Getting Rid of an Obsession

An excellent primer on stopping an obsessive thought is posted on Beliefnet, which is a great place to explore/talk about any sort of spiritual belief or doubt.

The ideas in the piece are familiar to me–but then I’m quite a student of obsessions and the stoppage of them. However, I don’t recall seeing them so well condensed and assembled, also with pictures for each that are oddly persuasive.

Obsession can get in the way of boldness or of any movement at all.

Once I went to a party that reminded me of this. It was a birthday party held in a warehouse-like space that was already filled with an art piece. The art was made up of the old narrow single beds from a state mental hospital. They were empty and made up with white sheets, and all the air between and above them was thickly cobwebbed with black string. A terrific three-dimensional visual of what obsession feels like — one aspect of it, anyway.

So the guests were given scissors and we cut down the net of obsessions. I have somewhere a picture of myself doing that. It was satisfying to do, and useful to remember: to do what’s necessary to cut through that sticky stuff.

Added note: some obsessions, like a romantic yearning, we don’t always want to give up hope on. Once when I was single I had one of those hanging on too long. My therapist said, “Cut it off.” By which he meant giving up every hope or ambition. I said, “That’s hard.” He said, “As hard as my cutting off my own hand.” I have to say, though, it worked, and was a lot less painful in the long run. It was time.

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Categories: mental health, self-management