This is a review of the book Brain Lock by Jeffrey Schwartz, M.D.
I have a love-hate relationship with this book. The message and process it conveys is great, but I just don’t love the style.
About the Author of Brain Lock
Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz is a research psychiatrist at UCLA School of Medicine. He’s the author of over 100 scientific publications. He was also the consultant for Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese on The Aviator.
Four Step Process in Brain Lock
The book outlines a four step process to help overcome your obsessive and compulsive behaviors. The four steps are:
- Relabel
- Reattribute
- Refocus
- Revalue
I highly believe that reading this book and focusing on these four steps helped me in my OCD journey.
Relabel
This step is exactly what is sounds like. You relabel the thought. The book tells you to answer the question: “What are these bothersome, intrusive thoughts?” You need to label the thoughts as obsessions and compulsions.
The chapter for this step explains brain lock and how to relabel your thoughts. Brain lock is saying that your brain has been stuck in an inappropriate groove. So, in this step, you relabel your thoughts as obsessive thoughts and your compulsions as compulsive urges.
There are different examples of how to relabel. I enjoy the case study of Chet who would do something nice for his fianceé when he had an OCD thought. Another example is that you must use your impartial spectator. The impartial spectator is saying, “I’m having the compulsive urge to check the lock” instead of “I don’t feel the need to check the lock.” Label the thought what it is, an obsession or a compulsion. “I’m having the obsession that I ran over a baby on the road.” “I’m having the compulsive urge to drive back and check.” Things like that. It’s not you, its your OCD.
Reattribute
In this step, you reattribute the OCD feeling to OCD. The feelings and urges aren’t you, they’re your OCD. One of the people in the case studies in the book came up with kind of a catch phrase for this step. “It’s not me, it’s my OCD.” A good quote from the chapter for this step is: “Remember, OCD is not some hidden wish fulfillment. It is a broken machine. OCD may mimic the feeling of reality, but reality never mimics the feeling of OCD. If it feels like it might be OCD, it’s OCD.” Relabel and Reattribute are usually done together.
What I love about this chapter is it talks about neuroplasticity. Your brain has the ability to re-wire itself. The author describes it as grooves in your brain. A well-worn path. That is your OCD because you have reinforced it so much with your compulsions. What the author tells you to do, is take the path less traveled. The more often you deviate from your well-worn path, the easier it eventually becomes to ignore that path because you have created a new one. I have to admit, many people may think this part is boring, but I am fascinated by neuroplasticity.
This chapter also shows that OCD can actually be seen in certain brain scans. This blew my mind. Who would’ve thought that you could see a brain disorder in a CT scan? I don’t know, I’m weird, but I love that stuff.
Refocus
DO ANOTHER BEHAVIOR!
I do a hobby called Warhammer. It’s where you put together little miniatures. Glue, paint, and play. In the beginning when I had an OCD obsession, I would go and put together Warhammer models. While I was putting them together, (I rarely paint because I suck at painting), I was delaying my compulsion. That’s all you have to do. Starting out, you shouldn’t aim to not do your compulsion at all. If that is your goal in the beginning, you may get discouraged. Start out by trying to delay your compulsion(s). Eventually, you won’t do your compulsion at all! Just find a hobby. I might have too many hobbies, but thats more of me wanting to do too much than because I want to stop my OCD compulsions. Regardless, the author cautions that the hobby or activity must be something that you enjoy doing.
Do not fight your OCD thoughts. When you struggle with not thinking about something, you think about it more! You give it purchase in your mind. Don’t think about an elephant walking over a fence. I bet you pictured it even though I told you not to. The author tells you to accept the thought, allow it to be there, but look at it with your impartial spectator. It’s OCD. OCD can’t take over your will and can’t make you do something you believe is wrong.
This step will mentally hurt, but you can do it! Be active in your recovery!
Revalue
This step happens after diligently following the other three steps. You decide to revalue the OCD thoughts. You see them as worthless. They’re just thoughts. Annoying… absolutely, but still just thoughts. I always picture the lord of the rings part where the guy says, “you have no power here.” I say it to myself whenever I have one of those thoughts.
Conclusion
This book and its steps are phenomenal. I don’t love the testimonials/case studies. I get it. It makes sense to add successful treatments. They’re just not my cup of tea. It is what it is. You may love them or garner some insight from them. Anyone with OCD who asks me which books they should read, this would easily be in the top 3. This in addition to the OCD Workbook that I previously reviewed work so well together.
As I will always say, you could buy from the affiliate link I provided in the beginning of this post or you could just buy it from amazon or your local bookstore. No matter what, if you’re struggling with OCD, I cannot recommend this book enough!
Leave a comment describing if you’ve read this book and your thoughts or if you want me to do more book reviews, less, the same amount, etc.