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Knocking on Wood
Have you ever knocked on wood? Feared Friday the 13th? Panicked as a black cat crossed your path? These are all symptoms of what developmental psychologists call "primitive thinking." When small children are learning to use words and organize their thoughts, it is normal and expected for them to use primitive thinking. Do you remember the childhood phrase, "Step on a crack and break your mother's back?" This is an example of how small children achieve a sense of control when they are away from their mothers and fear abandonment. Adults are most prone to regressing to primitive thinking when they are having a hard time and feel overwhelmed by their own emotions. A "regression" is a backslide from mature functioning and thinking to earlier more primitive ways of thinking. We resort to these modes of thinking to protect ourselves against anxiety and to reassure ourselves that everything will be all right. Sometimes, even when things in our lives are going well, we become frightened that things will reverse themselves. We believe that if we "knock on wood" we can ward off the evil eye and ensure that things stay the way we like it. Controlling Uncertainty Sometimes as people mature, they have difficulty calming themselves and mastering the anxieties that life can send our way. To that end, we all have some rituals that we use to protect ourselves, even knowing that they are magical and irrational. All cultures have rituals and they are all based in primitive thought processes used to cope with anxiety and protect against disaster. Jews have a phrase that translates, "Against the Evil Eye" which they use when talking about good fortune in their lives. Traditional Jews will place a red ribbon or tie in the crib of a newborn baby to protect the child from the evil eye. The Pennsylvania Dutch are known for the hexagrams painted on their barns; these trace back to a middle European belief in the hexagram's ability to protect against disaster and ward off evil. Crossing your fingers when making a wish is another example of how Americans use primitive thinking to control uncertainty. Some of these rituals are relatively harmless superstitions that become a part of popular culture; others are not so harmless. At the root of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is the need to protect oneself from a metaphorical "evil eye," which results in an OCD afflicted person performing "rituals" over and over again. Understanding the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in this way can often help people master and contain these symptoms. Another tool you can use is to make a list of the ways in which your rituals help you have a better life. Here's a hint: You don't need much paper to complete this list. OCD is an extreme example, but it is still helpful to consider the ways in which your own rituals may be interfering with your life. Symptom Reduction If nothing else has helped you to relinquish the rituals that detract from your life, the best tool you can use is prayer. If you are not religious, you can always use the Serenity Prayer from Alcoholics Anonymous: God grant me the strength To accept the things I cannot change The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference.Try to diminish your symptoms by giving up just one of them at a time. Then use the Serenity Prayer to calm yourself down, as you will inevitably feel anxious if you don't carry out your ritual. In the Serenity Prayer, we get a perspective on the limits of our abilities to control life's events, and it is an exceedingly useful tool for calming down. Do not overwhelm yourself by doing too much at once. Just try one time locking the door to your house at night and not going back to check three times because you believe three is a lucky number. Say your prayers if you get too upset. You can try this tool with any obsessive-compulsive symptom, and as you are able to get a handle on your rituals, you will find that your achievements are an excellent platform on which to grow greater control over your symptoms and your life.  
RECOMMENDED READING FROM THE PSYSTORE:   The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing: The Experience and Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
by Judith L Rapaport Our Price: $11.16 "The first book to bring OCD to public attention tells the stories of those who are afflicted, often in their own words, and describes the successes doctors and patients have had with both experimental and existing treatments." -- Synopsis For a selection of books on this topic, visit the Psystore.
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