I have just got in from another successful OCD Action Conference and AGM.
Thank you to all those who worked tirelessly to make it a success.
Thank you also to Bridget who kept me company at the Forum Meetup session as no one else turned up 
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Hi Trudy, glad you got to and from the conference... Hopefully people will be posting on here about it... I'm way too far away to have been able to come, and I just wonder how many other forum contributers are feeling the same way...
Were there many at the conference itself?
Please, for those of us unable to get to London, tell us more about what actually happened there during the day... Once more well done on getting there, and to Bridget too, well done on getting there... It's a massive achievement that shouldn't be underestimated, and you can take heart from that...
wannabeSun Nov 27 2011 11:53:49 # -
I'm really sad to learn that only Trudy and Bridget turned up at the Forum Meetup to introduce themselves, surely more members than this attended the conference and I know how difficult it was for Trudy to ensure she was there to welcome everyone. It can be a real struggle when you have OCD to make a commitment to be there for others so where was everyone? With 1482 current forum members surely more than just two were at the conference. It's making me wonder if some of our forum members are not who they make themselves out to be and whether they are imposters using the forum for research or some other ulterior motive. I am really disappointed, when I went to the conference two years ago there was quite a gathering of forum members and it was lovely to be able to put faces to names. Anyway I second wannabe, well done Trudy and Bridget for being there and I hope you both had a good day.
Sun Nov 27 2011 18:02:54 # -
Over 320 people attended the conference. We are aware that many people won't be able to attend because it is too far away and often too expensive and difficult to travel. However, the conference is of great benefit as it is a unique opportunity to share experiences and to learn - not only for sufferers and carers but for the experts and clinicians as well - it is a two way process; well three way really because OCD Action also learns more about the problems encountered and this helps us to represent them to the powers that be. The conference has to be somewhere and it is a difficult choice where to hold it but taking all things into consideration including the resources that OCD Action is able to deveote to the conference. On this occasion London was the most suitable venue.
Although two people attended the forum meetup that does not mean that more people did not want to attend. I do know that rather more than two forum users attended the conference but the meetup was held during the lunch break when at least five activities, plus meeting up with all those individuals you only have the chance to meet once a year at the conference, so there was huge competition and difficulty in choosing which to attend. The other activities included Getting involved with OCD Action, Creative Writing, Drama Workshop and Support Group meetup. All of these were one off events whereas on the forum people can electronically meetup at any time so it does not surprise me that most people chose to attend another event.
The conference was a good, informative and enjoyable event, if very tiring, and it is a great pity that more people cannot attend, and I fully understand that people can't for a variety of reasons. We plan to put a very brief summary on the website very soon with a more comprehensive report to follow.
I do hope that more people can attend the next conference, so in the meantime please do let us have your comments and suggestions and let us know what you would like it to include.
Nimrod,
KeymasterSun Nov 27 2011 20:28:43 # -
Birmingham would have been a bit easier for me, or even Derby, where my nearest support group is for OCD-UK, but I'll try and get more prepared to travel for the next one, and that's a promise...
wannabeSun Nov 27 2011 21:52:08 # -
We will be be putting a report about the conference on the website just as soon as we can write it up. We also hope to put the slides the speakers used on as well so that if anyone missed anything it will be there. If anyone wishes to make any comment about the conference or give some feedback then please let us know either here on the forum or by email to Cliff (one of our trustees) at cliff@ocdaction.org.uk
Nimrod
Mon Nov 28 2011 9:27:01 # -
UnregisteredHi,
the OCD Action conference was fantastic -- even better than I expected.
LSE was filled with hundreds of OCD sufferers. The first speaker asked everyone in the audience to put up their hands if they had suffered from certain types of thoughts (e.g. sexual; violent; murderous; germ-related, etc.), and it was really great to see hundreds of people all putting their hands up along with you. (You could look around, and see 200 people putting their hands in the air when asked if they experienced thoughts about attacking and murdering their loved ones, say!)
I chatted to lots of other OCD sufferers, and many of them had almost identical fears and obsessions to my own -- even though we'd never met before!
I chatted so long in the lunchbreak that I missed all the lunchtime workshops. (I really wanted to go to the creative writing workshop, but ran out of time!)
