house will land on your house tonight. Get my drift?
In my experience, I need to acknowledge and accept that there may be some truth to some OCD thoughts and that accep- tance is part of recovery too. But it’s so minuscule that I can hold onto the anchor that OCD always lies. You can too. JC 💙
God, grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and, the wisdom to know the difference.
The Serenity Prayer is something I have used for over 35+ years to calm myself down. I'm not a very religious person but I do believe in some kind of higher power - whatever you might call it is up to you. But, if you have trouble with the "G" word, I suggest you replace it with your name. And, replace the word "me" with "yourself". It would read like this for me:
Jim, grant yourself the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Hey, still just as powerful. JC 💙🤟