Sensorimotor Breathing Obsession..need help/advice

Hello to everyone, I am new here although I have been reading these boards for the past few months now. I joined so that I could post a question for which I desperately need some feedback on. I could really use some advice regarding the best way to treat a sensorimotor obsession with breathing. It is impacting my life at this point.

It started about a month ago while doing a breathing awareness exercise as part of a mindfulness meditation program (which I was doing to help reduce anxiety). The idea was to focus on your breathing without letting your mind wander (which was supposed to be difficult). Well it was until I thought to myself "what if I can't stop being aware of my breathing". From that point on I got stuck with what I discovered through online research is called a sensorimotor obsession with breathing. Before this instance I did not know that I had OCD.

There doesn't seem to be much information about this specific OCD condition. I have read the Dr. Steve Seay and Dr. David Keuler articles on this issue which focus on ERP as the treatment method. I have also purchased a book called Overcoming Obsessive Thoughts by Dr's. Purdon and Clark (focusing on Pure-O OCD specifically). I am currently reading the OCD Workbook and hope it might help me. I also read about and ordered Dr. Jeffery Schwartz's book Brain Lock and understand the 4-step method he teaches.

I have just started seeing a psychologist who believes I should apply ERP therapy with the use of written and recorded exposure based on my worst fears about this breathing obsession. I guess something like recording "I will never stop thinking about my breathing" or "from now on I will always have to consciously control my breathing" and then listening to this on a loop for like an hour everyday until I get sick of it and become habituated to these thoughts without having any anxiety response. This is the Exposure component I assume but I don't understand what the Response Prevention part should be. Is the coping strategy a mental one that tells me to avoid thinking about the breathing obsession and I have to prevent myself from doing this?

The thing is that sometimes I am able to get over this breathing obsession completely and can go on without thinking about it for days (this is especially the case when I get distracted). I realize there is nothing to be anxious about and that I have always breathed normally without any issues all of my life. There is no difference between me before this issue and me right now aside from my thought process. I thought I had this licked...

I went from being aware of my breathing throughout the day to only being aware at night when going to sleep (sleep became a trigger) to being over it and just recently BACK AGAIN to being distracted both day and night (after having thought I was over this). I don't understand how my mind is doing this to me even after I have been able to decouple the anxiety from my breathing awareness successfully in the recent past to the point where I thought I was perfectly fine!

Is anyone out there dealing with this breathing obsession currently with a professional? I feel like there is not a lot of research on this specific problem and that most treatment methods focus more on traditional OCD symptoms which feature obsessions and compulsions. Agian I don't really even understand what the compulsion part of this breathing obsession is although I assume it must be something mental.

The therapist I went to before my current psychologist said that OCD requires medication to handle and that I should definitely get evaluated by a psychiatrist. This particular therapist admitted to have been suffering from OCD and was on meds which made all the difference. Although this was a bias towards medications/ssri's given their experience which my current psychologist calls transference (applying your situation to someone else).

Now I am beginning to wonder if an SSRI would be the solution to getting rid of this breathing obsession once and for all (in conjunction with CBT). Has anyone here who deals with this breathing awareness (or any other sensorimotor obsession) had any noticeable results with medications? Any advice at this point would be greatly appreciated (I am sorry for the length of this post).

I know I'm always conscious of my breathing, but I didn't know it was a part of OCD or had a name for it. I haven't seen a mental doctor about it, but I always attributed it to my malformed sinuses (I'm basically a mouth-breather). I need surgery to correct them and them I'll be able to breathe through my nose and always thought I'd be less conscious of my breathing after that.

I don't know your situation, but have you ever had a scan of your sinuses?

Ya there is nothing physically wrong with me. The psychologists have diagnosed this as OCD. It's really just a purely mental thing that my brain has somehow locked onto. This is part of the reason it's so frustrating as it should be something very easy to let go of yet it isn't. It's a symptom of OCD that needs to probably be undone through CBT and/or meds. I'm hoping that the Exposure Response Prevention therapy is enough to handle it though. Problem is I still can't figure out what the compulsion part of this condition is. Without knowing this piece of info I cannot utilize the Reponse/Ritual Prevention part of the ERP therapy.