Everyone was smiling and asking each other, "Do you have that thought, too?" We all looked giddy with excitement, upon hearing total strangers tell us about their violent / sexual / upsetting thoughts. You could see everyone thinking: "It's not just me! It's not just me! Maybe I am normal after all!"
Although most of us have probably had a rough year (or a rough lifetime!), but there were lots of smiles and jokes and laughter, in the workshops and outside.
I went to David Veale's workshop in the morning, and Rob Willson's workshop in the afternoon. Their book was like a lifeline to me, when I was in a deep depression, so I wanted to be impressed by them -- and I was! They both seemed like compassionate, insightful people, and I came away from their lectures feeling reassured that they DO know what they're talking about!
Rob Willson kept talking about his belief in the power of exercise as one of the best things you can do to keep your OCD out of your life, after recovery. And David Veale was happy to touch the bottom of his shoe with his fingers, and then put his fingers in his mouth, to show that there was no danger of dying from anything you tread in on the street!
It felt so brilliant to meet, listen to, and be around so many caring, intelligent, good people -- and to hear that all of them were OCD sufferers!
The message from David Veale and Rob Willson is that OCD IS a treatable illness, and that it IS perfectly possible to get rid of your OCD. David Veale really hammered home all the ways in which CBT can fail (often due to the therapist not being up to scratch!), and Rob Willson was very clear about all the good habits and bad habits that will affect your progress AFTER your OCD has gone.
I hope I don't have to wait a whole year for the next conference -- I want to go to another one now! Rob Willson talked about taking "booster shots" of ERP, after your OCD has been gotten rid of. I think that the OCD Action Conference was the biggest booster shot I could have hoped for!
Fan-bleedin-tastic!
Mon Nov 28 2011 14:07:12 # -
Hi Ocd, I was hoping to be able to get the feedback you have given, it just shows that David Veale and Rob Willson are genuine, now we have a witness and it is wonderful to hear from you... I'm hoping to go to the next one, and what you describe really bears this up, thank you for you excellent feedback...
Mon Nov 28 2011 18:38:26 # -
I have met many people with contamination fears at the local support group I attend. It would seem that many of them are revolted by what they fear and I was surprised how few of them actually worried they would be ill or die due to exposure. I’m not sure if David Veale’s shoe touching/licking would help them.
I do also appreciate how hard it is for those who do fear some harm might result from touching the bottom of their shoes, when we receive conflicting information warning us of certain dangers. You must be increasing your risk of ingesting toxocara, surely, if you lick your finger after touching the bottom of a dirty shoe? Our GPs’ surgery actually has a poster advising parents of the risks.
Tue Nov 29 2011 12:21:51 # -
Crikey! Yes I agree with Trudy on this one! I struggle with picking up the letters that come through my front door! And I'm just picturing your goat shed, Tess!
wannabeTue Nov 29 2011 20:05:43 # -
Wannabe, you really don't want to go there - the hay gets topped up every few days and the lower layers steadily compost and keep it warm. We clean it out annually by which time the bottom layers have turned into a wormery and the chicken go wild with delight and gorge themselves. I can see how shoe licking might conceivably help those whose fears are about their own personal health but my contamination OCD is something very different and no amount of shoe licking will make any difference. In fact the entire staff of OCD Action could lay prostrate with David Veale on the streets of London and lick the pavements and I could join in the fun without any major qualms about my own health although I would be worried about my clothes on the ground because they would have to come back into my home. I don't mind the dirty shoe in my mouth but putting it on the carpet - now there's a different story, that is the hard bit.
I find it fascinating how we all share this disorder yet when you examine the detail we are all so individual.Wed Nov 30 2011 11:04:36 # -
Hi Trudy,
You missed the shoe licking incident because at one point you kept nodding off!
I found the inspirational speakers good but I didn't learn anything new at the conference, it seemed very much the same as the last one for me.
I did get two books though and am looking forward to reading them.
Bridget
Wed Nov 30 2011 18:00:07 # -
Hi everyone... We all have the right to doze sometimes!
