Welcome to My Blog!
Below, you can browse all the posts included on my blog. When you reach the end of the page, click “Older Entries” to view more. These posts cover a variety of topics, including descriptions of different mental health conditions, as well as different theoretical approaches to treatment. If you would rather browse by topic, use the button below to access a list of blog posts sorted by topic. Thanks for visiting!
Group Therapy for OCD: Power in Numbers
Group Therapy for OCD Wow. Our first OCD treatment group met yesterday, and IMHO, it was an incredible experience. Thank you to all who attended and showed such courage in standing up to their OCD. I was reminded anew how group therapy for OCD is so different than...
Teen Social Anxiety Group (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy/Group Therapy)
Teens with social anxiety unite! In this paid treatment group, teens will support each other in developing cognitive behavioral skills to combat social anxiety. This workshop will be interactive and fun. Note: If you are an adult with social anxiety, there's a group...
OCD Treatment Group Using ERP
OCD Treatment Group! I am pleased to announce the availability of our new exposure and response prevention (ERP)-based treatment group. The intent of this group is to provide a supportive environment for completing ERPs. Participants wishing to attend are required to...
What is OCD?
OCD is a malevolent advisor that wants to deceive us about the fundamental nature of the world. It wants us to believe that the world shouldn't have any sharp edges and that our experience should be as smooth and snag-free as possible. If snags are apparent, it tells...
Scary Thoughts as Costumes: The Illusion of Danger
It's nearly Halloween, and kids around the country are digging through dusty closets and plundering the aisles of local Halloween shops in search of the perfect costume. Halloween is the one night of the year when we give ourselves permission to be silly, scary, or...
OCD Awareness Week
The International OCD Foundation (IOCDF) is sponsoring OCD Awareness Week, which means that organizations around the world are hosting special OCD-related events this week. South Floridians, we invite you to join us for our monthly support group meeting tonight...
Vomit Phobia – Fear of Vomiting (Emetophobia)
Flu season will be quickly upon us and with it comes an unfortunate increase in the likelihood of experiencing fevers, coughs, runny noses, vomiting, and the like. Although no one enjoys being sick, this time of year poses particular challenges for individuals...
Postpartum OCD – Fear of Harming Your Baby
Parents brace themselves for many changes when a new baby comes home. As new routines replace old, life quickly becomes a confusing jumble of cherished memories, bottles, and dirty diapers. Parenting can be joyful, but it can also be terrifying. Parenting comes with...
IOCDF Conference, IOP for OCD Program, & Group Therapy for Panic…
Just a few quick announcements: 1) The 2012 meeting of the International Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation (IOCDF) is just a week away. The IOCDF conference marks the perfect convergence of all things OCD-related. In attendance are some of the best clinicians and...
Suicide Obsessions: Fear of Killing/Harming Yourself
Thoughts of death, dying, and suicide are an unfortunate reality for many individuals. In the U.S. alone between 2008 and 2009, approximately 3.7% of adults (8.3 million Americans) reported having suicidal thoughts (Crosby et al., 2011). During that same time frame,...
Fear of Hurting Other People
The fear of harming others can be a sign of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a neurobiological condition that is associated with repetitive, intrusive, distressing thoughts that can't easily be dismissed. Fear of Harming Other People On Purpose Some aggressive...
Aggressive Obsessions: Fear of Harming or Killing Others
Aggressive obsessions go by many names. Harm obsessions, violent obsessions, morbid obsessions...the list goes on... These symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) involve the fear of harming or killing other people. In other cases, aggressive obsessions are...
Harm Obsessions & Violent Obsessions
Imagine that you're leaning down to kiss your young daughter goodnight, when BAM! You are jolted by an image of yourself stabbing her to death. Alternatively, picture yourself as a young child who is intensely afraid of playing with your new puppy...not because you're...
OCD Books & OCD Websites
This is a recommended list of OCD books and OCD websites that I consider to be essential reading for individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder. In addition to my formal training in OCD treatment, these OCD books and websites have had a profound impact on how I...
