4-day treatment to free people from OCD

The hug came just after Isabella completed Bergen 4-Day Treatment (B4DT), an intensive treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. In the latest podcast episode, There’s no such thing as normal, She shared her OCD story and revealed that B4DT treatment was a necessary circuit breaker for her.

Developed in Norway, B4DT is brought to Aotearoa by charity open closed doorThe first trial was held in January of this year. It’s a difficult challenge for our clients, but the results are amazing. International statistics show that approximately 90% of patients respond to treatment and 75% show clinical remission. Results from the first trial in Aotearoa closely reflect international results.

It is absolutely necessary. Around 100,000 New Zealanders are thought to suffer from OCD, and Open Closed Doors is committed to reducing this number. The gold standard treatment, Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), is difficult to access in New Zealand and treatment durations are much longer.

The B4DT method takes the core elements of ERP and condenses them into four consecutive days of intensive supported exposure work. Patients are taught a set of core skills and learn to “lean into” their anxiety rather than avoid it.

Emma Chapman, clinical lead for the New Zealand B4DT trial, said district health services were beginning to integrate the B4DT model into their own services and a wider rollout was expected later this year.

“While there is great pride in this momentum, there is also deep empathy for people across Aotearoa who have heard about this treatment and feel a strong sense of urgency to access it for themselves and for themselves,” Mr Chapman said.

The treatment’s co-founder, Norwegian psychologist Dr. Bjarne Hansen, traveled to New Zealand to support the initial trials. One key element of treatment, he says, is helping clients change their perception of the triggering situation.

“Procedure-wise, you can go slow, but you can’t do it intentionally,” Hansen said.

“You have to make a decision. Am I going to act like it’s dangerous? So you can’t actually say, ‘Well, it’s a little bit OK.’ That would be sending the wrong message.”

But Hansen also believes that our view of people who suffer from OCD is wrong.

“I think we’ve confused the field by thinking about this as a medical condition or a disorder,” he says. “These people are not broken. They are actually strong, and it is their strength that sustains and facilitates this process.”

Hansen even said that he personally would like to develop some of the skills that people with OCD have.

“If there was a box, and there was something in that box that increased people’s risk or likelihood of developing OCD, and I could buy it, I would do it,” he says. “I’d like to know when to use it.”

This is validation for Gray, whose own daughter struggles with severe OCD.

“In fact, whole families are taken hostage,” she says. “But we find that at the root of every ritual there is a unique strength…We just need to channel it into something positive in some way.”

Gray talks about making this episode: There’s no such thing as normal It was a very emotional process, partly because of the courage she saw in Isabella.

“She’s been through a lot, and her ability to describe her experiences in such detail was incredible,” she says. “It really helped me understand my daughter and I think it will help others as well.”

For eight years, Isabella’s world has narrowed into a cycle of fear and responsibility. It was a constant belief that if I wasn’t meticulous about my hygiene, I might pass the disease on to my loved ones. It was relentless and all-consuming.

“I don’t care if I get sick,” she told Gray before her treatment in Bergen. “I just don’t want to be responsible for other people getting sick.”

Vivid, intrusive fear drove her into an obsession that consumed many hours of her day. Sometimes I slept only a few hours a night. Like many OCD sufferers, she knew her fears were illogical. However, the intensity that OCD produces can hardly be logically silenced.

Before the Bergen trial, Isabella tried multiple treatments, specialists, and medications without lasting success. However, after four days of intensive treatment, she was able to regain her life.

Isabella continues to do well for two months.

“I learned that just because I have an idea doesn’t mean I have to act on it,” she says.

She still needs to continue her recovery day by day, but something fundamental has changed. For the first time in years, Isabella no longer lives a life dominated by OCD.

*Names have been changed to protect personal information.

There’s no such thing as normal is NZ Herald Podcast hosted by Sonia Gray. New episodes are released every Saturday.

Produced in partnership with NZ on Air.

You can listen to it at i heart radio, apple podcast, spotify Or wherever you get your podcasts.