The OCD Stories

In this special midweek episode of the podcast which was recorded at the OCD in Society event recently. I chat with these 3 OCD advocates and artists about who they are, what their creative expression for OCD is, dealing with imposter syndrome and self doubt, the benefits of creative expression, how art can help spread information about OCD, and much more. Hope it helps.   Show notes: https://theo...

In episode 331 I chat with Amanda who has kindly agreed to share her story.   We talk about her story, growing up catholic, sexual intrusive thoughts, fears of sinning, seeking help from her priest, some of her compulsions, hitting rock bottom and considering suicide, doing exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), how her grandmother helped her, her grandmother's own struggles, what else he...

In episode 330 I chat with Dr Amita Jassi. Amita is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the National and Specialist OCD, BDD and Related Disorder Service for Children and Young People (South London and Maudsley NHS Trust).   We discuss her therapy story, adapting OCD therapy for people with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), she shares what ASD is, how rigid thinking in ASD can impact treatment, br...

In episode 329 I chat Maya Tadross who has kindly agreed to share her story with us. We discuss her OCD story, being in residential treatment, her experiences of exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), managing OCD alongside studying, living by her values, we talk about perfectionism, OCD symptoms changing form, her well being priorities, getting an ADHD diagnosis later in life, her experi...

In episode 328 I chat with Dr Russ Harris. Russ is a medical practitioner, author of the international best-selling self-help book 'The Happiness Trap' (as well as nine others), and is a world-renowned trainer of Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT).  We discuss his book The Happiness Trap, the new second edition of the book, how ACT can help reduce rumination, Russ's view of rumination, noticing...

In episode 327 I chat with Elise who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us.   We discuss her story, her OCD themes, we chat about mental compulsions, compassion, the problem with comparing recovery journeys, learning to manage her workload, her advocacy brand OCDOPUS, being an advocate, when family don't understand, words of hope, and much more. Hope it helps.   Show notes: https://theo...

In episode 326 I chat with Geoff who has kindly agreed to share his OCD story with us.   In this episode we discuss his OCD story, harm obsessions, postnatal harm obsessions, working through grief for his brother, suicidal themed OCD worries, his compulsions, his advocacy in New Zealand, and much more. Hope it helps.   Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/ geoff-326 The podcast is made po...

In episode 325 I chat with Jessica Serber. Jessica is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist as well as the founder of Mindful CBT California. In this episode we discuss her therapy story, being a sibling of someone with OCD, how she supported her sister, how Jessica brings mindfulness into the therapy room, working with mindfulness sticking points, she shares an ice cube exercise for learning t...

In episode 324 I chat with Pamela who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us.   We discuss her OCD story, stress in childhood, growing up in a religious upbringing, getting a diagnosis, trichotillomania, depression and PTSD, her compulsions and worries, medication and exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), and much more. Hope it helps.   Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/epi...

In episode 323 I chat with Meredith who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us.   We discuss her OCD story, sexual orientation theme, medication, the tough time she had going to a general inpatient facility, how OCD symptoms were impacting her relationships, support groups, creating a bespoke support system, exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), how her family learned not to re...

In episode 322 I chat with Dr Clarissa Ong, and Dr Michael Twohig. Clarissa obtained her Ph. D. in Clinical/Counselling Psychology at Utah State University and is currently completing her post-doctoral training at the Center for Anxiety Disorders at Boston University and CBTeam. Michael (Ph. D.)  is a licensed psychologist in the state of Utah and a Professor of Psychology at Utah State University...

In episode 321 I chat with Jenna Overbaugh. Jenna is a therapist who specialises in OCD, and is the clinical marketing director over at NOCD.   We discuss Jenna's OCD story, postpartum OCD, how the US healthcare system could do more to recognise postpartum OCD, how her husband helped her, Jenna shares some of her intrusive thoughts, and some of her exposures (Exposure and Response Prevention - ERP...

