Jeffrey M. Schwartz - Brain Lock, Twentieth Anniversary Edition: Free Yourself from Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior

The core concept of Brain Lockthat people with OCD can defeat their disease through self-directed behavioral therapy that actually changes their brainshas withstood the test of time. Now, twenty years after this book was first published, it is accepted as a classic finding in the history of neuroscience.

In scientific terms, this is neuroplasticity, a process resulting in changes to the brains structure, circuits, chemistry or functions in response to changes in its environment. And self-directed neuroplasticity, using the Four-Step program explained in this book, has empowered thousands of people with OCD to change their own brains.

Brain scans have clearly shown that the brains of OCD sufferers literally flare up with over activity, sending terribly bothersome and intrusive false messages (see images on the back cover). In the last two decades, further brain studies have validated the finding that putting these troubling feelings in proper context, calling them what they aresymptoms of a diseaseenables people to respond differently to their symptoms and, as a result, to regulate the structures of the emotional brain that play a key role in processing their feelings in reaction to the OCD-inducing stimuli.

This milestone edition of Brain Lock is not a revision. Its my sincere belief that there is no need to revise the Four-Step method. The cognitive-mindfulness treatment approach first presented in this book is now accepted as a standard outpatient OCD treatment.

Now, twenty years later, I continue doing research and working to help OCD sufferers. Ive concentrated also on further developing the Four-Step method to help peoplenot only those with neuropsychiatric problems like OCD, but those with no specifically diagnosed problemto perform at a higher and more effective level.

The method has proven very valuable, for example, in enhancing peoples capacities to develop their leadership abilities through use of the Wise Advocate concept, which youll read more about in these pages. In short, weve learned that the Four Steps can help anyone become more in touch with his or her True Self.

Since Brain Lock was first published, I have lectured at conferences in major world cities, spoken before the United Nations and appeared on widely viewed television programs, including the Today show Good Morning America, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

This new peface serves to refine, and further clarify, the Four Steps to self-directed therapy: Relabel, Reattribute, Refocus and Revalue. When OCD patients Relabel, they are calling their disturbing thoughts and urges what they really are: obsessions and compulsions. When they Reattribute, they recognize that the bothersome thoughts wont go away because they are symptoms of a disease, OCD. When they Refocus, they work around the intrusive thoughts by doing a constructive, enjoyable behavior. When they Revalue, they learn to ignore those thoughts and view them as worthless distractions.

Patients who have used this method have told courageous, though often heartbreaking, stories about their lives before the Four Steps. Happily, many stories have had inspiring outcomes. In sharing them, they have provided illuminating insights for all OCD sufferers.

Anna, who related her story in Brain Lock, was once suicidal. For years, she had obsessed that her husband was unfaithful. She would bombard him relentlessly with questions: When had he last seen a former girlfriend? Did he read girlie magazines?