Today’s audio question comes in from Kate who is struggling with the dreaded combo of Sexual Orientation OCD (SO-OCD) and Relationship OCD (ROCD). She’s struggling to deal with her acknowledged interest in both sexes and her question about what to do in her current and future relationships. I go a little more in depth about the decisions we make in relationships and the inevitable uncertainty we must accept when making these decisions.

For more on Sexual Orientation OCD (SO-OCD), click here to check out this article from the California OCD and Anxiety Treatment Center

The post #210- Stuck In A Decision With SO-OCD And ROCD At It Again appeared first on FearCast Podcast.

Today I’m excited to share a conversation I had with Dr. Jonathan Abramowitz about his upcoming book Living Well With OCD. During our conversation, I was able to ask him about the inspiration for the book, who would benefit from reading the book, and how people living with OCD all along the recovery scale can find something useful in it. Along the way, we got to speaking about therapeutic approaches, the changing landscape of treatment, and the joy we have in working in the OCD/ Anxiety space.

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Gabriela messaged me and wanted to know how other people seemingly know, “deep down,” that their obsessions aren’t true. Have you ever heard that phrase? It seems like Gabriela has too and is struggling to find this hidden knowledge (or reassurance) that the SO-OCD and ROCD she’s struggling with aren’t true. To answer this, I have to address what it means to know something “deep down,” what I think people really mean when they say this, and go over a really common, albeit violent, example of one way to access your “deep down” knowledge.

The post #208- How Do Others Know “Deep Down” Their Obsessions Aren’t True? appeared first on FearCast Podcast.

For today’s podcast, we are ALL lucky to have Natalia Aiza, LPC, on to continue our conversation about using SPACE treatment with the High Dependent Adult Children, otherwise known as the “failure to launch” population. This was a wonderful, eye opening conversation about how to help those individuals who are struggling to gain independence, set their own course, and take the leap into a brave new world. Natalia, as usual, does a beautiful job explaining the struggles these individuals and their family go through, the necessary steps to empowering them, and the ways therapists can help them achieve their goals.

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Today’s episode is a two-fer, but to answer one I need to answer the other. The first is from a listener who wonders why he assumes his thoughts are true about him, no matter what they are. I offer some insight into this process, and offer him guidance on how to turn this bug into a feature in his battle against them. The second comes from a listener who’s struggling mightily with a memory from his past and needs to know what to do to deal with his Real-Event Obsession.

For more on Real Event OCD, please check out this article from the California OCD and Anxiety Treatment Center

The post #206- Why Do I Assume I Am, And What If I Am, What My Thought Say?! appeared first on FearCast Podcast.

Today’s episode comes from a listener who struggles with fainting at the sight of blood. To answer this, I discuss Vasovagal Syncope, a physiological event in which people sometimes faint in response to high emotion and feeling startled, including fainting at the sight of blood. I give a brief overview of what this is, how it works, and more importantly how the listener (or you) can prevent it. I also answer the listener’s question about whether or not Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is OK to do if you have this type of response.

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Today’s episode comes from Victor who’s having a tough time dealing with obsessions focused on whether or not he has Schizophrenia. Unfortunately, sometimes simply reading something, seeing a video on something, or just hearing an idea related to something can be enough for OCD to suggest, “Maybe that’s you. Now, maybe you should go to unreasonable lengths to ensure you don’t that have.” Victor wants to know how to deal with this, so I offer some ideas on how to approach this new fear and carry on with his life until he does “go crazy”… or he doesn’t… Either one, he’s got a life to lead that OCD doesn’t want him to have.

For more on health and mental health related obsessions, check out this article from The California OCD and Anxiety Treatment Center

The post #204- Schizophrenia OCD From Reading About Schizophrenia?! appeared first on FearCast Podcast.

Today’s audio questioner wants to know why the anxiety they experience from regular life and every-day triggers is worse than the anxiety they get when doing Exposures. They struggle to make their exposures as triggering as their regular anxiety, but can’t! But is that even necessary?

The post #203- Why Is Real Life Anxiety Tougher Than My ERP Anxiety? appeared first on FearCast Podcast.

To learn more about Harm OCD, check out this article from The California OCD and Anxiety Treatment Center

Today’s audio question comes from Aaron who asked about a situation he has not heard much about, so he’s looking for some guidance. He’s noticing he has some Relationship OCD (no big deal, right), but he also notices a flair up of Harm related obsessive thoughts alongside and as a result of the ROCD thoughts. We’re all used to ROCD and SO-OCD, but Harm? I offer some thoughts, encouragement and guidance for challenging and facing his obsessions.

The post #202- Relationship OCD Spiked With Harm OCD? What To Do?d appeared first on FearCast Podcast.

Today’s episode is all about SPACE Treatment! Natalia Aiza, LPC, joined me to talk about her expertise using SPACE, or Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions, to help adolescents and parents better address anxiety and OCD. Natalia went through the treatment method, discusses how it differs from traditional Exposure and Response Prevention Treatment, addresses resistant children and teens and their resistant parents, how to address accommodation, and how to successfully end treatment. This was a wonderful interview with a ton of great and usable information.

For more information about SPACE:

Breaking Free Of Child Anxiety And OCD by Dr. Eli Lebowitz: https://a.co/d/8gwlrag

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