-- Thu Oct 10, 2013 2:14 pm --

Ya there is nothing physically wrong with me. The psychologists have diagnosed this as OCD. It's really just a purely mental thing that my brain has somehow locked onto. This is part of the reason it's so frustrating as it should be something very easy to let go of yet it isn't. It's a symptom of OCD that needs to probably be undone through CBT and/or meds. I'm hoping that the Exposure Response Prevention therapy is enough to handle it though. Problem is I still can't figure out what the compulsion part of this condition is. Without knowing this piece of info I cannot utilize the Reponse/Ritual Prevention part of the ERP therapy.

Given the lack of feedback I am guessing that this is somewhat of a rare OCD condition. I was afraid of this and hope there is some way out of this amazingly frustrating problem

No you are not alone and this is a very common form of OCD called sensorimotor. My son suffers from it also in the form of breathing, swallowing, and blinking.

ocme are you still on here? i have some thoughts, but not sure if youre still checking this.

Hey OCDhelp, I know this post is old, but I just saw it b/c someone responded to it.
To answer your question, what are my compulsions?:

Your compulsion are that you are either a) trying to stop yourself from having these thoughts, b)trying to control these thoughts when they pop up, or c) wondering if these thoughts mean something bad about you, like you have some disease now that will never go away.

These are all forms of mental compulsions, it is mental behavior that you choose to do in response to thoughts popping up in your head which you have no control over. Do you think you compulsively do any of those three things?

The goal is to expose yourself to the fear of unending breathing awareness without trying to stop the things from happening or actively spending time trying to figure the thoughts out or analyze them when they happen, or stop them from happening on a day to day basis.

When your not doing active exposure, when the thought comes up, accept you had the thought, and then in the next moment, choose to focus on what you would like to do.

That's my understanding of how to deal with pure mental OCD. I don't have that kind of OCD, but I have the obsession of being perfectly clear about the details of my environment and ability to memorize details of things. So when I start trying to remember things, I'll recognize that it came up, accept that I may have the urge for knowing things perfectly in the future, and then actively choose to refocus my attention on what I'm doing.

Hope that helps you in some way.

I suffer from sensorimotor ocd...I have since I was a child. It shows itself differently. For example origianlly it was salivation....or lack thereof. Most recently and and for quite sometime now it has been breathing. I cannot stop thinking about it...and I realize it is an autonomic process and if I were to stop my breathing I wld pass out and everything wld work by itself normally again. However be cogniscent of my breathing gives me the compulsion to try and control it. I.e. by how deep or how often or both even.it truly sucks. I am reading brainlock and have talked to a psych who prescribed meds. Which doesnt stop the thoughtsor urges. I think working with a bejavior therapist wld be the best but then how wld u know which one has tje right credentials. Plus I feel like its such a stupid disorder that I should be able to beat it myself. I am an educated personthat often overthinks things and this one is tough. I wld sign up for shock treatment if it promised a cure . Maybe someone will help is out. Until then we should understand that we must be incredubly wise to pick up on processes that require no thinking. Wait I guess thats the problem...sorry I try to keep the mood light to keep from depressing the situation more.

rmw, you want someone trained in cbt, particularly erp therapy. you can always ask the the therapist who they trained under as well. if you want help with a recommended program or person, i can help with that if you are in the states.

OCme wrote:Hello to everyone, I am new here although I have been reading these boards for the past few months now. I joined so that I could post a question for which I desperately need some feedback on. I could really use some advice regarding the best way to treat a sensorimotor obsession with breathing. It is impacting my life at this point.

It started about a month ago while doing a breathing awareness exercise as part of a mindfulness meditation program (which I was doing to help reduce anxiety). The idea was to focus on your breathing without letting your mind wander (which was supposed to be difficult). Well it was until I thought to myself "what if I can't stop being aware of my breathing". From that point on I got stuck with what I discovered through online research is called a sensorimotor obsession with breathing. Before this instance I did not know that I had OCD.

There doesn't seem to be much information about this specific OCD condition. I have read the Dr. Steve Seay and Dr. David Keuler articles on this issue which focus on ERP as the treatment method. I have also purchased a book called Overcoming Obsessive Thoughts by Dr's. Purdon and Clark (focusing on Pure-O OCD specifically). I am currently reading the OCD Workbook and hope it might help me. I also read about and ordered Dr. Jeffery Schwartz's book Brain Lock and understand the 4-step method he teaches.

