Self-Help Practice 5:
Create a Loop Tape of Brief Obsessions
If your obsessive thoughts take the form
of a word, a group of words, a sentence, or block of sentences
that is repeated again and again, you might benefit from the use of a
loop tape.
Loop tapes vary in length from ten
seconds to three minutes and are often used to record outgoing
messages on a telephone answering machine. When the tape if left
running, it will play the same message continuously.
To practice this technique, write
down the sentence or narrative exactly as it comes
spontaneously into your mind. Then record it on an
appropriate length of loop tape. Listen to the tape
for forty-five minutes or longer each day.
While listening to the tape, try to become as anxious and
distressed as possible. Just as with Daily Worry Time,
becoming distressed is one of the most important components of this
technique. Use the tape daily until the content of the message no
longer distresses you. Even if your discomfort decreases within
a few days, continue the practice for at least a week.
This tape practice works on the principle
called habituation. This simply means that when you confront
your fears and your discomfort
simultaneously and continually, you will become less anxious.
That's why I ask you to persist in your practice every day for such a
long period, and, while you're listening, to become as distressed as
possible.
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