So this post is a bit different than my regular posts... Rather than discussing a specific aspect about OCD or anxiety, this post is a request for your assistance in completing an exposure. Here's the background... I have a patient with scrupulosity (religious OCD)...
ROCD
Although ROCD is often characterized by intrusive worries about your relationship, relationship OCD treatment often specifically targets the compulsions and avoidance behaviors related to ROCD (rather than the obsessions themselves). This is because ROCD treatment is...
OCD Treatment: Back to Basics
In previous posts, I have discussed various aspects of the "OCD Cycle," but it never hurts to have a quick refresher. After all, understanding how OCD works can help you see through its lies and help mobilize you to stand up and challenge it. What is OCD, and how does...
Relationship OCD (rOCD) – Unwanted Impulses & Images
This multi-part series of posts will focus primarily on rOCD, also known as "relationship OCD." Part 1 focused on obsessive thoughts that are common in rOCD. This part discusses other relationship OCD obsessions, including intrusive impulses and images. Part 3 will...
ROCD – Relationship OCD
In a previous post on mental checking, I talked briefly about ROCD (Relationship OCD), a form of OCD that involves pervasive doubt and uncertainty about interpersonal relationships. This multi-part series of posts will focus primarily on ROCD in the context of...
Driving Fears & Driving Avoidance in Teens & Young Drivers
Reader Question: My daughter just turned 15, and no matter what I say, I can't seem to convince her to practice her driving. It's strange, because in the past, all she could do is talk about how excited she was to finally get her permit. I truly thought that she'd be...
OCD & Pets: Sexual Thoughts & Scrupulosity
Obsessions focusing on pets and animals incorporate all the common themes: contamination, checking, harm, scrupulosity, and sex. In this 3-part blog series, I'll discuss some of the common ways obsessions may target our lovable, snuggable friends. Part 1 focused on...
Pets & OCD: Contamination
Obsessions focusing on pets and animals incorporate all the common themes: contamination, checking, harm, scrupulosity, and sex. In this 3-part blog series, I discuss some of the common ways OCD obsessions may target our lovable, snuggable friends. This article, Part...
OCD About Pets and Animals: Harm
Obsessions focusing on pets and animals incorporate all the common themes: contamination, checking, harm, scrupulosity, and sex. In this 3-part blog series, I discuss some of the common ways obsessions may target our lovable, snuggable friends. This article, Part 1,...
Anger and OCD – Getting Mad…
“I hate having OCD! Why can’t these thoughts just stop?!?! How can I be the person I was before?!?!” Many people with OCD are extremely familiar with the anxiety-related aspects of the disorder. OCD is an anxiety disorder after all, so it’s not terribly surprising...
Contamination OCD – Long Shower Exposures
Long shower times? Just a quick announcement... I'm pleased to announce that with our recent office renovations, we now have a spa-like therapeutic shower room that is perfect for individuals with contamination OCD who have excessively long shower times. This room is...
Imaginal Exposure vs. In Vivo Exposure for OCD
As I've talked about in numerous posts, overcoming OCD involves learning to co-exist with doubt and uncertainty. This idea can be a bit counter-intuitive at first, as many people initially expect OCD treatment to reduce uncertainty. One therapeutic approach that helps...
OCD Awareness Week 2016
Welcome to #OCDWEEK 2016, a week organized by IOCDF to help raise awareness about OCD and related conditions! If you visit IOCDF’s website, you’ll find information about local and online programs and events designed to help increase the general public’s understanding...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Does Non-Avoidance = Exposure? No! Anxiety Disorder Treatment Principles for OCD, Panic, Social Anxiety, & Phobias.
Anxiety Principle of the Day: Non-Avoidance is not equivalent to exposure. Although exposure is predicated upon the purposeful non-avoidance of anxiety-related stimuli, non-avoidance of anxiety triggers is not equivalent to exposure. What is non-avoidance? I liken...
Exposure Therapy’s Most Common Mistake: All Eggs in the Habituation Basket
Many people have an incomplete understanding of exposure therapy... ...be it exposure and response prevention (ERP) for OCD, intentional mistake practice for social anxiety, or interoceptive exposures for panic disorder... This is true for exposure newbies, seasoned...
Palm Beach (South Florida) OCD Support Groups: Adults, Kids, Teens
OCD Support Groups - Palm Beach Gardens|Jupiter|West Palm Beach|Florida Attention all South Florida residents with OCD in Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Juno, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Delray Beach, Pompano...
