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), words of hope, and much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/dr-liz-forrester-288
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. 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 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 the right diagnosis, starting Exposure and Response Prevention therapy (ERP), going to the IOCDF conference, meeting others with OCD, relapsing, how her father now uses her experience to educate others in the Muslim community who are suffering, why she shares her story, words of hope, and much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/story-saleha-287
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. 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 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 advocacy initiatives she’s involved with in New Zealand, how she uses her unique experience to advocate, her experience of advocating, words of hope and much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/story-marion-286
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. 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 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 to stop paying attention', the 6 things that get in the way when trying not to ruminate, how he treats somatic OCD, removing analysis and avoidance, we discuss mindfulness and why it may not be good for OCD in Michael’s opinion, practicing reducing rumination, and much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/dr-michael-greenberg-285
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories
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 producer on a short film about OCD, and much more. Hope it helps.
Find out more about Catherine:
Catherine’s first appearance on the podcast: https://theocdstories.com/episode/catherine-benfield-perinatal-and-postnatal-ocd-ep114/ and her second appearance: https://theocdstories.com/episode/catherine-benfield-stigma-reduction-the-bbc-ocd-ep154/
Taming Olivia blog - https://www.tamingolivia.com/
Resources mentioned:
Find out more about OCD Action - https://ocdaction.org.uk/
Living with perinatal OCD - Journal of Midwifery https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/full/10.12968/bjom.2018.26.11.700
Ruji Rahman podcast episode - https://theocdstories.com/episode/ruji-rahman-cbt-compassion-and-uncertainty-ep156/
Maternal OCD charity - https://maternalocd.org/
Ethan Smith on the podcast - https://theocdstories.com/episode/ethan-smith-if-i-can-then-you-can-too-ep118/
Functional Analytic Psychotherapy episode - https://theocdstories.com/episode/nate-gruner-283/
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. 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 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-gen-284
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. 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 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 intimacy, we discuss clinically relevant behaviours (CRBs), and much much more.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/nate-gruner-283
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. 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 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, how they use ACT alongside exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), we discuss the compulsion of rumination and how ACT can target it, how ACT targets other difficult emotions that can go alongside OCD, how ACT can work on other issues alongside OCD, how values can be useful to guiding life decisions, and much much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/act-for-ocd-282
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. 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 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 session, and much much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/sam-greenblatt-281
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. 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 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 about Asexuality, words of hope, and much much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/story-brian-280
In episode 279 I chat with Sheryl Paul. Sheryl is a counselor informed by Jungian depth psychology, and author of the book The wisdom of anxiety.
In this episode we chat about her story, transitions such as marriage, birth, death and the anxiety they can bring. We discuss the highly sensitive person, we talk a lot about relationship anxiety, we explore differing views of OCD and the integration of certain therapies with CBT, we discuss a Jungian view of OCD, the spirituality and beauty of ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention) and facing fear as an innate human skill, the timetable of healing, emptiness, the Jungian idea of gathering gold, and much more more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/sheryl-paul-279
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. 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 278 I chat with Eeva Edds. Eeva is a licensed professional counselor.
In this episode, we talk about her therapy story, what is caregiver burnout, how to prevent caregiver burnout, self-care, understanding your loved one’s experience of OCD, understanding accommodation, how the loved one can help the person with OCD, self-compassion, values, and much more more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/eeva-edds-278
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. 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 277 I interviewed Kyle who has kindly agreed to share his story with us.
In this episode, we talk about his story, health/contamination worries, panic attacks, work stress, worries of harm coming to his kids, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Inference Based Therapy (IBT), what else helps him, opening up to his wife, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and much more more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/story-kyle-277
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. 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 276 I interviewed Rachel Huber. Rachel has kindly agreed to share her story with us.
In this episode, we talk about her OCD story, maternal (Postpartum) OCD, worrying about the health and safety of her children, her therapy journey, and much more more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/story-rachel-276
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. 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 275 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.
In this episode, we talk about his thinking around the brain voice vs gatekeeper voice, knowing the difference between the brain voice and the gatekeeper voice, we do a role play using one of the areas that cause me anxiety, he uses this role play to demonstrate the brain voice vs the gatekeeper voice, the idea of writing the headline with the gatekeeper, the paradox of anxiety, self-compassion for the brain voice, and much more more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/dr-phillipson-brain-voice-gatekeeper-voice-275
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. 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 274 I interviewed Shai Friendland. Shai is a clinical psychologist in Johannesburg, South Africa. He specialising in the treatment of OCD.
In this episode we talk about his OCD story, contamination worries, what led him to become a psychologist, we talk about OCD in South Africa, increasing advocacy in the country, living with uncertainty, words of hope, and much more more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/shai-friedland-274
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. 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 273 I interviewed Dr Michael Twohig. Michael is the co-director of the USU ACT Research Group, a licensed psychologist in the state of Utah, and a Professor of Psychology at Utah State University.
In this episode I chat with Michael about his research and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) story, his experience of training under Dr Steven Hayes, what is ACT, why he studied ACT initially as a sole intervention for OCD and what he found, he breakdowns the 8 session ACT protocol he used in his research, we talk about psychological flexibility and why it’s important, we talk about cognitive defusion, integrating ACT with Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), how bringing in values into therapy can helpful, some of the metaphors he likes for OCD, and much much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/michael-twohig-273
The podcast is made possible by and sponsored by NOCD. 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 272 I interview Elke Atzpodien. Elke shared her story in episode 102 back in 2017, and she has come on to give us an update.
