The OCD Stories

In this midweek special episode I chat with licensed psychologist Dr Katia Moritz of the Neurobehavioral Institute (NBI) in Florida.   We talk about OCD and the holiday season, when excitement becomes a trigger for OCD, making values based choices, therapy homework over the holidays, how family can support their loved ones during the holidays, and much more. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/e...

In episode 412 I chat with Laura who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us.   We discuss her story, relationship themed OCD, going inpatient, getting misdiagnosed, getting effective therapy for OCD, exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), the inner critic, compassion focused therapy (CFT), and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/laura-412   Th...

In episode 411 I chat with Ben Eckstein (LCSW). Ben is a therapist in Durham, North Carolina, specialising in the treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorders. Ben founded his therapy centre Bull City Anxiety, and recently published a book called, 'Worrying is optional'.   We discuss what is rumination, building awareness of when ruminating, keeping a log of rumination, w...

In episode 410 I chat with Benjamin who has kindly agreed to share his OCD story with us.   We discuss his story, sexual intrusive thoughts, existential themed OCD, going into an eating disorder rehab facility, suicidal thoughts, doing exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), finding help in mixed martial arts, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/benj...

In this midweek special episode I chat with Dr Jon Hoffman of the Neurobehavioral Institute (NBI) in Florida, and Dr Amirsaman Sajad, a neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University.   We discuss what is neuroscience, the difference between brain and mind, what goes on in the brain of OCD, how can neuroscience improve therapy for OCD, the importance of psychotherapy and neuroscience working together, wh...

In episode 409 I chat with Olivia Bamber, Mairéad Ruane, and Shaun Flores. This conversation was recorded live at The OCD Action conference.   You will hear the OCD Action CEO Leigh Wallbank at the start introducing the panel. Thank you to Leigh, Cara, Eden and the rest of the OCD Action team for making it possible. I ask my panel guests about road blocks to recovery, dealing with the highs and lo...

In episode 408 I chat with Jonny Say. Jonny is a UK based therapist and co-director at The Integrative Centre for OCD Therapy.  We discuss an update with Jonny, the concept of acceptance from acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), what do we mean by acceptance, resentment as a compulsion, acceptance misconceptions, blocks to acceptance and navigating them, and much more. Hope it helps.   Show no...

In episode 407 I interviewed Kimberley Quinlan. Kim is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who treats people with OCD and related disorders, Eating Disorders and Body Focused Repetitive Disorders. She runs her own podcast called Your Anxiety Toolkit. She also runs CBTschool.com.  We discuss an update on her, what is meditation, meditation compared to mindfulness, resistances and blocks to med...

In episode 406 I chat with Abi who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us.   We discuss her story, sexual intrusive thoughts, compulsive prayer, scrupulosity, emetophobia, trichotillomania, an eating disorder, what's helped her, support from her partner, intimacy and intrusive thoughts, and much more. Hope it helps.   Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/abi-406 The podcast is m...

In this midweek special episode I chat with Dr Dee Franklin of the Neurobehavioral Institute (NBI) in Florida, and Dr David Tolin is the Founder and Director of the Anxiety Disorders Center at the Institute of Living.   We discuss their therapy journey, what is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complex PTSD, overlapping symptoms with OCD, high levels of anxiety, how PTSD and OCD interact with...

In episode 405 I chat with Dr Steven Phillipson. Steven is a licensed clinical psychologist who specialises in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for OCD. Steven is the Clinical Director at the Center for Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy in New York. We discuss the things Steve wants you to know about OCD recovery, including why the OCD topics are irrelevant, we need to show the brain that the topic i...

In episode 403 I chat with Hannah Leib. Hannah is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us.   We discuss her OCD story, worries around her Dad, an eating disorder, getting a diagnosis and therapy, starting a support group initiative at college, becoming a therapist, domestic violence, working with OCD in children and adolescents, school anxiety, words...

In episode 402 I chat with Melissa Mose. Melissa is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who treats OCD. Melissa is president of the IOCDF affiliate OCD SoCal. We discuss her therapy story, what is Internal Family Systems therapy (IFS), the idea of parts of us, merging IFS with exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), OCD being a cluster of parts, thinking about parts of self during exp...