In episode 320 I chat with Alexandra Reynolds who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us.   We discuss her story, themes: contamination, relationship, health and taboo, we talk about her experiences of exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), we discuss complex trauma (cPTSD) and doing a separate trauma therapy for it, her attachment style, how cPTSD affected her relationships, he...

In episode 319 I chat with Taylor Glendenning who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us.   We discuss her story, hit and run themed OCD, her other themes including violence and harm, some of her compulsions, her therapy journey, what's she learned in therapy, medication, the benefit of going to therapy multiple times a week for her, developing the skill of distress tolerance, words of h...

In episode 318 therapist Jonny Say interviews Stuart about his OCD research. Stuart's research used data from the University of Roehampton's ETHOS project. We discuss the motivation for this research, what is humanistic counselling, the research and what was found, what humanistic (and person-centred) counselling can learn from CBT, and what CBT can learn from humanistic counselling, hopes for the...

In episode 317 I chat with Sheryl Paul and Sheva Rajaee. Sheryl is a counselor informed by Jungian depth psychology, and author of the book The wisdom of anxiety. Sheva is a psychotherapist who specializes in the treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and other related anxiety disorders, and author of the book Relationship OCD: A CBT-Based Guide to Move Beyond Obsessive Doubt, Anxiety, and Fea...

In episode 316 I chat with Dr Sophie Suri who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us.   We discuss her OCD story, trauma from the loss of her parents, health and harm themes, starting therapy, her experience of trauma, starting to see triggers as opportunities to practice her therapy skills, Sophie shares some of the most helpful strategies she learned in therapy, her future research, an...

In episode 315 I chat with Annie Anderson who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us.   We discuss her OCD story, relationship OCD, we discuss her religion (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) and how this played into her OCD, worries about her partners physical features and whether she felt in love, opening up to get help, a breakthrough she had, existential worries, findin...

In episode 314 I chat with Robert Fox. Rob is a therapist (LMHC) practicing in Woburn, USA. He specialises in internal family systems and EMDR therapy.   We discuss his own OCD story, shame, internal family systems therapy, we discuss the idea of parts of ourselves, OCD as a protective part of us which may be possibly protecting exiled parts of us, what are exiled parts, he gives examples of IFS i...

In episode 313 I chat with Dr David Burns. David is a psychiatrist, and is currently Adjunct Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He is the author of the best-selling book, Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, as well as many other books, including the more recent book Feeling Great. David also developed the therapy TEAM-CB...

In episode 312 I chat with Dr Steven Phillipson. Steven is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for OCD. Steven is the Clinical Director at the Center for Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy in New York. We discuss what is character indictment, the varied emotions behind OCD, confessing as a common compulsion of this theme, a different way to look at the...

In episode 311 I chat with Dr Sam Greenblatt. Sam is a licensed clinical psychologist. We discuss his own OCD setback and the learnings he got from it, we discuss the fear of being cancelled, cancel culture more generally, how the worry of cancel culture started with the 'me too' movement, how some people's OCD has latched on to this, using exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP) for this w...

In episode 310 I chat with Sam who has kindly agreed to share her story with us.   We discuss her story, a sexual assault that came before the OCD, worrying about getting an STI, pedophile themed OCD (pOCD), her compulsions, doing exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), medication and self stigma, what else helps her, where she's at now, and much more. Hope it helps.   Show notes: https://...

In episode 309 I chat with Emily Hemendinger. Emily is a lead OCD therapist at the University of Colorado Health Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic.   We discuss her therapy story and mental health story including OCD and an eating disorder, cognitive flexibility, cognitive remediation therapy, working on perfectionism, social anxiety, social media and tips for the mindful use of it, and much more. Hope...

In episode 308 I chat with Angel Brown who has kindly agreed to share her story with us.   We discuss her story, harm intrusive thoughts, panic attacks, health anxiety, her compulsions, fear of going crazy, doing exposure and response prevention (ERP), helping her family understand how to support her, words of hope, and much more. Hope it helps.   Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/stor...