In this episode I chat with Elke about an update on her story, her experiences of Exposure and Response Prevention therapy (ERP), group therapy, support groups, meeting Margot her therapy buddy, mixing exposure homework with valued activities, stopping asking for reassurance, how her husband had also suffered and decided to go to therapy to help process the 20 years of experiencing OCD in the home, her peer support training, stigma and self stigma, dealing with OCD during supporting her father through cancer treatment, the ideas of OCD treatment that helped her, and much much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/elke-272
The podcast is made possible by and sponsored by NOCD. 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 271 I interview Dr Ben Sedley. Ben is a clinical psychologist from New Zealand. He has authored two books, and runs a private practice called ACT Wellington.
In this episode I chat with Ben about his therapy journey, what is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), how Relational Frame Theory (RFT) underpins ACT, how ACT can be useful for OCD, Ben gives examples of how ACT enhances ERP, ACT’s view of suffering, we talk about grief and OCD, his and Lisa Coyne’s book ‘Stuff that’s loud’ an ACT book for teens with OCD, his book ‘Stuff that sucks’, the importance of listening to teens, the ACT metaphors Ben likes, and much much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/ben-sedley-271
The podcast is made possible by and sponsored by NOCD. 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 270 I chat with Laura Johnson. Laura is the creator of OCD Doodles and has kindly agreed to share her story with us.
In this episode I chat with Laura about her story, her earliest experience, existential and superstitious worries, how as a kid seeing a school shooting on TV triggered worries of harm coming to her family, how OCD impacted her family as a child, contamination worries, relationship worries, drinking alcohol to self-medicate, seeking help, taking medication, her treatment journey from getting the wrong types of therapy, her negative experiences of working with a coach, finally getting therapy with a qualified therapist experienced in OCD, feeling guilty around harm OCD, parenting while dealing with OCD, and much much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/laura-johnson-ocd-doodles-270
The podcast is made possible by and sponsored by NOCD. 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 269 I chat with Dr. Michael J. Greenberg. Michael is a licensed clinical psychologist. He is the director of OCD Associates, a practice specializing in Rumination-Focused ERP.
In this episode I chat with Michael about why rumination is a compulsion, rumination focused exposure and response prevention (RF-ERP), how his approach to treating OCD doesn’t fit with the habituation model of ERP but how it’s closer to the inhibitory learning model approach, he gives examples how he does ERP, how and why he focuses on getting his client’s anxiety close to zero before doing an ERP exercise, why he focuses on eliminating rumination first before physical compulsions, the difference between thinking normally and ruminating, noticing when you are ruminating, and much much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/dr-michael-greenberg-269
The podcast is made possible by and sponsored by NOCD. 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 268 I chat with Neil Hemmer. Neil is a therapist with a masters in social work, and has plenty of personal experience with OCD. He has kindly agreed to share his story with us.
In this episode I chat with Neil about his story, his early memories, contamination OCD, he gives his candid account of intrusive thoughts, his faith, religious OCD, medication, self medicating with alcohol, relationship OCD, obsessive worries about having sexually assaulted someone, harm OCD, suicidal ideation, hitting rock bottom, addiction and OCD, going inpatient for OCD and addiction, smart recovery for addiction, writing scripts in exposure and response prevention theory (ERP), he shares some graphic stories of his clients in the aim to give hope, and much much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/story-neil-hemmer-268
The podcast is made possible by and sponsored by NOCD. 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 267 I chat with Lou who has kindly agreed to share her story with us.
In this episode I chat with Lou about her story, ruminating, reassurance seeking, not feeling good enough, self medicating at a young age with alcohol and drugs, how the birth of her first child triggered an OCD episode, peadophile themed OCD (pOCD), worries of her and others harming her baby (postpartum OCD/maternal OCD), feeling like a bad person, getting therapy, dealing with anger, discovering Acceptance and Commitment therapy (ACT), eventually deciding to take medication and her experiences, the various triggers around her children, telling her husband something wasn’t feeling right, a fear of upsetting people, the OCD camp, what else helps her with her well being, and much much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/story-lou-267
The podcast is made possible by and sponsored by NOCD. 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 266 I chat with Dr Jonathan Abramowitz. Jonathan is a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Chapel Hill, NC specializing in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). He is also Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina. And author of several bookings including Getting over OCD, and The family guide to getting over OCD.
In this episode I chat with Jon about why he wrote this book, how the family system plays into OCD and vice versa, he writes the book from two perspectives: one, the loved one with OCD wants to get better, and two, the loved one with OCD doesn’t want to do treatment, we discuss family accommodation and why it’s not helpful, how to stop accommodating your loved one, we discuss treatment refusal (when someone refuses to get help), we discuss the difference between a reward and a bribe for children, setting boundaries, how to get family life back on track even if a loved one refuses to get help, how to listen to and talk to your loved one with OCD, what areas of OCD research Jon is excited by, and much much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/the-family-guide-to-getting-over-ocd-266
The podcast is made possible by and sponsored by NOCD. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories
Thank you for listening to this week’s podcast. If you enjoy The OCD Stories and would like to support us with a one time tip/donation please go to theocdstories.com/support. All tips, no matter how large or small are greatly appreciated.
In episode 265 I chat with Chance McNeely who has kindly agreed to share his story with us.
In this episode I chat with Chance about his OCD story, themes - sexual orientation OCD, harm OCD, relationship OCD, pedophile OCD, growing up in an anxious household, compulsively overthinking things, finding out about intrusive thoughts, peer support, self-compassion as his saving grace, becoming a certified peer, working for OCD Peers, and much much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/story-chance-mcneely-265
The podcast is made possible by and sponsored by NOCD. NOCD are now in the UK. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories