When it comes to dealing with an anxiety disorder, our automatic response isn’t always the right one. Picture this: You’re hiking through the woods, enjoying the fresh air, when suddenly, a massive grizzly bear appears on the trail ahead. Your brain instantly fires up the "GET OUT OF HERE" protocol. Your heart pounds, adrenaline surges, and you instinctively retreat as quietly (and quickly) as possible. In this case, fear is completely justified because, well… It's a grizzly bear! Your response? Smart. Survival-based.
Read MoreOne of the first exercises I assign to my OCD clients is maintaining a diary of their obsessions and compulsions. Until now, I've allowed clients the freedom to create their own formats, but I realized it was time to design a diary that captures the essential information needed to tailor their treatment plans. In this week's blog post, I'm excited to share the latest version of the diary format that I’m currently using with my OCD clients. This format will also be included in an online OCD course I hope to complete soon (more on that later).
Read MoreAs I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, OCD can be very sneaky, often disguising obsessions and compulsions as simply being careful or thorough. One particularly tricky way OCD manifests is through obsessing over past decisions that have already been made or future decisions yet to be finalized.
Read MoreWe all experience anxiety in life. And most people have experienced flushes of panic in particularly stressful moments, like right before stepping on stage for a performance or taking a make-or-break test. Some of us have even had particularly frightening "out of the blue'' panic attacks. But only a few people--about 3.5% of the total population--go on to develop panic disorder. So the question is, what is happening for those relatively few people who do develop panic disorder?
Read MoreAs I mentioned in my last post, OCD can be a difficult disorder to manage because it is full of tricks and unless you understand these tricks and learn how to play the game to win, then OCD has the upper hand. It's almost as if the OCD has a tenth degree black belt in karate and you are just beginning. In this blog post I will list three tricks that OCD uses to "trick" people into doing compulsions. Understanding and recognizing some of the tricks and distortions that OCD uses can be helpful when seeking to manage OCD.
Read More