The Holidays are upon us! With the passing of Thanksgiving, we have now entered the Holiday Zone, a time when not everything is as it seems. Do not adjust your lives, the problem is with the times.
These are stressful times for all of us, whether we have OCD or not. Of course, having OCD can make this period (like any other) much harder. The anxiety of planning, shopping, visiting and allocating time gives many families trouble. Add to that the irrational concerns about "is this safe to eat, this thing that's out of my normal routine?" or "now I have to go over to Aunt Harriet's house for the holidays, and her place is really contaminated!" or "am I really doing the right thing for my conception of God by celebrating this way?" and the holidays can be downright painful. Of course, we can't forget that either the pressure of exams, or the emptiness of too much time off from school (too much?? Well, I mean that with extra time on our hands, our obsessions can seem worse with less to distract us) can factor in too. How can we get through this tough period? A couple of suggestions follow, and I hope you all will add to the list with your own suggestions as to "Helping out with the Holidays:"

1. Remember that, under stressful times, OCD symptoms tend to get worse in the short run. That means you can expect your symptoms to get worse when the Holidays stress you. But you can also expect your symptoms to get better once they're over. The short run is the key phrase.
2. Related to number 1 above, forwarned may be forarmed. Knowing ahead of time that you can expect more stress and tougher symptoms may mean that you can understand them in the short-term context of the Holidays. For instance, "I'm having this obsession again that I haven't had for a long time. Before, I would have thought that this meant that my OCD was back to bad again. Now I know that it's due to the season, and that it will be over in a few weeks."
3. If you've been experimenting with lowering your dosage of meds, this might be a good time to talk to your doc about stopping the decline, or even adding an extra daily dose, to prevent the stress from getting too big a hold on you. If you are at your maximum dose, talk to your doc about letting you change the time of day that you take your meds, just in case you need more sleep, less sleep or more concentration than usual.
4. Keep your appointments with your docs and therapists during the Holiday season! If your doing CBT, it's a good time to slow down with the exposures and just count on them for support, understanding and anxiety management skills.
5. If you belong to a support group, go to it during the month of December (even if you don't normally go), and get your parents to go, too. They need support as well. Most support groups will meet at least once during the month.
6. Give other people the benefit of the doubt this month. Nearly every one is anxious about something, whether it's shopping, getting to an appointment, getting to a party, getting a parking spot, or just getting home. Nothing is worth getting worked up over, and adding more ammunition to your OCD's arsenal.
7. Laugh if you can! Laughter, expecially for those born pessimists out there (you know who you are!) is the best medicine for distraction from general worry, and it certainly can help with general anxiety and even with distraction from OCD. Go see "A Bug's Life" or, better still, "Babe - Pig in the City." Two good, laughable flicks.
8. If you're on-line with ocdhelp.org and the chat room, I think Jill is planning another Marathon Support Weekend on Dec 11 and 12. I KNOW that I'll be hosting a pair of special "Let's Laugh At Ourselves" sessions on Wed. Dec 16 and 23 at 8:00pm PST (the usual humor hour). If you're not allowed to get into the chat room, show this message to your parents, and ask them for either special permission, or, better yet, ask them to join us. You'd be surprised at the sense humor that parents can have....
9. Don't forget what this season is about. Whatever your faith or belief system, this is a time of remembering that we ALL have things in our lives to be grateful for, even if we are tormented by OCD. Focus all your energies on those things! It's a time of looking hard to find the joy that is there, somewhere, buried under the torment. But you can find it with effort. If you're a spiritual person, it may be a season to show your spirituality more than usual. If you have scrupulous obsessions, however, it may be a time to find more joy in the brother- (and sister-) hood of the season. This aspect of the Holidays are never pagan or sacreligious; they are simply human. And so are we. The joy is out there.

Dr.santa