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...
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...
Hit-and-Run OCD vs. Other Driving Fears
What is hit-and-run OCD? Hit-and-run OCD (sometimes called MVA-OCD) is a subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder that involves persistent and recurrent worries that you’ve hit someone while driving. While most people with hit-and-run OCD worry, "What if I...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
OCD & Contamination: Washing & Cleaning Compulsions/Rituals
OCD: Common Compulsions In my last post about OCD, I discussed reasons why people do rituals. This time, I'll identify specific rituals that are common in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) characterized by a fear of germs, contamination, diseases, and other...
OCD & Contamination: Reasons Why People Do Rituals/Compulsions
In my last post, I identified several idiosyncratic feared outcomes in OCD that are associated with contamination/health-related obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Obsessions are intrusive, recurrent, and distressing thoughts, impulses, or images related to these...
OCD: Screaming, Blurting Out Obscenities/Cursing/Profanity, & Other Unwanted Impulses
Question: I'm a teenager and keep having OCD symptoms related to impulse control. I often worry that I'll lose control and scream or blurt out obscenities. I am especially triggered in quiet public places like classrooms, churches, and movie theaters. I have never...
OCD Triggers in Daily Life? Don’t Ritualize. Be Strategic! 3 Tips for Fighting OCD.
Question: I know about ERP, and I understand that OCD symptoms can be reduced by resisting rituals and then habituating to the anxiety brought on by obsessive thoughts. However...what if an obsessional thought requires no ritual? Confused! Great question. I think that...
OCD Treatment (ERP & CBT): Exposure & Cognitive Restructuring
Question: To what extent would a change of mindset (e.g., changing my expectations for myself) be helpful in recovering from OCD? What is likely to happen if I delay formal treatment with a psychologist and work instead on changing my own mindset? OCD Treatment...
OCD Treatment: OCD vs. Me. How do I Tell the Difference?
Question: Because many of my OCD rituals are related to my professional identity, I'm worried that changing my rituals will somehow change those parts of me that I like (e.g., my personal goals and ambitions). Should I be concerned about this? Early Onset OCD in Kids...
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...
“Pure-O” OCD: Common Obsessions & Mental Rituals
As a follow-up to my previous post on Pure-O OCD, I thought it might be helpful to identify some obsessions that are commonly reported by individuals with Pure Obsessional OCD. These same obsessions may also be experienced by individuals with non-Pure-O forms of the...
Advanced ERP for OCD: how subtle rituals can limit your progress
What is exposure and response prevention (ERP) for OCD? As any good psychologist experienced in treating OCD can tell you, the most effective treatment for OCD is exposure and ritual prevention (ERP). You may also see this type of therapy referred to as exposure and...