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Self-Help Practice 5:
Create a Loop Tape of Brief Obsessions
What to do During Obsessing
If your obsessive thoughts take the form of a word, a
group of words, a sentence, or block of sentences that is repeated again and
again, you might benefit from the use of a loop tape.
Loop tapes vary in length from ten seconds to three minutes
and are often used to record outgoing messages on a telephone answering machine. When the
tape if left running, it will play the same message continuously.
To practice this technique, write down the sentence
or narrative exactly as it comes spontaneously into your mind. Then record
it on an appropriate length of loop tape. Listen to the tape for forty-five minutes or longer
each day. While listening
to the tape, try to become as anxious and distressed as possible. Just as
with Daily Worry Time, becoming distressed is one of the most important components of this
technique. Use the tape daily until the content of the message no longer distresses
you. Even if your discomfort decreases within a few days, continue the practice for
at least a week.
This tape practice works on the principle called
habituation.
This simply means that when you confront your fears and
your discomfort simultaneously and continually, you will become
less anxious. That's why I ask you to persist in your practice every day for such
a long period, and, while you're listening, to become as distressed as possible.
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