The Ocd Stories

In episode 351 I interviewed Dr Robert Hudak. Robert is a psychiatrist, and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the university of Pittsburgh.  We discuss his therapy story, what is schizophrenia, what is psychosis, he defines what hallucinations and delusions are, how to differentiate between an obsession and a delusion, how exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP) is modified for OCD when the person also has a schizophrenia diagnosis, medication, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/robert-351  The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories

In episode 350 I interviewed Charlene Colwell. Charlene is a therapist who uses Exposure and Response Prevention therapy (ERP) and Internal Family Systems therapy (IFS - level 1 trained) for OCD.  We discuss her therapy story, what is IFS, how IFS maps the mind, another way to view OCD, how IFS may be helpful for OCD, using IFS alongside ERP, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/charlene-350  The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories

In episode 349 I chat with Anna Geldard who has kindly agreed to share her story with us.  We discuss some of her childhood mental health experiences, school anxiety, how OCD affected her work, she details some of her specific OCD experiences, depression, medication, postnatal/postpartum experiences of OCD, getting diagnosed, getting therapy, harm themed OCD, a relapse, hit and run themed OCD, getting therapy again, going inpatient, feeling suicidal, how menopause may have exacerbated some of her mental health symptoms,  hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopause, and much more. Hope it helps.  Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/anna-349  The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories

In episode 348 I chat with Shaun Flores who has kindly agreed to share his story with us.  We discuss his story, how a dream triggered OCD in a big way, sexual orientation themed OCD, suicidal themed OCD, harm themed OCD, ADHD, some of the possible reasons why people of colour are under represented in the OCD community, how he’s doing now, his advocacy, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/shaun-248 The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories

In episode 347 I interviewed Chrissie Hodges. Chrissie is a Peer Support specialist, founder of OCD Gamechangers, and Author of ‘Pure OCD: The Invisible Side of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder’. Chrissie was awarded the hero award at the 24th IOCDF conference in San Fran. We discuss some of the physical symptoms of OCD, worrying about telling her therapist about the physical symptoms that were manifesting for her, the groinal, compulsions around these bodily sensations, disgust and shame, when checking compulsions make you feel and think you acted on a worry, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/chrissie-247  The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories

In episode 346 I chat with Dr Patricia Zurita Ona. Patricia is director of the East Bay Behavior Therapy Center and adjunct professor at the Wright Institute. She is the author of several books including her new book ‘Acceptance and Commitment Skills for Perfectionism and High-Achieving Behaviors: Do Things Your Way, Be Yourself, and Live a Purposeful Life’. We discuss what are perfectionistic, and high achieving behaviours, fears of being a failure and not being good enough, what perfectionism can look like in relationships and friendships, harnessing the power of perfectionism without losing yourself, checking in with what matters, how these things have impacted Patricia’s life, choosing to show up to what matters in your life, her new book, finding your own rhythms, values based decisions, OCD and perfectionism, how these traits can impact exposure and response (ERP) therapy, and much more. Hope it helps.  Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/patricia-246  The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOC

In episode 345 I chat with Dr Sam Greenblatt. Sam is a licensed clinical psychologist. We discuss an update on his past relapse, his fire metaphor, processing the trauma of OCD, meta OCD, PTSD and OCD, identity and OCD, the idea of perceived fragility, loss and grief around OCD, figuring out what is normative, and much more. Hope it helps.   Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/greenblatt-345  The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories

In episode 344 I chat with Courtney Newman who has kindly agreed to share her story with us.  We discuss her story, going to therapy, learning what OCD is, mental compulsions, harm worries around her family, covid related contamination worries, having a clean world and a dirty world, and much more. Hope it helps.  Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/courtney-344  The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers affordable, effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans, if they currently take your insurance, or to download their free app, head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories

In episode 343 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 what is internal family systems (IFS), the idea of parts of us, feeling feelings, the positive intention of our parts, the idea that OCD is a sign post to something deeper that needs healing or attention, pushing down feelings in childhood, case examples and examples from his own life, caring for the parts of ourselves, expressing and witnessing emotions, and much more. Hope it helps.  Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/rob-fox-343  The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers affordable, effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans, if they currently take your insurance, or to download their free app, head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories

In episode 342 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 why sleep is the hostage of anxiety, desperation around sleep, what is sleep and the stages of sleep, how sleep medication, alcohol, and benzodiazepines can affect sleep quality, using sleep as avoidance, insomnia, sleep as an independent system, how trying to sleep may be causing a lack of it, what Steve doesn’t like about the CBT sleep hygiene approach, Steve’s approach to helping his clients sleep, why sleep shouldn’t be the goal, getting an OCD spike at night, OCD in our dreams, and much more. Hope it helps.  Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/steve-phillipson-sleep-342  This episode is supported by Cambridge University Press and Dr Lynne Drummond’s new book “Everything you need to know about OCD”. Get 20% off Lynne’s new book at cambridge.