Pure-O OCD Rituals: Starting Over, Resetting, & Undoing
Question: It's hard to describe this, but I feel like every few days I need to mentally "start over" by doing a variety of mental and behavioral rituals. I don't want to live like this, but I'm afraid that if I undergo treatment and stop my OCD rituals, I won't be the...
Health-Related Anxiety: Symptoms, Disorders, & Treatment
Think about the most significant health scare you have ever experienced. Then multiply this experience by a factor of about 10. Unfortunately, this is a daily reality for many individuals suffering from health-related anxiety, a debilitating condition that can have...
Agoraphobia – Symptom Attacks, Triggers, Panic, & Avoidance Behaviors
Let's dispel a common misconception about agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is not a fear of the outdoors. Many people mistakenly believe this myth, due to the word's Latin roots. Because agoraphobia can be broken down into the roots agora ("marketplace") and phobia ("fear...
Fear, Doubt, Uncertainty, ERP, & the Monster Under the Bed
Everyone I know has, at some point, had to deal with the monster under the bed. Some do it with grace. Others falter. I've always been clumsy. I can vividly recall many terrified nights from my childhood, when I would lie rigidly in my bed, utterly paralyzed by fear....
Mindfulness & ACT-based therapy: Questioning “I hurt; therefore, I suffer.”
Mindfulness & ACT-based Approaches to Therapy Mindfulness & Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based approaches to treatment might (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 2003) ask you to consider the truth of the following statement: I hurt; therefore, I suffer....
Social Anxiety Treatment: CBT & Intentional Mistake Practice (an example)
When I was a kid, one form of mischief that was briefly popular in my neighborhood was crank calling strangers. Usually, the bravest kid in the group would pick up the phone, and with the encouragement of all the other kids in the room, would dial a random telephone...
Therapy as Science: You + Your Therapist + Scientific Method
I consider myself a scientist. I wear this hat officially when conducting research, but I also wear it every time I sit with a patient. In my research, my science is pretty self-evident: I identify a research question, develop falsifiable hypotheses, and then...
The Power of Being Selfish: Selfishness as a Key to Mental Health
I'm about to tell you something that your mother might not approve of...so for those of you sensitive souls out there, you might want to click on something less controversial. Here it is: It's okay (and sometimes even essential!) to be a little bit selfish....
School Refusal & Parental Stigma: Am I a Bad Parent?
Like any other behavior, school refusal does not have a singular cause. This is pretty self-evident, but in the heat of the moment when your child is having a tantrum, this fact is quickly forgotten. It is simply too easy to conclude that you have raised a "bad...
School Refusal Causes (Social & Anxiety-Related Factors)
With the summer quickly fading to black and the academic year looming largely, we will soon be entering the season of school refusal. When I use the term "school refusal," I'm not talking about that once-in-a-blue-moon occasion when a child forgets about an important...
Panic Attack Causes: Fight-or-Flight & the Sympathetic Nervous System
Panic attacks feel awful. However, despite the unpleasantness of panic attacks, we're actually lucky to have the neural circuitry that drives them. Although it might not feel like it, panic is caused by one of your body's most important self-protective mechanisms....
One Panic Treatment Basic that Even Your Therapist Might not Know
If you have panic disorder or suffer from panic attacks or agoraphobia, chances are you might be inadvertently doing one simple thing that is making your panic attacks and anxiety worse. You might have even learned this strategy from your therapist. Although...
Test Anxiety Treatment & Diagnostic Considerations
When considering treatment for test-taking anxiety, make sure that you have a comprehensive diagnostic assessment to rule out other possible causes of your symptoms. Not all cases of test anxiety are alike, and sometimes symptoms of test anxiety actually reflect a...
Test Anxiety & Test-taking Anxiety Myths
Although most of us (at one point or another) have experienced significant fear, uncertainty, or dread about an upcoming examination or evaluation, oftentimes these milestones pass without incident. We get scared, our hearts race, and we ultimately live to fight...
OCD perfectionism & social anxiety treatment: Tweet your way to greater health
Looking for ways to overcome social anxiety or OCD-related perfectionism? At the end of this post, you'll find some strategies I use to help individuals in South Florida (Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, & Miami) overcome their anxiety....
Perfectionism in OCD: When the pursuit of success turns toxic
There is more than one type of perfectionist. First, there is the adaptive perfectionist. This perfectionist is the prototypical workaholic student/employee who goes above and beyond expectations. This person is intelligent, hard-working, dependable, and passionate...
Although it might feel like you’re dying, you’re not. That’s just what the panic wants you to think.
Disclaimer: Because panic attacks can mimic the symptoms of several serious medical conditions, it's important that you talk with your doctor before beginning any panic treatment program. Never begin panic treatment without first obtaining medical clearance from your...
Parenting Kids & Teens with OCD: Don’t Feed the Reassurance Monster…and Other Quick Tips
Many excellent parents struggle with how to appropriately parent their child/teen with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Unfortunately, this process is rarely straightforward and is often counter-intuitive, which leaves many parents feeling anxious and confused. As...
Trichotillomania: Goodbye “Trich Police”, Hello HRT
Imagine that you have a rather large blemish right in the middle of your forehead. It's not one of those pseudo-invisible blemishes that can only be perceived by you. Rather, it's an angry, red mark that is readily apparent to nearly all the people with whom you...
To tweet or not to tweet (aka, keeping private things private in the Facebook/Twitter era)
Social media tools like Facebook and Twitter are poised to revolutionize healthcare. Social media sites can be useful for quickly disseminating health-related information and giving users a place to connect around shared interests. In some cases, online support...
Hoarding: Treatment, symptoms, and personal impact/costs
The topic of hoarding is rarely met with disinterest. Maybe that's because nearly all of us can relate to hoarding on one level or another. Perhaps you yourself have been touched personally by hoarding. You may have a strong emotional attachment to objects, or you...
Hoarding treatment: Choosing the right therapist
If you are an individual who struggles with hoarding, you might have been frustrated by negative treatment experiences in the past. For most individuals who hoard, treatment can be challenging. However, it is an essential ingredient for regaining control and...
Specific phobias: symptoms & CBT treatment (reader question)
Question: Basically, I wanted to know from an expert, what can a phobia do to a person? How does it affect them mentally? Also I see that you've got a new treatment philosophy -- is there any way you can talk me through it? One of the goals of cognitive behavioral...
ERP therapy for OCD: Shifting from destructive to constructive to gestalt notions
Here's a question for you: Is exposure and response prevention (ERP) fundamentally a destructive or constructive process? I think that many people naturally conceptualize it as more of the former than the latter. They conceive of ERP as being the process by which we...
OCD guilt, shame, disgust, anxiety & depression: Why treatment sometimes fails (and what to do about it)
OCD isn't just about anxiety. Although anxiety is certainly a prominent feature of the disorder, clinicians who only attend to anxious symptoms can easily overlook some of its other core features. As a psychologist in Palm Beach, Florida, I work closely with kids,...
OCD, ERP, & doubt sensitivity: Shattering the illusion of certainty
Many individuals with OCD hunger for certainty. It's a craving that often can't be easily sated. Early conceptions of OCD from the 19th century acknowledged this issue directly, in that OCD was often termed the "doubting disease." It is this need for certainty, the...
Palm Beach trichotillomania (trich) support group
Okay, so in addition to the possible Palm Beach OCD support group, I am also thinking about forming a trichotillomania (trich) support group. For those of you who aren't familiar with trichotillomania, it's an impulse control disorder that is associated with...
Miami/Fort Lauderdale OCD support groups for adults and kids
Several support groups for individuals with OCD are conveniently located near Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Boca Raton. Some groups are facilitated by licensed clinical psychologists, whereas others are led by individuals with OCD. To view current support groups in...
OCD symptoms: the obvious (and the not so obvious)
Symptoms of OCD are everywhere. Turn on your television, and you're likely to catch at least a fleeting glimpse of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Many popular TV shows feature characters with OCD (e.g., Emma on Glee, Monk), and it is through this lens that many...
Palm Beach OCD support group
UPDATE (10/19/11): These free OCD support groups are now running in Palm Beach County, Florida (i.e., Palm Beach Gardens, FL). If you would like to receive email reminders about upcoming support groups, you can access our sign-up form here. See our events calendar for...
The beginning of something new
Welcome to my blog. My name is Steven J. Seay, Ph.d., and I am a licensed psychologist in Florida and Missouri. I am currently the Director of the Center for Psychological & Behavioral Science. Over the coming weeks and months, I plan to use this blog to offer a...