Get to know OCD

Many people with OCD believe that the fact that they're disturbed by an intrusive thought proves they don't want it. But what happens when that fear, panic, or disgust starts to fade? In this video, Dr. Patrick McGrath explains why OCD often latches onto your emotional reaction to intrusive thoughts, convincing you that you're not upset enough or that your response must mean something about who you are. He breaks down why intrusive thoughts don't reflect your desires and how learning to live with uncertainty can help break the cycle.

At NOCD, we specialize in exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, the most effective treatment for OCD—a treatment that can help you live a fulfilling life. If you’re ready to take your first step, book a free 15-minute call with us at https://learn.nocd.com/YT

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Reassurance feels helpful in the moment. You ask someone if everything is okay, replay a memory to make sure you didn't do anything wrong, Google the same question for the tenth time, or tell yourself that your fear isn't true. The problem? OCD is never satisfied. The relief lasts for a moment, then the doubt comes back — and the cycle starts all over again. In this video, Dr. Patrick McGrath explains the many forms reassurance-seeking can take and doing so often feeds OCD.

At NOCD, we specialize in exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, the most effective treatment for OCD—a treatment that can help you live a fulfilling life. If you’re ready to take your first step, book a free 15-minute call with us at https://learn.nocd.com/YT

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OCD doesn't just create fear — it can also quietly steal your ability to enjoy life. Whether it's replaying conversations, monitoring your feelings, avoiding things you love, or convincing yourself that you don't deserve happiness, OCD has a knack for pulling you out of the present moment. In this video, Dr. Patrick McGrath explains how OCD interferes with joy.

At NOCD, we specialize in exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, the most effective treatment for OCD—a treatment that can help you live a fulfilling life. If you’re ready to take your first step, book a free 15-minute call with us at https://learn.nocd.com/YT

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Making the Olympics had been Ginny Fuchs' dream for years. But as she climbed the ranks of amateur boxing and moved to the Olympic Training Center, another battle was quietly getting worse. OCD was consuming more of her time, disrupting her sleep, and pulling her deeper into compulsions she could no longer control. Eventually, the disorder became so overwhelming that she feared it would derail the very goal she had dedicated her life to achieving.

As Olympic qualification approached, she reached a breaking point and made the difficult decision to seek inpatient treatment. In this episode, Ginny shares her story in full. She also reflects on why OCD was not a "superpower" for her and what she's learned from facing one of the toughest opponents of her life — her own OCD.

At NOCD, we specialize in exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, the most effective treatment for OCD—a treatment that can help you live a fulfilling life. If you’re ready to take your first step, book a free 15-minute call with us at https://learn.nocd.com/YT

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What does it take to become a great OCD therapist? Our very own NOCD therapists, Barbara Windeknecht and Alexi Pyles, say it's not what you probably think (prior OCD experience). In fact, both came from very different clinical backgrounds with little OCD experience. What mattered more was a willingness to learn, ask questions, stay curious, and keep showing up for members even when the work felt challenging.

In this episode, Barbara and Alexi discuss the traits they believe help therapists thrive in OCD treatment. They also share why exposure and response prevention therapy feels different from traditional therapy, and why some of the best therapists aren't the ones who know everything, but rather, they're the ones who never stop learning.

If you’re ready to deepen your ERP skills and work somewhere specialized OCD treatment is the focus — not an afterthought — explore joining the team at NOCD: https://learn.nocd.com/therapist_careers

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Tell Williams thought he was just a worrier. As a child, he believed things had to feel perfectly "even" or something bad would happen to the people he loved. Later came contamination fears, intrusive thoughts, health anxiety, and rituals that slowly began shaping more of his life than he realized. It wasn't until adulthood — after being diagnosed with ADHD, autism, and eventually OCD — that everything started to click.

In this episode of the Get to Know OCD podcast, Tell shares the OCD signs he missed for years, and how finally getting a proper diagnosis changed how he understood himself. He also opens up about talking about his OCD openly to his millions of followers, and why he thinks it's important for others to better understand the disorder.

At NOCD, we specialize in exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, the most effective treatment for OCD—a treatment that can help you live a fulfilling life. If you’re ready to take your first step, book a free 15-minute call with us at https://learn.nocd.com/YT

Follow us on social media:

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Barbara Windeknecht and Alexi Pyles have both worked traditional therapy jobs so they know what the tradeoffs usually look like: commuting, shared offices, rigid schedules, and trying to squeeze the rest of life around the work. At NOCD, they’ve found something different: a fully remote setup where they can see members from home, build schedules that actually fit their lives, and still feel connected to a larger team of clinicians doing the same work. In this video, they walk you through what that day-to-day looks like and why this setup helps them show up better for the people they treat.

If you’re ready to deepen your ERP skills and work somewhere specialized OCD treatment is the focus — not an afterthought — explore joining the team at NOCD: https://learn.nocd.com/therapist_careers

Follow us on social media:

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A lot of people start ERP expecting immediate relief, so when their anxiety spikes in the beginning, they assume the treatment is failing. But as Dr. Patrick McGrath explains, that discomfort is often a sign that the therapy is actually working. OCD gets used to compulsions, reassurance, avoidance, and safety behaviors keeping fear under control, so when those habits are removed, the disorder tends to “fight back” harder before it starts losing power. In this video, Dr. McGrath explains why this happens so often during recovery.

At NOCD, we specialize in exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, the most effective treatment for OCD—a treatment that can help you live a fulfilling life. If you’re ready to take your first step, book a free 15-minute call with us at https://learn.nocd.com/YT

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Rumination can feel productive at first. It can feel like problem-solving, self-awareness, or “figuring things out.” But for people with OCD, there’s a point where thinking stops being helpful and turns into a trap. The same question gets replayed over and over, every answer creates another “what if,” and no amount of analyzing ever brings real relief. In this short video, Dr. Patrick McGrath breaks down how OCD turns thinking into a compulsion, why rumination feels so convincing in the moment, and the key difference between healthy problem-solving and mentally spiraling.

At NOCD, we specialize in exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, the most effective treatment for OCD—a treatment that can help you live a fulfilling life. If you’re ready to take your first step, book a free 15-minute call with us at https://learn.nocd.com/YT

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One of the scariest OCD spirals can start with a simple thought: what if this isn’t OCD at all? For many people, OCD doesn’t just attack fears around harm or contamination — it can also latch onto the fear of “going crazy,” losing touch with reality, or developing something more serious like psychosis or schizophrenia.

In this video, Dr. Patrick McGrath breaks down why OCD targets these fears so aggressively and why trying to prove to yourself that you’re okay only keeps the cycle alive. He also explains the key difference between OCD and psychotic disorders, and how therapy helps people stop treating every intrusive thought like an emergency that needs to be solved.

At NOCD, we specialize in exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, the most effective treatment for OCD—a treatment that can help you live a fulfilling life. If you’re ready to take your first step, book a free 15-minute call with us at https://learn.nocd.com/YT

Follow us on social media:

https://www.instagram.com/treatmyocd/

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.