OCD & Checking: Part 2 (Mental Checking)
Behavioral Checking (Overt Checking) Many examples of compulsive checking rituals in OCD involve direct inspection of a target stimulus by sight, sound, or feel. Common OCD checking behaviors include relocking doors, visually examining the position of one's parking...
Checking & OCD: Part 1 (Checking for Safety)
Compulsive checking often begins innocently enough. One check here, two checks there... But OCD's greed knows no bounds. What starts out as a simple check "just to make sure" eventually spirals into disabling OCD doubt that can come to predominate innumerable...
HOCD: Homosexual OCD & Sexual Orientation OCD
Note: A revised version of this post that refers to "Sexual Orientation OCD (SO-OCD)" is now available. Fear of Being Gay (Homosexual OCD / HOCD) Emerging sexuality can be confusing for any teen or young adult, and gay teens face a variety of unique challenges over...
Sexual Obsessions in OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)
Sexual obsessions in OCD are recurrent unwanted sexual thoughts, such as the fear of being attracted to something unwanted, taboo, or morally "unacceptable" based on one's particular worldview. Although all forms of OCD can be debilitating, sexual obsessions can be...
Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) Symptoms
Symptoms of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a somatoform disorder that closely resembles obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder include excessive concern about perceived physical flaws, defects, or...
Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
What is Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)? Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is not formally classified as an anxiety disorder; however, it shares many overlapping features with anxiety disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In contrast to OCD which typically...
Worry & “What If” Questions
Anxiety, Worry, & What If Questions If you have anxiety, it's likely that you wrestle with worry and "what if" questions. Many what if questions are easily recognizable and start with the obvious, "What if...?" Others are more subtle and begin with phrases like...
Hit-and-Run OCD
"Hit and run" OCD involves the fear of accidentally hitting a pedestrian while driving. In most cases of hit-and-run obsessive-compulsive disorder, fears focus on unintentionally killing, injuring, or maiming a victim. Other individuals worry about causing car...
Scrupulosity
What is Scrupulosity? Scrupulosity is a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) characterized by religious and/or moral obsessions. Scrupulosity can sometimes be difficult to recognize because even within a single faith community, religious beliefs and practices...
Scrupulosity & OCD: Religious/Moral Symptoms
Question: I have scrupulosity (religious/moral obsessive-compulsive disorder), and I am triggered by religious posts on Facebook. When I see a religious post, I feel like I have to repost it or God will be mad at me. I also worry about what other people think about...
Exposure and Response Prevention: An Analogy
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is just like a fitness program for your brain. However, instead of shaking up your fitness level, it's designed to shake up stubborn OCD symptoms. Let's expand on this analogy. Reasons for...
Starting Exposure Therapy: What’s it Like?
For anyone new to exposure-based therapy, such as exposure and response prevention (ERP), there is often much anticipatory anxiety about starting treatment. "What is it? What will it be like? How bad will it be? Can I handle it? Will I be forced to do things I'm...
Treatment of Unwanted Thoughts & Sensations in OCD
In my post about the treatment of sensorimotor OCD, a reader asked about the ultimate goal of treatment. Should the goal of treatment be to never notice an unwanted thought or symptom? Suppressing Unwanted Thoughts & Sensations in Pure-O & Sensorimotor OCD...
Thought Control & OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)
OCD & Thought Control Can I learn to eliminate my OCD thoughts? I hear this question all the time from new patients who are searching for ways to suppress their unwanted thoughts. When I answer this question with a resounding "no", there is often much surprise and...
Fear of Saliva Swallowing & Choking: Treatment & Symptoms (OCD)
Question: I have sensorimotor OCD, and I’m suffering from conscious swallowing. My main fear is that I'll choke or swallow my own saliva whenever I'm speaking or singing. Any tips for how to tackle this fear via exposure and response prevention (ERP)? Great question....
Reassurance Seeking in OCD
Although contamination OCD and washing rituals often go hand-in-hand, many rituals in this domain do not actually involve cleaning or disinfecting. These more subtle rituals are often based around reassurance seeking behaviors that become ingrained in everyday habit....