{"id":3443,"date":"2025-11-16T17:30:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T17:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damianruiz.eu\/?page_id=3443"},"modified":"2025-12-10T21:33:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T21:33:05","slug":"obsessive-disorders","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/damianruiz.eu\/en\/obsessive-disorders\/","title":{"rendered":"The Treatment of OCD"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\">\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"3443\" class=\"elementor elementor-3443 elementor-2935\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-603bf83 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"603bf83\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4e353940 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4e353940\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p><p data-start=\"252\" data-end=\"269\"><strong data-start=\"254\" data-end=\"269\">Dami\u00e1n Ruiz<\/strong><\/p><p data-start=\"271\" data-end=\"633\">Almost twenty years ago, when a young man <strong data-start=\"313\" data-end=\"344\">came to my private practice<\/strong> in Barcelona telling me that he had been suffering from and treating <strong data-start=\"414\" data-end=\"421\">OCD<\/strong> for years and that his level of distress was unbearable, I began a <strong data-start=\"489\" data-end=\"529\">process of theoretical investigation<\/strong> through all kinds of readings, except for the cognitive-behavioral line, which has never interested me.<\/p><p data-start=\"635\" data-end=\"681\"><em data-start=\"635\" data-end=\"681\"><strong data-start=\"636\" data-end=\"680\">(I will mention here a significant fact)<\/strong><\/em><\/p><ul data-start=\"683\" data-end=\"1440\"><li data-start=\"683\" data-end=\"1118\"><p data-start=\"685\" data-end=\"1118\"><em data-start=\"685\" data-end=\"1118\">When I was a young adjunct professor at the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Barcelona, the head of the Personality Department, to which I belonged, told me that if I wanted to continue as a professor, I had to pursue a PhD in \u201chard Cognitivism.\u201d I don\u2019t think I gave it much thought. I didn\u2019t want to do it. This does not mean that, had I done it, I would necessarily have remained there, but my decision was very clear.<\/em><\/p><\/li><li data-start=\"1120\" data-end=\"1268\"><p data-start=\"1122\" data-end=\"1268\"><em data-start=\"1122\" data-end=\"1268\">I do not believe in any therapeutic approach that does not consider the unconscious, and even less in those that focus primarily on the symptom.<\/em><\/p><\/li><li data-start=\"1270\" data-end=\"1347\"><p data-start=\"1272\" data-end=\"1347\"><em data-start=\"1272\" data-end=\"1347\">The obsessive symptom is like a fever \u2014 what must be sought is its cause.<\/em><\/p><\/li><li data-start=\"1349\" data-end=\"1440\"><p data-start=\"1351\" data-end=\"1440\"><em data-start=\"1351\" data-end=\"1440\">From that point on, my full respect to the professionals of that psychological school.)<\/em><\/p><\/li><\/ul><p data-start=\"1442\" data-end=\"1533\">What happened is that, driven by the <strong data-start=\"1479\" data-end=\"1532\">two motives that most inspire me in my profession<\/strong>:<\/p><ol data-start=\"1535\" data-end=\"1620\"><li data-start=\"1535\" data-end=\"1578\"><p data-start=\"1538\" data-end=\"1578\">Empathy toward the suffering of others<\/p><\/li><li data-start=\"1579\" data-end=\"1620\"><p data-start=\"1582\" data-end=\"1620\">Interest in psychological challenges<\/p><\/li><\/ol><p data-start=\"1622\" data-end=\"1969\">I <strong data-start=\"1624\" data-end=\"1648\">gradually progressed<\/strong> in what would eventually become an integrative and eclectic therapeutic procedure in which elements from the theories of Carl G. Jung, primatology, Theodore Millon\u2019s perspective, certain concepts from Alexander Lowen and Wilhelm Reich, and \u2014 if you will allow me \u2014 also, conceptually, from Friedrich Nietzsche, converge.<\/p><p data-start=\"1971\" data-end=\"2528\">And so I began to work therapeutically. I sincerely believe that this methodology is highly effective in many cases. However, the omnipresent influence of behaviorism in Spain and its \u201cofficial status,\u201d both academically and in the public healthcare system, leaves very little room for alternative approaches \u2014 regardless of the fact that, at the time, I presented \u2014 together with members of the team I directed \u2014 statistically proven results on the reduction of trait anxiety in patients with OCD at the European Psychology Congress held in Moscow in 2019.<\/p><p data-start=\"2530\" data-end=\"2689\">As we all know: if an official therapy does not work for a patient, the issue is minimized; but if the same thing happens with a new approach, it is magnified.