In episode 341 I chat Dr Lynne Drummond. Lynne is an honorary consultant psychiatrist at south west London and St George's NHS Trust, and visiting Professor at the University of Hertfordshire. We discuss her therapy story, her new book “Everything you need to know about OCD”, the stigma around OCD, raising awareness around OCD, a historical view of how OCD has been viewed, working with patients who have struggled with treatment in the past, how Lynne and her team were able to help these patients, medication, how Lynne explains exposure and response prevention (ERP), optimising ERP, living with uncertainty, and much more. Hope it helps.  Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/lynne-drummond-341 Get 20% off Lynne’s new book at cambridge.org/EverythingOCD. Simply use discount code OCDStories20 at checkout.  The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers affordable, effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans, if they currently t

In episode 340 I chat with Liam who has kindly agreed to share his story with us.  We discuss his story, pedophile themed OCD (pOCD), violent intrusive thoughts, attending a support group, grief and loss, learning to see OCD not as a bully, his therapy journey and what he learned, setting up his own OCD support group, a suicide attempt, advocating about OCD at his work, and so much more. Hope it helps.  Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/liam-340 The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers affordable, effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans, if they currently take your insurance, or to download their free app, head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories

In episode 339 I chat to Dr Heather Sequeira. Heather is a consultant psychologist specialising in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). We discuss her therapy story, trauma and OCD, what is post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), what is complex or developmental trauma, what’s going on in the brain with trauma, disgust in trauma and OCD, doubt and uncertainty, treating OCD and trauma together, the role of compassion, when the OCD theme directly links to the trauma, focusing on what we want to do now, shame around the freeze response, and much more. Hope helps.  Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/heather-339  The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers affordable, effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans, if they currently take your insurance, or to download their free app, head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories

In episode 338 I chat ​Dr Jordan Levy and Dr Tatyana Mestechkina. Both Jordan and Tatyana are licensed clinical psychologists who treat OCD.  We discuss their therapy story, we chat about the thought of what if this is not OCD and other thoughts that get in the way of therapy, such as, What if this time is different? What if I’m doing therapy the wrong way? What if this is the piece of “evidence” that leads my therapist to think this isn’t OCD after all? What if these thoughts are bad, and I’m a bad person for having them and letting them be there? What if my therapist doesn’t know what they’re talking about? We discuss how to navigate the thoughts, the back door spike, and much more. Hope it helps.  Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/jordan-and-tatyana-338  The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers affordable, effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans, if they currently take your insurance, or to download their f

In episode 337 I chat with Geoff who has kindly agreed to share his story with us.  We discuss his story, depression, spending 20 years with a traditional psychoanalyst who did not help or recognise OCD within him, the red flags of this therapy for OCD, realising that there are different schools or types of therapy, and the trauma caused by this particular therapy relationship for Geoff, eventually finding some more helpful therapists, getting a cancer diagnosis, we discuss ethics in therapy, what’s helped him in his journey, doing movement therapy, and much more. Hope it helps.  Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/geoff-337  The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers affordable, effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans, if they currently take your insurance, or to download their free app, head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories

In episode 336 I chat with Lily Bailey about her new book ‘When I See Blue’. Lily also wrote the book called, ‘Because We Are Bad’.  We discuss her new book, Lily reads us a section of chapter 1 from her book, how the main character was inspired by some of Lily’s own story, the themes of OCD the main character Ben experiences, why Lily wrote more back story for Ben including other struggles, we discuss trauma and OCD, what she hopes readers will get from the book, and much more. Hope it helps.  Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/lily-bailey-336 The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers affordable, effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans, if they currently take your insurance, or to download their free app, head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories

In episode 335 I chat with Traci who has kindly agreed to share her story with us.  We discuss her story, misophonia, perfectionism, religious scrupulosity, starting with therapy, ADHD, sexual intrusive thoughts, unwanted arousal, groinal, needing to get therapy perfect, rumination, and so much more. Hope it helps.  Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/traci-335 The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers affordable, effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans, if they currently take your insurance, or to download their free app, head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories

In episode 333 I chat with Jonny Say. Jonny is a UK based psychotherapist.  We discuss how he’s doing, Jonny’s mental health and how he practices self-compassion daily, we discuss shame around intrusive thoughts and in doing compulsions, the inner critic, self-compassion and how it can help, building up psychological flexibility skills before exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), values based exposure, dropping anchor, a compassionate approach to ERP, and much more. Hope it helps.   Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/jonny-say-334  The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers affordable, effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans, if they currently take your insurance, or to download their free app, head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories

In episode 333 I chat with Dr Roberto Olivardia. Roberto is a Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Instructor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School. He also maintains a private psychotherapy practice. We discuss his therapy story, and personal story with ADHD, the school system and ADHD, what ADHD is, the comorbidity of OCD and ADHD together, how ADHD can feed into OCD, common OCD themes he sees with ADHD, how ADHD can undermine therapy for OCD if untreated, shame in ADHD and OCD, making accommodations for ADHD to enhance OCD treatment, medication for ADHD, why ADHD gets undiagnosed in OCD and more so in women, and much more. Hope it helps.   Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/roberto-olivardia-333 The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers affordable, effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans, if they currently take your insurance, or to download their free app, head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories

In episode 332 I chat with Kim and Jack Vincenty who have kindly agreed to share their story, from the perspective of mother and son.  We discuss Jack’s story, Kim’s story as the parent, moral scrupulosity, being surrounded by triggers, going through multiple rounds of exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), going to Colorado to do his biggest exposure, depression, where Jack’s at now, we discuss their new not-for-profit JACK, spreading ERP in Puerto Rico, words of hope and much more. Hope it helps.   Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/kim-and-jack-332  The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers affordable, effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans, if they currently take your insurance, or to download their free app, head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories