Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
OCD is a very real, often debilitating, health disorder and it is treatable! Don't lose another day to the maddening intrusive thoughts (obsessions) that spin up your anxiety into paralyzing fear, which causes you to do, or think, certain things (compulsions) to try to calm the fears. In the initial treatment of OCD, education is 90% of the hard work. Once you better understand what it is, how it is diagnosed, how it operates, the treatment methods and your particular symptoms, then the therapy begins to help you re-frame the view you have of the thoughts that seem to chase and push you around. The information below is a start on your education - consider it free therapy!
The International OCD Foundation developed the Behavior Therapy Training Institute (BTTI) to educate providers on the proper diagnosis and treatment of OCD and related disorders. I completed the intensive course in 2018 and continue my education and training through attendance at the IOCDF annual meetings, reading, and consultation with other professionals.
There are subsets of OCD identified by the particular areas in which someone has obsessive thoughts. These include Harm OCD (intrusive thoughts of unknowingly causing harm to self or others), Pedophilia OCD (intrusive thoughts of harming a child sexually), Religious OCD, also called Scrupulosity (fear of having blasphemous thoughts or actions), Contamination OCD (fear of being contaminated or causing contamination), Somatic OCD (fear of having a disease or problem with one's body). This is not an exhaustive list but provides an idea as to the many presentations of OCD.
The resources below are a starting place to learn more from organizations dedicated to evidence-based treatment and good clinical research. Plus, see information below about the article titled Everyone Has Intrusive Thoughts. If you are a client and would like a copy, please call or email me. If you would like a jump-start on therapy, begin with Mind Over Mood, to learn about Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (Intro, Chapters 1, 2, 3, then the chapters on depression and anxiety are what I recommend to begin), then get "Getting Over OCD - A 10-Step Workbook for Taking Back Your Life" (Second Edition) by Jonathan Abramowitz and start reading and completing the worksheets. This will all be foundational work that we would be doing in your first weeks of therapy - get a head start!
Local Support Groups and On-Line Resources
Face Book site for IOCDF with forums for learning, asking questions and support https://www.facebook.com/IOCDF
National Website for Obsessive Compulsive Anonymous You can join open meetings across the country via Zoom https://obsessivecompulsiveanonymous.org/
St. Louis Obsessive Compulsive Anonymous Effective 4/1/21, contact Bonnie at 314-484-3419 to ask for access to the Zoom meetings during COVID. The contact information on the website is not updated. http://www.stlocdsupport.com/
Body Focused Repetitive Disorders (Skin-Picking, Hair Pulling) https://mindfulstl.com/body-focused-repetitive-behaviors-bfrbs-treatment-groups/?fbclid=IwAR1S5FXSiaUJCVWGlaVoeTWTUKBzpn1lTvlBxURMCpymdWfwQa7OobEjUpQ
General Information on OCD and Subsets of OCD
International OCD Foundation website https://iocdf.org/
Intrusive Thoughts website www.intrusivethoughts.org/
Recommended Workbook
Getting Over OCD - A 10-Step Workbook for Taking Back Your Life (Second Edition) by Jonathan S. Abramowitz, PhD
Information about Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) and Muscle Dysmorphia (MD)
IOCDF website https://bdd.iocdf.org/
IOCDF website https://bdd.iocdf.org/expert-opinions/muscle-dysmorphia/
Intrusive Thoughts website www.intrusivethoughts.org/ocd-symptoms/body-dysmorphic-disorder/
Information about Hoarding Disorder
IOCDF website https://hoarding.iocdf.org/
Intrusive Thoughts website www.intrusivethoughts.org/ocd-symptoms/hoarding/
Information about Misophonia (hearing sounds that are very disturbing)
IOCDF website https://iocdf.org/expert-opinions/misophonia/
Misophonia Association https://misophonia-association.org/misophonia-association.org/
Misophonia Support http://www.misophonia.com/
Misophonia Institute https://misophoniainstitute.org/
Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRB's)
For information about Trichotillomania (Hair-Pulling), Excoriation (Skin-Picking - face, nails, anywhere) and other related disorders, go to IOCDF https://iocdf.org/about-ocd/related-disorders/
TLC Foundation for BFRB's www.bfrb.org/
Articles of Interest
In the Appendix of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Adults, Jonathan S. Abramowitz and Ryan J Jacoby have a helpful resource titled Everyone Has Intrusive Thoughts. If you are a current client of mine and would like to read this, please let me know. A brief excerpt (Appendix Three, J. S. Abramowitz and R. J. Jacoby: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Adults, copyright 2015 Hogrefe Publishing):
"What many people do not realize is that practically everyone experiences unwanted intrusive thoughts (whether or not they have OCD). These sorts of thoughts are as much a part of normal human thinking as are fantasies and daydreams about positive events. The focus of this handout is to teach you that the unpleasant, distressing, repugnant, bizarre, and senseless obsessional thoughts that you are experiencing are not dangerous or abnormal."
"...people without OCD experience the same kinds of unwanted and intrusive thoughts as do people with OCD. The list below shows some examples of intrusive thoughts reported by people without OCD:
Thought of jumping off the bridge onto the highway below
Thought of running my car off the road or into oncoming traffic
Thought of poking something into my eyes
Impulses to jump onto the tracks as a train comes into the station"
The list continues quite extensively and they further describe how someone without OCD handles these thoughts versus what someone with OCD might do.
Article on Existential and Philosophical OCD located on the IOCDF website iocdf.org/expert-opinions/to-be-or-not-to-be-that-is-the-obsession-existential-and-philosophical-ocd/
Article on Perfectionism, located on the IOCDF website iocdf.org/expert-opinions/perfectionism/
In the Appendix of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Adults, Jonathan S. Abramowitz and Ryan J Jacoby have a helpful resource titled Everyone Has Intrusive Thoughts. If you are a current client of mine and would like to read this, please let me know. A brief excerpt (Appendix Three, J. S. Abramowitz and R. J. Jacoby: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Adults, copyright 2015 Hogrefe Publishing):
"What many people do not realize is that practically everyone experiences unwanted intrusive thoughts (whether or not they have OCD). These sorts of thoughts are as much a part of normal human thinking as are fantasies and daydreams about positive events. The focus of this handout is to teach you that the unpleasant, distressing, repugnant, bizarre, and senseless obsessional thoughts that you are experiencing are not dangerous or abnormal."
"...people without OCD experience the same kinds of unwanted and intrusive thoughts as do people with OCD. The list below shows some examples of intrusive thoughts reported by people without OCD:
Thought of jumping off the bridge onto the highway below
Thought of running my car off the road or into oncoming traffic
Thought of poking something into my eyes
Impulses to jump onto the tracks as a train comes into the station"
The list continues quite extensively and they further describe how someone without OCD handles these thoughts versus what someone with OCD might do.
Article on Existential and Philosophical OCD located on the IOCDF website iocdf.org/expert-opinions/to-be-or-not-to-be-that-is-the-obsession-existential-and-philosophical-ocd/
Article on Perfectionism, located on the IOCDF website iocdf.org/expert-opinions/perfectionism/
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