I have just started seeing a psychologist who believes I should apply ERP therapy with the use of written and recorded exposure based on my worst fears about this breathing obsession. I guess something like recording "I will never stop thinking about my breathing" or "from now on I will always have to consciously control my breathing" and then listening to this on a loop for like an hour everyday until I get sick of it and become habituated to these thoughts without having any anxiety response. This is the Exposure component I assume but I don't understand what the Response Prevention part should be. Is the coping strategy a mental one that tells me to avoid thinking about the breathing obsession and I have to prevent myself from doing this?

The thing is that sometimes I am able to get over this breathing obsession completely and can go on without thinking about it for days (this is especially the case when I get distracted). I realize there is nothing to be anxious about and that I have always breathed normally without any issues all of my life. There is no difference between me before this issue and me right now aside from my thought process. I thought I had this licked...

I went from being aware of my breathing throughout the day to only being aware at night when going to sleep (sleep became a trigger) to being over it and just recently BACK AGAIN to being distracted both day and night (after having thought I was over this). I don't understand how my mind is doing this to me even after I have been able to decouple the anxiety from my breathing awareness successfully in the recent past to the point where I thought I was perfectly fine!

Is anyone out there dealing with this breathing obsession currently with a professional? I feel like there is not a lot of research on this specific problem and that most treatment methods focus more on traditional OCD symptoms which feature obsessions and compulsions. Agian I don't really even understand what the compulsion part of this breathing obsession is although I assume it must be something mental.

The therapist I went to before my current psychologist said that OCD requires medication to handle and that I should definitely get evaluated by a psychiatrist. This particular therapist admitted to have been suffering from OCD and was on meds which made all the difference. Although this was a bias towards medications/ssri's given their experience which my current psychologist calls transference (applying your situation to someone else).

Now I am beginning to wonder if an SSRI would be the solution to getting rid of this breathing obsession once and for all (in conjunction with CBT). Has anyone here who deals with this breathing awareness (or any other sensorimotor obsession) had any noticeable results with medications? Any advice at this point would be greatly appreciated (I am sorry for the length of this post).

I started obsessing over my breathing a couple months back. It was after a major Panic Attack and I began to notice my breathing and a thought came to mind "What if I can't stop thinking about my breathing?" and after that I couldn't stop thinking about it non-stop for days. I would try to distract myself which worked sometimes but mostly I couldn't ignore it. Finally, I had enough and took some of my Phenibut I had which allowed me to relax more. It was about a 4 gram dose. And I was able to get my mind off of my breathing for a while. I was able to separate myself from my thoughts and analyze them a bit better. I then started applying my own version C.B.T. therapy I conjured up years ago when I was suffering from Panic Attacks (which I now think was caused by hyperventilation syndrome, which is basically what this breathing obsession is too) and was able to get over them. What I did was isolate the thoughts that were creating the fear. Usually, these are false beliefs or negative thoughts. The main thoughts that I narrowed it down to were: 1) What if I never stop thinking about my breathing? and 2) What if I hurt my brain from hypoxia? The first one I knew was false because I had stopped thinking about it for periods and so I knew it was possible. And, the second one I did some research and found out that hyperventilation won't hurt you and even if it did kill a few brain cells it would be the equivalent to bang your head against the wall. So nothing to worry about. So my next step I replaced my false beliefs with: 1) I can stop thinking about my breathing, I've done it before and 2) Overbreathing will not hurt me and 3) Breathing is automatic and will take care of itself. And when I got myself to accept these new beliefs (which was easy because it's easier to belief a true fact then a false one) I was able to (after practice) ignore the thoughts more and more because the fear lessened. The fear is what creates the hyper-focus in the first place, so by getting to the root and changing the thoughts that are creating the fear you get rid of the focus and eventually you go hours without thinking about Breathing Obsession, even days, months, and years. It will come back from time to time but you just need to relax when it does and don't give in to fear because if you don't fear it, it won't have any power over you. You need to repeat the steps and have an "I don't care" attitude and wait until the symptoms subside. When you gain confidence over it it's easier not to give in to the fear the next time. I've literally gone close to a week without even thinking about my breathing, so IT IS POSSIBLE!