Disputing: is it necessary and when does it become too much?
If you have a deep fear locked, (my biggest fear was and to some degree still is being stuck forever – a very common fear), no amount of sitting with uncertainty is going to unlock that fear for the majority of sufferers. If you deeply believe your fear is going to come true, have been creating behavioral avoidance patterns for years to suppress anxiety, uncertainty alone will probably not cut it! Fret not! This is why Rob is so big on Albert Ellis’ teachings through rational emotive therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy.
If you are going about your day disputing every thought, this is now a compulsive behavior, and I have fallen into this trap many times during my OCD recovery journey. Anytime I have tried to dispute every thought it has drove me crazy and I turned a healthy exercise into something to rid anxiety in the moment, just another compulsion.
Some people may need more disputing than others, some more direct exposures (Contamination OCD, for example), some more uncertainty, etc. This will be unique to your journey and don’t focus on what others are doing because their specific recovery process is specific to them! Easier said than done, I know.
What has worked for me is setting a timer on my phone, 20 minutes, every morning or every other and disputing the major emotional disturbances in my day. This isn’t supposed to relieve anxiety in the moment (if it does, great!) but that’s not the purpose of this exercise. The purpose of this exercise is to overtime change your perspectives on your specific fears (a gradual build up with many ups and down – don’t worry we all have setbacks and doubts!). Over time you’ll begin to notice changes in awareness as this is what I have noticed in my own journey!
Persist, persist, persist. Have a fantastic day!