<\/p><p data-start=\"2691\" data-end=\"2993\"><strong data-start=\"2691\" data-end=\"2706\">In any case<\/strong>, there are no miracles: the fact that I fully trust and can affirm that there have been, and continue to be, very good results in the treatment of <strong data-start=\"2854\" data-end=\"2861\">OCD<\/strong> does not mean that this has been true for all patients treated \u2014 but it has been true for a rather considerable percentage of them.<\/p><p data-start=\"2995\" data-end=\"3036\"><strong data-start=\"2998\" data-end=\"3036\">And what is this therapy based on?<\/strong><\/p><p data-start=\"3038\" data-end=\"3431\">Starting from the possible genetic predisposition to <strong data-start=\"3091\" data-end=\"3098\">OCD<\/strong>, what matters is finding the cause or causes that may have triggered it (AND THERE ARE ALWAYS CAUSES), usually in childhood or adolescence \u2014 or understanding what kind of treatment the person received from parents or guardians: both excessive rigidity and anxiogenic overprotection can activate obsessive disorder, even years later.<\/p><p data-start=\"3433\" data-end=\"3579\"><strong data-start=\"3433\" data-end=\"3579\">Once the origin is known, we must identify which emotions or drives have been blocked, and in which aspects fear and\/or guilt have taken hold.<\/strong><\/p><p data-start=\"3581\" data-end=\"3874\"><strong data-start=\"3581\" data-end=\"3588\">OCD<\/strong> is an <strong data-start=\"3595\" data-end=\"3615\">anxiety disorder<\/strong> with <strong data-start=\"3621\" data-end=\"3657\">underlying depressive components<\/strong>, and the two emotions beneath it are \u2014 I repeat \u2014 fear and\/or guilt. People with <strong data-start=\"3739\" data-end=\"3746\">OCD<\/strong>, beyond their mental or behavioral rituals, think instead of live, and live trying to prevent anything negative from happening.<\/p><p data-start=\"3876\" data-end=\"4120\">Therefore, if this is so, the most logical approach is to work on these two emotions, to which I add a third: desire. Because the absence of desire \u2014 in the sense of motivation or passion \u2014 implies a lack of authentic connection with existence.<\/p><p data-start=\"4122\" data-end=\"4180\"><strong data-start=\"4126\" data-end=\"4180\">And what is the therapeutic procedure, in summary?<\/strong><\/p><p data-start=\"4184\" data-end=\"4246\">Removing the obsessive symptom from the center of attention.<\/p><p data-start=\"4249\" data-end=\"4376\">Focusing on what has been repressed \u2014 what frightens, what is feared, and what generates guilt \u2014 and gradually activating it.<\/p><p data-start=\"4379\" data-end=\"4527\">The content of <strong data-start=\"4394\" data-end=\"4401\">OCD<\/strong> \u2014 whether related to sexual orientation*, contamination, order, or any other theme \u2014 is always metaphorical, never literal.<\/p><p data-start=\"4530\" data-end=\"4713\">In my sessions, I speak very little about <strong data-start=\"4572\" data-end=\"4579\">OCD<\/strong>, because what I aim to do is to develop the healthy side that has been blocked in each patient \u2014 often psychologically constrained.<\/p><p data-start=\"4716\" data-end=\"5015\">To overcome <strong data-start=\"4728\" data-end=\"4735\">OCD<\/strong>, one must return to existence in a clearly active way, and \u2014 even if it sounds na\u00efve \u2014 it is essential to recover a certain joy of living. As the psychic field expands with new and engaging content, anxiety begins to diminish, and from a certain point on, OCD naturally declines.<\/p><p data-start=\"5017\" data-end=\"5457\"><em data-start=\"5017\" data-end=\"5457\">It should be clarified that <strong data-start=\"5046\" data-end=\"5072\">sexual-orientation OCD<\/strong> has nothing to do with egodystonic homosexuality. In the <strong data-start=\"5130\" data-end=\"5144\">first case<\/strong>, the patient can never reach a conclusion; they may spend years checking themselves without ever establishing a stable criterion. In the <strong data-start=\"5282\" data-end=\"5292\">second<\/strong>, the patient knows they are attracted to people of the same sex \u2014 that is, they do not doubt it \u2014 but they cannot accept or integrate it due to various prejudices.<\/em><\/p><p data-start=\"5459\" data-end=\"5586\"><em data-start=\"5459\" data-end=\"5586\">The first must be helped to overcome <strong data-start=\"5497\" data-end=\"5504\">OCD<\/strong>; the second must be helped to accept their sexual orientation and live it fully.<\/em><\/p><p style=\"text-align: right;\" data-start=\"5591\" data-end=\"5626\"><strong data-start=\"5591\" data-end=\"5606\">Dami\u00e1n Ruiz<\/strong><br data-start=\"5606\" data-end=\"5609\" \/><a class=\"decorated-link cursor-pointer\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\" data-start=\"5609\" data-end=\"5626\">www.damianruiz.eu<\/a><\/p><p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Dami\u00e1n Ruiz Almost twenty years ago, when a young man came to my private practice in Barcelona telling me [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"plain-container","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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