Some people feel that they have accepted their Harm OCD. But they do not accept it, rather they acknowledge its presence grudgingly and allow it to pull them down. It is more a sense of resignation than a position of true acceptance. It is more like, ‘What can I do? I have it now and I have to live with it.’ Or, ‘I know I have Harm OCD, and it sucks. I want to be rid of it so that I can live my life well’. Statements like that may be acknowledgment but not true acceptance. It places a burden on the person to get well before he can start fulfilling his dreams.
True acceptance is when you say ‘Yes, I know I have Harm OCD. I don’t like it, but I accept it. I will work to do my best despite it’. Being okay with Harm OCD does not mean you will not work towards getting better. You will however work from a better frame of mind – one of strength rather than weakness. In other words, acceptance means “taking a stance of non-judgmental awareness and actively embracing the experience of thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations as they occur” (Hayes et al., 2004).
Say, you are trying to get from point A to point B. Unmindfully, you fall into a pit. You do not keep wallowing that you have fallen into the pit and that there is no hope for you. You accept that you have a problem and try your best to come out of the pit. Let us see what all you are truly accepting in a situation like that, and lay that understanding side-by-side with your Harm OCD thoughts, as shown in table 2.10.1.
Table 2.10.1: Acceptance Comparison Illustration
| No | Falling in a pit | Having Harm OCD |
| 1 | You are in a pit. | You have Harm OCD |
| 2 | You are going to be delayed | You may take time to achieve your dreams |
| 3 | You have to try to come out | You have to try to get better |
| 4 | You need to want to come out | You need to want to get better |
| 5 | You can come out. | You can get better |
| 6 | You may have to seek help | You will have to use the 12 pillars |
| 7 | The process of coming out is difficult | The process of recovery is difficult |
| 8 | The process of coming out is worth it | The process of recovery is worth it |
| 9 | You will reach point B, but later | You will achieve your dreams, but later |
Thus, if you can accept everything and work towards coming out of the pit, you can also learn to accept everything and work towards getting rid of your Harm OCD. A simple example is that when a girl menstruates, she may experience three to five days of discomfort, irritation, cramps, and so on. Yet, girls learn to accept it as a part of their life and do not deny its existence despite the unpleasantness. Similarly, Harm OCD is unpleasant. But the more we learn to accept it, the better we are at dealing with it.
There is a self-administered psychometric test called the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-Revised (AAQ-2; Bond et al., 2011) that has been provided as PT4 in the Worksheets for Harm OCD file. The AAQ-2 tests your psychological flexibility, that is, how accepting you are of your situations and how you act when life throws a curve ball at you. Take the test and make a note of your psychological flexibility. Remember that the higher you score, the more inflexible you are. You will need to work towards lowering your score to be more accepting of your situation.
To-Do: Complete PT4 – AAQ-2 provided in the Worksheets for Harm OCD file
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