Pure OCD: An Alternative Perspective
Following ‘Pure OCD, The Mind Virus and Wetiko Part I‘, this short article builds on an earlier introduction, to develop my suggestion that what many Native American’s call Wetiko is a manifestation of Pure OCD. Viewing Pure OCD from this fresh (yet ancient) perspective could be more helpful than the frustratingly vague materialist-reductionist view of Pure OCD (and all mental illness); that is to say, an enigmatic imbalance of chemicals in the brain, with serotonin (or lack of) the prime suspect. Although this is now commonly accepted by the medical profession, I’m not alone in finding this far from conclusive, or even logical. If chemical imbalances are the issue, why do people with the same symptoms report completely different results based on the same pharmaceutical drugs? Likewise, why are different pharmaceutical drugs, either periodically or in combination, proscribed to the same person, on a seemingly complete trial and error basis. Why would one GP recommend a different antipsychotic cocktail to another GP, if there was an objective standard the profession abided by?
Although the pharmaceutical industry has demonstrated some consistent results, the scientific methodology is little more analogous to throwing darts blindfolded. Electro-convulsive therapy also showed some consistent results, but our modern sensibilities now judge it barbaric. When a listed side effect in all varieties of SSRI’s is an increased risk of suicide – the very thing they’re proposed to prevent, I wonder if future generations will look back on us with the same disdain?* With this in mind, perhaps ideas outside of the mainstream aren’t so unfounded after all…
Pure OCD: The Psychic Vampire
I’ve heard many people describe their Pure OCD feeling like a psychic vampire. The previously mentioned Paul Levy insightfully writes “vampires don’t cast a shadow on the ground, nor a reflection in a mirror. That’s because they don’t like to be seen; once they’re seen, the game is over”. For me, this perfectly parallels the cure to Pure OCD – recognising that the intrusive thoughts as not a product of your personality, they don’t define you as a person. Pure OCD sufferers pre-recovery cannot separate their intrusive thoughts from themselves – how harrowing it is! It is constant battle to remain mindful when experiencing intrusive thoughts, which to someone in its full grip, is constant.
There is no off switch to Pure OCD; that is, until, one learns to see their intrusive thoughts for what they really are. When the sufferer is brave enough to confront their intrusive thoughts without attachment, in doing so distancing themselves from their disturbing effects, they recognise that what seemed so threatening, actually had no substance at all. It is like the vampire that’s practically invincible until it’s shown to have no life force of its own, the reality of its lack of reflection in a mirror, is deeply symbolic of wetiko, and I’d suggest of Pure OCD.
It’s no coincidence that vampires shrivel up in daylight, they become immediately impotent when in plain sight. Just like during Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, a Pure OCD sufferer may summon up the courage to tell their therapist they obsess about becoming a serial rapist, despite harbouring no intentions or demonstrating any behaviour remotely suggesting that could be likely or even possible. Cognitive Behavior Therapy works by bringing to light i.e. openly talking about what is tormenting them. Crucially, once it is shown to the light, the reality of the fear disappears and can seem ridiculous – it looses all it’s power because it never had its own in the first place.
Pure OCD sufferers often spend decades not knowing they have Pure OCD. In a twisted fashion the sufferer “self-organises an outer display of coherence around this pathogenic core, which ‘masks’ the inner dysfunction, making it hard to recognize” Paul writes regarding Wetiko, although no less relevant to Pure OCD. Likewise “In a psychic coup d’etat, the wetiko bug can usurp and displace the person, who becomes its puppet and marionette”. It’s the job of therapy to bring this extremely toxic relationship of the psyche to light, and by doing so, empower the sufferer with the strength they already had.
At the risk of sounding super new-age, I suspect Pure OCD is something akin to a malevolent force, rather than a strictly material problem of the brain because Pure OCD behaves in a horribly self-aware way. Just like how the vampire avoids light and mirrors knowing it will lose its ability to deceive and infect its host, Pure OCD tells the sufferer they are not worthy of treatment, they actually are evil, the therapist is a fraud or any number of sinister tactics to avoid being brought to the light.
Pure OCD Constantly Lies
Just like wetiko, Pure OCD lies to its sufferer as though its a separate entity. This reminded me of how Satan is described as the “The Father of Lies” (John 8:44), and I wonder if some valid comparisons could be made too. Similarly, Satanists do not have an original religious tradition, but an inversion of a Christian one. For example, Satanists wear or make signs of inverted crosses, black is utilised instead of white, and a direct reversal of Christian values is celebrated generally.
Pure OCD doesn’t just make anything up randomly but directly inverts whatever is cherished by the sufferer. For example, a mother would do anything to protect her newborn baby, loving it unconditionally in a natural and wholesome manner, only for Pure OCD to suddenly question if her maternal instincts and boundless love were a false consciousness she fabricated for herself; in fact, her true self is that of a paedophile incestuous rapist. The intensity of her intrusive thoughts could constrict the loving mother’s psyche so much she feels forced to put the baby into care. Her whole life she dreamt of being a mother to a healthy baby, which came true. Only now, she is guilt-ridden and confused, her baby is abandoned and out of desperation commits suicide.
If as a thought experiment I was tasked to design an evil psychic entity, I’d struggle to design a crueller one; yet, it’s a reality that many women have admitted to me that they’re on the brink of. If Pure OCD manifested in an unpredictable schizophrenic fashion, I wouldn’t have gone down this rabbit hole. However, the specific nature of how Pure OCD inverts whatever would ordinarily be the most life-affirming part of the individual’s world, seems too calculated to be anything short of demonic.
More in Part III…Footnotes
* I am not therapist nor doctor – I do not recommend anyone stops taking any medication they’re currently prescribed. Likewise, I am not discounting the benefits that prescription medication has brought to many. I am saying, they’re empirically unreliable and not an answer in and of themselves for many people. I have had both success and failure with them.
Coping with Pure OCD: How to live with intrusive thoughts 