In episode 401 I chat with Nicholas who has kindly agreed to share his OCD story with us.   We discuss his story, his early childhood experiences, substance use, worries about choking, suicidal themed OCD, peadophile themed OCD, going through exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), group therapy, and much more. Hope it helps.   Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/nicholas-401 The...

In this midweek special episode I chat with licensed psychologists Dr Katia Moritz and Dr Wilfredo Rivera-Perez of the Neurobehavioral Institute (NBI) in Florida.   We discuss what is suicide, some differences between being suicidal and experiencing suicidal OCD, when people experience both suicidal OCD or harm OCD and being actually suicidal, co-occurring disorders that may increase the risk for...

In episode 400 Nami (my wife) chats with me (Stuart, the host of the podcast) about my experience and learnings from the podcast over the last 400 episodes.   We discuss and reflect on the last 400 episodes, what episodes and concepts have stood out to me, my original hopes for the podcast, how the podcast has influenced me, what topics I hope to cover in the future, what I would put on a billboar...

In episode 399 I chat with Logan who has kindly agreed to share his OCD story with us.   We discuss his story, relationship OCD, ADHD, therapy, how boredom played into the OCD, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and much more. Hope it helps.   Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/logan-399   The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in...

In episode 398 I chat with Dr. Maggie Perry. Maggie is a licensed clinical psychologist based in Denver, Colorado and the founder of Relatable Health.   We discuss an update on her, mood disorders, how mood disorders affect OCD and vice versa, working with mood disorders alongside OCD, how to adjust therapy for the two disorders, behavioural activation, negative core beliefs, group therapy for OCD...

In episode 397 I chat with Dr Anthony Pinto (Ph. D). Anthony is Director of the Northwell Health OCD Center at Zucker Hillside Hospital on Long Island in NY, and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Dr. Pinto has an extensive publication record, with over 100 manuscripts/chapters on obsessive compulsive disorder and related con...

In this midweek special episode I chat with licensed psychologists Dr Michele Bechor and Dr Ciana Mickolus of the Neurobehavioral Institute (NBI) in Florida.   We discuss their stories, a team approach to OCD treatment, what's it like working in a big multidisciplinary team, the benefits for clients and for staff, a day in the life at NBI, and much more. Hope it helps.   Show notes: https://theocd...

In episode 396 I chat with Dr Jesse Spiegel and Dr Sarah A. Haider. Jesse and Sarah are licensed clinical psychologists working with OCD.   We discuss their therapy stories, why exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP) doesn't work sometimes, including intensity, frequency, and duration. We also cover asking clients to tell on themselves, psychoeducation, checking for small compulsions that...

In episode 395 I chat with Hannah who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us.  We discuss harm worries around her children, hit and run themed OCD, finding a therapist who is an specialist in OCD, her core fears, doing exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), doing ERP while raising kids, medication, support groups, OCD and faith, and much more. Hope it helps.    Show notes: https...

In episode 394 I chat with Will who has kindly agreed to share his OCD story with us.   We discuss his story, growing up in a toxic environment, intrusive thoughts, confessing as a compulsion, perfectionism, being active duty in the US military, identity struggles, a bad relationship with alcohol, pOCD, relationship themed OCD, sexual orientation themed OCD, suicidal themed OCD, harm themed OCD, a...

In episode 393 I chat with Jonny Say. Jonny is a UK based therapist and co-director at The Integrative Centre for OCD Therapy.  We discuss our new OCD centre, we talk about 9 barriers to OCD recovery, including using exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP) with the agenda of controlling symptoms, automatic compulsions, secondary spikes, intense feelings, difficulties with urge surfing, sham...

In episode 392 I chat with 6 members of an OCD support group. The support group members on the show were Bri, Bridget, Cassie, Joe, Kim, Steve, and Dr Lauren Wadsworth.   We discuss what is the group about, what's it like being in an OCD support group, the benefits of being in an OCD support group, they share some nice memories of being in the group, setting goals within the group, managing challe...