Episode 8
Religious Scrupulosity
In this episode of Purely OCD, Kelley and Lauren talk about religious scrupulosity, covering common obsessions, compulsions and treatment approach. As always, the spend a fair amount of time trying to bring humor to recovery by laughing at themselves and at the weird places OCD can take our minds.
In this episode, Lauren and Kelley explain the way scrupulosity can manifest through thoughts and images. This can include “inappropriate” images of religious figures, leading to feelings of guilt and shame. They cover compulsive prayer and confessing, reassurance seeking or avoidance of religion all together.
The two highlight the importance of an OCD therapist consulting with a client’s religious leader during treatment. The therapist can make sure they are working within the parameters of a person’s faith and also educate the faith leader in how they can best support the client.
Shortly after this, Lauren and Kelley get lost in thought (surprise!). Good news, they finally have an awakening to the present moment, and get themselves back on the rails once again.
Kelley and Lauren explain how white lies can be used as an exposure with religious and moral scrupulosity. They use the example of telling someone you had a frappuccino instead of a water at Starbucks. Kelley playfully notes that this white lie exposure is the perfect chance for God to smite you!
They explain various exposures and how uncomfortable and distressing they can be.
Lauren: We want to do that, we want to needle the OCD!
Kelley: Squirm OCD!
Lauren and Kelley explain how it can be helpful to use others in a person’s religious community to measure what the average person does to worship. This can help people to shoot for the average, instead of holding themselves to a much higher and stricter standard.
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