The OCD Stories

In episode 300 I took some time to reflect on the last 6 years and 300 episodes. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for listening, and to acknowledge where the shows been, and where's it's going.   Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/ stuart-300 The podcast is made possible by NOCD . To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance he...

Dr Patrick McGrath head of clinical services at NOCD interviews Dr Alec Pollard Founding Director of the Center for OCD & Anxiety-Related Disorders (COARD).   In this episode they talk about Alec's therapy story, what areas of OCD have his interest currently, developing an approach to help families of loved ones who refuse therapy, developing his OCD institute in St Louis, why it's exposure and re...

In episode 299 I chat with Justin Hughes. Justin is a licensed professional counsellor in Dallas, Texas who specializes in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). In this episode I chat with Justin about some of the barriers that get in the way of Christians seeking treatment, he share's some relevant scripture, why OCD is not a spiritual problem, seeing a thera...

In this episode peer support specialist Chrissie Hodges interviews Chance McNeely.   Chrissie chats with Chance about his story, how culture can develop/influence themes, childhood trauma, their upbringings, struggling to speak up as children, self-compassion, trauma from OCD, shame, peer support, and much more. Hope it helps.   Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/ chrissie-hodges-chance...

In episode 298 I interviewed Dr Jason Krompinger. Jason is a clinical psychologist at the OCD institute at McLean hospital. I chat with Jason about his therapy story, case formulation vs diagnosis, barriers to accessing exposure and response prevention (ERP), perfectionism, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP), we discuss the role of the 'self', and much...

In this special edition of The OCD Stories former guest and OCD advocate Catherine Benfield interviews Steve Brumwell. Steve is a writer and director, he is currently working on his short film about OCD called 'Waving'. In this episode they discuss Steve's story, hiding the disorder, how a documentary helped him understand what was going on, they discuss harm intrusive thoughts, becoming a parent,...

In episode 297 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.  In this episode we talk about her new book 'The Self-Compassion Workbook for OCD', the roadblocks to self-compassi...

Full episode out this Sunday. We discuss her new book ' The Self-Compassion Workbook for OCD: Lean into Your Fear, Manage Difficult Emotions, and Focus On Recovery'. Kimberley's new book: https://amzn.to/3kSiUd2   Disclaimer - this podcast is not a replacement for therapy. Please seek treatment from a trained professional. 

In episode 296 I interviewed Dr Nicola Petrocchi. Nicola is a licensed CBT psychotherapist based in Rome, Adjunct Professor of Psychology at John Cabot University (Rome) and student counsellor. We discuss his therapy story, what is compassion-focused therapy (CFT), the evolutionary view of the mind, how CFT fits in with other therapies, his study: what it is, what it found. We talk about viewing O...

In episode 295 I interviewed Jamie Lewis who has kindly agreed to share his story with us. I chat with Jamie about his story, building up the courage to speak to a doctor, pure O, somatic OCD, relationship OCD, perfectionism, derealisation, working with Dr Steven Phillipson, we talk about Steve's podcast episode 'brain voice vs gatekeeper voice', peer support, the concept of irrelevance, words of...

In episode 294 I interviewed Jon Hershfield. Jon is a psychotherapist and the director of The Center for OCD and Anxiety, at Sheppard Pratt. He is the author of six OCD books, including his most recent book the 2nd edition of, "The mindfulness workbook for OCD". I chat with Jon about what's new with him, what is false memory OCD, real event OCD, the problem with compulsively reviewing memories or...

In episode 293 I interviewed Micah Howe who has kindly agreed to share his story with us. I chat with Micah about his OCD story, growing up as an evangelical Christian, his early memories of anxiety, fears of perfection, worries of offending people, how OCD impacted his faith, hoarding behaviours, scrupulosity, health anxiety, the process of getting therapy, advocacy, medication, setting up an IOC...

In episode 292 I interviewed Nathan Peterson. Nathan is an OCD specialist who practices in Allen, Texas. He works with OCD, anxiety, tics and Tourettes, and BFRB's such as hair pulling and skin picking. He has a YouTube channel where he posts weekly videos about OCD and other anxiety related disorders. I chat with Nathan about his therapy journey, the difference between doing an exposure (ERP) vs....