It's a sign that we are relaxed, and so the conference must have been doing you good, in one way or another! And you're right too Tess, there is no way I would go into a shed like that! More tomorrow,
wannabeWed Nov 30 2011 21:42:10 # -
Is this the extreme exposure that some therapists believe in. The problem I would have with this is that you are doing an act that you would not normally do, and so it is done because of the OCD. So you are unnecessarliy exposing yourself to a risk (because lets face it, non OCD people would not do this) because of your OCD. So the OCD wins again! This is what happens with my OCD, its more complicated (sorry, I probably use that word too much) than that, but it is a good example.
Tess, to answer your question, I guess it depends how often you do it. You do it to reassure yourself that there is no risk, so I suppose from that perspective it is reassurance, the only difference is that you are not relieving the anxiety by licking your shoe, but adding to it.Thu Dec 1 2011 12:52:01 # -
Jon, If someone else, especially someone you trust, such as a psychiatrist, licks his finger after touching his shoe, it shouldn’t be frightening you, but reassuring you that your concerns are exaggerated. It doesn’t work that way for a couple of my friends, but I think that’s the general idea. If David Veale asks a person with a specific contamination fear to do it, then it would be adding to their anxiety.
Thu Dec 1 2011 14:40:21 # -
Thanks for the clarification BT, that's what I thought but I'm starting to get confused about what is and what isn't supposed to be reassurance. I'm one of those who wouldn't get anxiety from shoe licking, all it does for me is make me feel that these forms of therapy are degrading, especially when we are working so hard to eliminate stigma and encourage integration into society.
Thu Dec 1 2011 17:59:07 # -
I'm not sure I could that shoe licking anyway... Although I do lick my fingers after picking up mail from the doormat, but that is only the same as eating a biscuit and having a cup of tea when I read the morning post, but shoe licking! I don't know about doing that...
Fri Dec 2 2011 11:45:08 # -
UnregisteredHi everyone,
re: David Veale, his lecture was really really good. (I think the shoe-touching thing was just a bit of fun, really. Someone in the audience made some comment about touching their shoe, so Dr Veale did it right then and there on stage, which got a big laugh.)
He talked a lot about reassurance in his lecture. (As well as lots of other things.) About reassurance, he was saying that this is one of the key compulsions that keeps a lot of people's OCD in place. But he was also talking about how the TIMING of the compulsion is crucially important.
Basically, he was saying that if the reassurance-seeking is done at a time of distress, and is something the sufferer does each time they feel distressed, then it's one of the main things keeping their OCD in place. But he was saying that the therapist doesn't need to get too tied up trying to avoid reassuring the OCD patient. He was saying that reassurance by itself is not a problem -- and that it's the timing of the reassurance-seeking that is most important. He was saying that it's only a big problem if you're seeking reassurance (from others, or from yourself) while you're feeling distressed or anxious.
His presentation should be on the OCD Action website next week, for everyone to read.
(Oh, Rob Willson's slides are on the website already, if you're interested, from his presentation.)
I hope everyone's having a brilliant OCD-free week!!!
Londoner.
(p.s. - I've ditched the "OCD" from my username, as OCD no longer rules my world.)
Fri Dec 2 2011 18:06:33 # -
Hi Londoner, great idea, ditching OCD from your avatar, it is a very positive step, and reinforces the good stuff your doing towards recovery... I'm looking forward to reading David Veales presentation... Could you tell me where I find Rob Willsons slides, I'm not very good at searching this website yet!
Have a good weeken guys,
wannabeFri Dec 2 2011 20:18:49 # -
UnregisteredHi Wannabe,
I'm not very technical. Try copying and pasting the address below to go to Rob Willson's presentation slides.
http://www.ocdaction.org.uk/files/2011/11/Staying-on-top-of-OCD.ppt (this is a download)
If that doesn't work (and it might not, as I'm a bit of a tech-no-hoper), then go to the OCD Action homepage; on the far right hand side, about halfway down the homepage, above "Achievements", click on the link for "Conference", and it takes you to the presentations. (At the moment, Rob Willson's is the only one that's on there.)
To access the presentations go to Conference presentations
SoxonIt's just his slides, so some of it might not make sense, without Rob Willson explaining it all!
Fri Dec 2 2011 21:23:31 #
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