The OCD Stories

In episode 560 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 on Jonny, meta themed OCD, obsessing about OCD and the recovery process, the worries of is this even OCD and am I doing treatment right, a potential core fear of this theme, goals that are counter productive to recovery, acceptance and commitment ther...

In episode 559 I chat with Saraa D. Lee, MSW, LCSW. Sarah is an OCD therapist who also lives with OCD. After recently getting re-married and having a second baby, her experience with OCD led her to take a different approach to helping people with OCD find, build, and maintain lasting love in their lives. As a licensed therapist and Clinical Supervisor specializing in Love, Marriage and OCD, she tr...

In episode 558 I chat with Dr Anthony Pinto and Dr Michael Wheaton. Anthony Pinto, Ph. D. is Senior Director of the Northwell Health OCD Center at Zucker Hillside Hospital on Long Island and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Dr. Pinto has published over 100 manuscripts/chapters on OCD/related conditions and has an extensive...

In episode 557 I chat with Krista Reed. Krista is a Licensed Specialist Clinical Social Worker (LSCSW). Krista is passionate about working with patients who have Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders. We discuss her therapy and OCD journey, being your authentic self, struggling to develop an acceptance of her authentic self, learning to be authentic, the Inference-based CBT (ICBT) feared poss...

In episode 556 I chat with Jake who has kindly agreed to share his story with us. Jake is a psychotherapist and person with lived experience of OCD. We discuss his OCD story, experiencing panic, having a drug induced mental health episode, existential themed OCD, working with an unethical OCD coach, past OCD themes, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and values, compassion, his therapy traini...

In episode 555 I chat with Natalia Aíza. Natalia, LPC, is a therapist, writer, and mental health advocate. She is the founder of Kairos Wellness Collective, an innovative therapy center specializing in OCD and Anxiety Disorders. She is the author of Self-Guided Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy for OCD, Self-Guided EMDR Workbook, and the forthcoming Anxious to Launch: Empowered Parenting Sk...

In episode 554 I chat with Pat who has kindly agreed to share his story with us. We discuss getting diagnosed, religious themed OCD, relationship themed OCD around friendships, pOCD, switching themes, speaking to his workplace about his OCD, exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), his compulsions, creative ways of expressing himself, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocd...

In episode 553 I chat with Ashley Ordway and Victoria Schweiger. Ashley is a licensed mental health counselor and acting President of the Board at JACK MHA. Ashley's work at the University of Florida Health was foundational in developing the University of Florida's Fear Facers Camp, one of the first in the nation, which provides treatment to children ages 7- 15 with OCD. Ashley also runs her priva...

In episode 552 I chat with Andrea who has kindly agreed to share her story with us. We discuss panic attacks, existential OCD, some OCD worries including what if gravity ceases to exist and what if my eyes roll up into my head, a core fear of living with suffering, her experiences at the Bergen 4-Day Treatment (B4DT), mental compulsions being missed in therapy, gender dysphoria and gender treatmen...

In episode 551 I chat with Andrew who has kindly agreed to share his story with us. We discuss his story, how a bad experience with psilocybin triggered his OCD, trying to control thoughts, medication, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), sexual orientation themed OCD, compassion focused therapy (CFT), internal family systems therapy (IFS), working with parts of himself, meditation, and much m...

In episode 550 I chat with Chrissie Hodges. Chrissie is a Peer Support specialist, founder of OCD Gamechangers, and Author of 'Pure OCD: The Invisible Side of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder' and 'The OCD Relapse Roadmap'. Chrissie was awarded the hero award at the 24th IOCDF conference in San Fran. We discuss what's new with her, her new book The OCD Relapse Roadmap , relapses in OCD, relapse preve...

In episode 549 I chat with Justin Hughes and Ted Witzig, Jr. PhD. Justin, MA, LPC, is a therapist and author specializing in OCD and anxiety. A CBT practitioner trained in psychology and theology (Dallas Theological Seminary), he bridges mental health and faith. Ted, PhD is a clinical psychologist and pastor.  His roles give him a special desire to help those whose OCD has become entwined in relig...

In episode 548 I chat with Rebecca and Dr Jeremy Rowe. Rebecca kindly agreed to share her OCD story and her therapy work with Dr Jeremy Rowe with us. Jeremy is a chartered psychologist and clinical director of Ark Psychology, a UK-based independent practice providing specialist OCD treatment, ADHD and autism assessments, psychological therapy, and coaching. With over 25 years' experience across th...