In episode 290 I interviewed 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 two of the most common spike themes of OCD: What if this never goes away, and how do I know this is OCD and not an authentic concern?, he no...

In episode 289 I interviewed Malia who has kindly agreed to share her story. I chat with Malia about her story, her earliest OCD memory, emetophobia, somatic obsessions, medication, how the themes of OCD changed over the years, postpartum OCD, depersonalisation/derealisation, feeling guilty because of the thoughts, going through intensive outpatient treatment, how her husband also meet with other...

In episode 288 I interview Dr Elizabeth Forrester. Liz is a consultant clinical psychologist in London. I chat with Liz about her therapy story, her research into rumination, normalising intrusive thoughts, the difference between thinking and thought, the process of rumination, examples of rumination, healthy vs unhealthy distraction, what actually is exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP)...

In episode 287 I interviewed Saleha Hansbhai who has kindly agreed to share her story. I chat with Saleha about her story, her earliest OCD memory, violent intrusive thoughts, religious themed OCD, seeking reassurance, checking, confessing, getting multiple incorrect diagnoses, having suicidal thoughts, medication, later on experiencing suicidal themed OCD, getting hospitalised, eventually getting...

In episode 286 I interviewed Marion Maw who has kindly agreed to share her family story and advocacy in New Zealand. In this episode I chat with Marion about her daughter's OCD story, and her parent story, moral worries (scrupulosity), getting therapy for her daughter, what she learned as a parent of a child experiencing OCD, sharing common feelings together, getting started in advocacy, the advoc...

In episode 285 I interviewed Dr Michael Greenberg. Michael is a licensed clinical psychologist. In this episode I chat with Michael about his reflections on his first episode, Michael's articles, what is somatic/sensorimotor OCD, depersonalisation/derealisation, how rumination can maintain somatic symptoms, the difference between awareness and attention, he reads his exercise from the article 'how...

This is a live interview I did with Catherine Benfield at the OCD Action conference. We discuss her story, maternal OCD, getting support from her husband, starting her advocacy journey, raising awareness of perinatal OCD among midwives, working on kindness and self-compassion because of the way she felt about herself, her blog Taming Olivia, changing the perception of OCD, becoming an executive pr...

In episode 284 I interviewed Gen Skeja who has kindly agreed to share his story. I chat with Gen about his story, sexual intrusive thoughts, sexual orientation OCD, moving abroad to avoid the thoughts, finding out about OCD, reading about OCD, interviewing therapists to find a good match, panic attacks, the process of therapy, and much much more. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/story...

In episode 283 I interviewed Nate Gruner. Nate is a staff Behavioral Therapist at McLean OCD institute. We talk about his therapy story, what is functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP), the interpersonal aspects of therapy, the importance of the therapeutic relationship, how FAP can be useful for OCD, he gives client in-session examples, using FAP, ACT and ERP together, doing exposures to build in...

In episode 282 I interviewed Dr Michael Twohig, Dr Patricia Zurita Ona and Jonny Say. Michael is a licensed psychologist and researcher, Patricia is a clinical psychologist, and Jonny is an integrative counsellor. In this episode I chat with Michael, Patricia and Jonny about their backgrounds and what brought them to acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), where ACT adds value to OCD treatment, h...

In episode 281 I interviewed Dr Sam Greenblatt. Sam is a licensed clinical psychologist. I chat with Sam about the effectiveness of exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), the habituation model of ERP, why habituation isn't always needed, what is the inhibitory learning theory model of ERP, why has it improved on the habituation model, how inhibitory learning theory looks in a therapy sess...

In episode 280 I interviewed Brian Sullivan who has kindly agreed to share his story with us.  I chat with Brian about his story, divorce, bullying, depression, medication, suicidal ideation, working with the wrong therapist, then finding a helpful therapist, hospitalisation and how Brian found that helpful, what Brian has learned in therapy about OCD and life, going back to studying, we talk abou...