advice. OCD about flu shot

[khodge]

Hey everybody,

 

I am in therapy for my ocd and lately its has been pretty severe. So during one of my sessions my therapist brought up the topic about the flu shot and caused a lot of anxiety and worrying even though ive never worried about it before. he wasn't implying that I should get the flu shot but was just discussing the topic, and my views are different than his on that subject. But i just shut down instantly and felt like i don't want to go to therapy anymore after we had that discussion based on the fact that i would never get a flu shot because i feel they are not necessary. But it has just caused a lot of worrying and doubt weather my opinion is right or not which has caused me to do a lot of research. but i found out that this issue is a little more controversial than i thought. And at the ssame time its causing me question whether or not therapy is going to help me. If anyone has any advice i would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

 

Ken

 

 

[MomWithOCDSon]

My son has OCD which was birthed by, and continues to be exacerbated from time to time by, an auto-immune condition, so I can relate to your predicament in three substantive ways: 1) OCD thoughts/worries can be very intrusive and "outsized"; 2) dealing with auto-immune concerns, I am very wary of these vaccines that get promoted as though they're no big deal and "everybody" should get them; and 3) we frequently disagree with our son's caregivers (be it the pediatrician or the therapist or the psychiatrist), so I know how it can be unsettling and cause you to question your own convictions when one of these "professionals" voices a strongly oppositional position. So, here's what I want to say:

 

Please don't give up on therapy. I can appreciate that this person, on this particular topic, has "rubbed you the wrong way," but if he/she has been helpful to you previously in contending with your OCD, then there's a bigger picture here to consider. But this is YOUR therapy, so you can be active, rather than passive, in it, and fight to avoid feeling "lesser than" just because this person has a different degree plaque hanging on their wall. We've found that sometimes we have to just move past the "bad" in order to embrace the "good" and constructive in our caregiver relationships. So the flu vaccine issue aside, if this therapist is helpful to you in your fight against OCD, I would stick with it. If, in addition to this disagreement, you feel "stalled out" or otherwise less assisted by therapy with this particular practitioner, then I would seek out someone else. We've found that, sometimes, the fit just isn't right, or that our son's evolution in terms of growth and maturity results in a need to move on to someone else from time to time.

 

As for the flu vaccine, I'm sure as you've looked into it, you've found that there's probably as much support in the world for your decision to remain UNvaccinated as there is for vaccination. On top of which, most psychs will tell you that OCD is impacted, generally, by assaults on the immune system, even if you are not one of those people identified with a specific auto-immune condition. So unnecessarily introducing a virus can be a little bit of Russian roulette, and if you're otherwise healthy, I think your gut instinct is something you should heed.

 

There's a reason they call OCD "The Doubting Disease," eh? But just because it can make you more sensitive or even prone to over-reacting when your judgment on some topic is called into question, don't lose sight of the core of who you are! You sound like an intelligent, thoughtful, resourceful person. So with or without OCD, you can certainly think for yourself! And NO doctor is EVER ALWAYS right! That's why they call it "practicing" medicine . . . 'cause they're "practicing" on us 'til they get it right!

 

Hang in there!

[khodge]

Thank you very much for your reply. Yes I think its my anxiety getting the best of me. And at the moment ive been alittle too resourceful on the matter.