Miguel Ángel Ruiz: "Not knowing how to manage obsessions is expensive".

Miguel Ángel Ruiz talks to us about his experience treating patients with problematic obsessions.

What we usually understand popularly as "obsessions" is, in many cases, something that helps us to move forward, a source of motivation that leads us to commit to projects. However, in other cases, this term describes situations that not only do not bring us anything constructive, but also damage our psychological well-being.

It is in this second type of obsession that clinical and health psychology comes into play.For many people, obsessive-type problems mean a significant loss of control over their lives, to the point of developing disorders such as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

To better understand how this happens and what to do in the face of this type of discomfort, we interviewed an expert on the subject, we interviewed an expert on the subject: psychologist Miguel Ángel Ruiz González..

The psychological treatment of the problems of obsessive type: interview to Miguel Ángel Ruiz.

Miguel Ángel Ruiz González is the Director of the health center Psicología y Psicoterapia Miguel Ángel, as well as a psychologist with more than three decades of experience. In this interview he talks to us about the nature of obsessions, and how they are treated in therapy when they become part of a problem.

What is an obsession, according to psychology?

A thought or an idea charged with a great and excessive worry, sometimes accompanied by an action aimed at conjuring up the worry, in a repeated and almost imposing way, in which the person ends up a slave to the repeated thought or compulsive action. In addition, it is important to determine that the worry or compulsion is unnecessary and maladaptive.

What are the most common psychological problems related to this phenomenon?

Generally, an important state of anxiety arises that does not allow the person who suffers from it to lead a normal life. As he/she will tend to want to have everything under control, he/she will be in a continuous state of alert, worried about an infinity of things that can go wrong or not be controlled, this will lead to a loss of control. Obviously, all this when we talk about pathology.

Is it easy to recognize that these kinds of thoughts have become a problem for oneself? Or is it others who usually draw attention to this fact?

The person, when the pathology starts to progress, is usually aware that he or she is not well. He suffers a lot, in addition to other areas of his life such as sleep, or social relationships being affected. This will also depend on the type of obsession; hypochondria is not the same as the fear of leaving the door open, or of being whispered about, or of turning red.

It is true that many times the others see very clearly that the relative or friend has a problem, and sometimes it even affects them personally, since frequently these patients often imply to the close one to make, for example, completely unnecessary verifications, or that these tell them a thousand and one times that nothing happens, that everything is well or that this symptom does not have importance, in order to be calmed down. In these cases they tend to pressure those close to them to ask for help, to do this or that... thus making their problem even more serious.

All this does not take away that the person can have clear that he/she suffers a problem, since as I say, in addition it can be complicated with family problems or of relation with third persons.

In your experience as a professional in psychological intervention, what are the most frequent complaints of those who come to therapy for problems of this type?

The most frequent problems are related to excessive concern for one's own health or that of close loved ones, or that some misfortune might happen to them.

On the other hand, due to the great preoccupation with the image they give, they can become obsessed with the fact that they will become red or sweaty and others will think terrible things about them. Also that they may fail at work or other areas and make a fool of themselves, or that they may go crazy and hurt their loved ones, that they may leave the gas or water on or the door to the street open, etc.

What methods and strategies are used in psychotherapy to help these patients?

In the first instance it is fundamental to understand and help the patient to understand his obsessions through an adequate therapeutic interaction, what problem he has, what he does, how and when he does it, and the efficacy of all this to solve a problem.

When we have a problem, whenever we suffer, we do things trying to solve it. If we do the right thing, the problem is solved. If not, we can observe that the problem, very often, is usually what the person is doing to free himself. That is to say, their attempt to solve the problem is the problem itself. In this sense, not knowing how to manage obsessions is costly.

This clear perception of the uselessness of what he is doing, even of how negative and harmful it can be, makes it easier for the patient to feel impelled to change. But it is not a question of convincing him, but of leading him to see his problem in a radically different way.

From there, we will lead the person to the realization of a series of strategies adapted to the expression of the specific problem, that is to say, tailor-made. This will produce a radical change in the coping of the circumstance in which the disorder is expressed.

Thus, the patient will be provided with the resources, consequent to the implementation of the strategies, which will lead him/her to experience, notice, feel his/her problem in a totally different way. That is to say, to experience the circumstances in which the problem is expressed and the problem itself in a radically different way.

And how does the improvement process take place?

When a patient experiences that circumstance in a radically different way after having produced that change of vision of his or her problem, analyzing the consequences of the actions that he or she was carrying out until that moment and thus being adequately motivated to carry out some very specific behaviors, almost immediately, in very few sessions what we call "corrective emotional experience" will be produced, which the person will undoubtedly experience very pleasantly.

From then on, a radical change in the way of managing those excessive worries or compulsions will begin, and he/she will experience how his/her fears and anxiety decrease drastically. From then on, all the therapeutic work will be aimed at consolidating the change experienced.