Overcoming addictions that we used to cope: I think many of us with OCD can relate to Zamperini’s use of alcohol to escape from the Bird. So for us, it can be like driving a car that’s out of alignment: it takes conscious effort to keep the car headed in the right direction so that we don’t veer into the ditch of OCD-fueled negativity. Being happy can take work, but it’s worth it. Further, while everyone’s brains are programmed to take note of the negative (because quickly identifying potential problems helps us to stay alive), I’m guessing that people with OCD have brains even more tuned to the negative. LIFES AHA MOMENTS FULL
Finding happiness: Life is also not automatically full of joy forever once OCD has been banished, as life isn’t that way for anyone.It’s why I’m currently reading Forgive for Good, because I think forgiveness is a better alternative than bitterness. Overcoming bitterness: It’s hard not to be bitter at the time we’ve lost, how long it took us to find the right treatment, the opportunities that will never come again.I think many of us who have done exposure and response prevention therapy and are in recovery from OCD can relate to the struggle to overcome these issues. For several years after the war, Zamperini dulled his torment with an addiction to alcohol, as it seemed to banish the Bird from consciousness.
After his release, Zamperini talked about how he was haunted each night by the Bird, who continued to beat him in his dreams. How could they possibly be unhappy after what they had experienced? How was every day not full of grace, peace and joy? They were alive, after all. Frankl also described that former prisoners were surprised when they encountered unhappiness in their lives. It would take a strong person not to become bitter, resentful, and full of vengeance in these circumstances. They’d lost their families, their livelihoods, their possessions – everything. Frankl talks about prisoners of concentration camps struggling with bitterness after the war. I could also relate to the challenges, described by both Frankl and Hillenbrand, that released prisoners re-entering the world encounter: And, you have no idea when your sentence is going to end. Having OCD is like being in a mental prison full of hellish tortures that you just cannot escape. we are not in a raft floating in the Pacific surrounded by sharks nor in a camp where we could be chosen for death at any minute, OCD makes us feel as if we are. Further, even though we as OCD sufferers are in no more danger day-to-day than anyone else, i.e. How does all this relate to OCD? The analogy came to me as I was reading both books: having untreated OCD is like being in a mental prison. One particular guard called “The Bird” developed a personal vendetta against Zamperini and brutally attacked him with such vengeance that he knocked Zamperini unconscious on multiple occasions. Day 48 offered no relief, however, as they were captured by the Japanese. He and two other crew members survived and floated with no food or water for 47 days, many times in the company of circling sharks. Zamperini was a bombardier on a B-24 bomber that crashed into the Pacific. Every day Frankl lived with the knowledge that he could be chosen for execution at any moment. He states that of every 28 people who entered a concentration camp, only 1 walked out alive at the end of the war. Through his stories of life at Auschwitz as well as other concentration camps, we get a grim picture of the reality of day-to-day existence for those who were held by the Nazis. Tales of tormentįrankl’s book is sobering. Both books gave me some incredible, new perspectives on living with and surviving OCD. Hillenbrand’s book is about how Louie Zamperini survived after his B-24 bomber plunged into the Pacific, also during WWII. Frankl’s book is the account of his life during and after being imprisoned at Nazi concentration camps in World War II. Frankl and Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand back-to-back. It was an auspicious coincidence that I decided to read Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Fred Talks: Taming OCD and Reclaiming Your Life. 
Post-Traumatic OCD Prolonged Exposure Form.Importance of Evidence-Based OCD Treatment.Individual OCD Therapy and Treatment (ERP).
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