In episode 547 I chat with Nathaniel Wood. Nathaniel is an English professional mixed martial artist who competes in the UFC. He has kindly agreed to share his OCD story with us. We discuss his OCD story, hit and run themed OCD, intrusive thoughts, health anxiety, religious themed OCD, medication, fighting in the UFC, having things to focus on, therapy, what helps Nathaniel, words of hope and much...

In episode 546 I chat with Dr Peter Aston. Dr. Pete Aston is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, where he specialises in the treatment of OCD, health anxiety, and related conditions using exposure and response prevention (ERP). He is also the co-founder of California Psychology Center, a Bay Area group practice focused on OCD and anxiety disorders. In addition...

In episode 545 I chat with Duke Al. Duke is a spoken word artist and OCD advocate. In this episode Duke reads some of his poems about OCD and explains the meanings behind them, including a new one partially inspired by a bit of my own story, he talks the power of poetry, and how he used poetry as a self-therapy, and much more. Hope it helps. Poems read: Poetry and rhyme  A Letter to myself about l...

In episode 544 I chat with Nicole Sophia who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us.  We discuss suicidal themed OCD, getting diagnosed young, meeting Dan Siegel, sexual orientation themed OCD, relationship themed OCD, her music, mental compulsions, feeling her feelings, self-compassion, making friends with her OCD, expressing through being a singer song writer, using humour, and much mo...

In episode 543 I chat with Jonny Say. Jonny is a UK based therapist and co-director at The Integrative Centre for OCD Therapy.  We discuss self-compassion, integrating self-compassion into exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), some benefits of self-compassion, the inner critical voice, shame, real event themed OCD, Jonny guides us through an exercise in self-compassion to the past, and m...

In episode 542 I chat with Blakely Hunze-Austin. Blakely is a licensed professional counselor in the states of Colorado and Tennessee. She obtained her master's degree in clinical mental health counseling with a concentration in addictions. She's a nationally certified counselor who specializes in sex therapy, eating disorders, trauma, and OCD. She enjoys working with LGBTQIA, kink, and poly/ENM c...

In episode 541 I chat with Brad Stulberg who has kindly agreed to share his OCD story with us. Brad is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who writes about mastery, meaning, and excellence. We discuss his OCD story, beginnings of his OCD, health obsessions, self-harm themed OCD, finding a therapist for his OCD, exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), acceptance and commitment...

In episode 540 I interview Alex Habens. Alex is a BABCP Accredited CBT Therapist, Clinical Supervisor and OCD Specialist. He also works with myself at The Integrative Centre for OCD Therapy. We discuss why he became a therapist and his own OCD experiences, what is compassion focused therapy (CFT), compassion more generally, integrating CFT into OCD treatment, shame, connecting with compassion, fea...

In episode 539 I interview Katie d'Ath. Katie is a cognitive behavioural therapist with a special interest in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorders. She is also the co-author of  "Managing OCD with CBT for Dummies"   and she has a popular  YouTube channel  where she shares OCD videos. In this episode we discuss running OCD therapy groups, managing an online OCD community platfo...

In episode 538 I chat with Dr Ronald Nicholson. Ron is a clinical psychologist. We discuss why he doesn't use somatic and sensorimotor OCD labels interchangeably, why he likes the label of sensory OCD, core fear vs the content, the idea of taking the B grade, the obsessions and compulsions around this theme, using exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP) on this theme, exposure scripting, an...

In episode 537 I chat with Shannon who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us.  We discuss her earliest OCD memory, various themes of OCD, existential themed OCD, worrying everyone is an 'non-playable character (NPC)', finding out it was OCD, starting therapy for OCD, doing therapy homework, postpartum OCD, support groups, non-engagement responses, shame and much more. Hope it helps.  Sh...

In episode 536 I chat with Dr. Fugen Neziroglu. Fugen is a board-certified cognitive and behavior psychologist and the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Bio Behavioral Institute in Great Neck, NY. Fugen has published more than 150 papers in scientific journals and authored or co-authored 15 books. We discuss her rich background in the field of OCD, being mentored by the late Dr Edna Foa, th...