OCD Straight Talk

Chris rambles about behaviors v. compulsions. If compulsions are always behaviors - and more than that, choices, then this opens a wide array of possibilities. How do we find compulsions in an ocean of options? Or, what makes a behavior a compulsion? Chris will do a brief series on this question. 

Feel free to reach out with any question you might have. [email protected]

Chris responds to a listener's questions about a specific symptom-dimension of OCD: anxiety relative to the possibility of speaking or behaving inappropriately on a public platform. Thank you to this anonymous listener for his/her kind and courageous willingness to step forward and pose these questions.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have. [email protected]

Chris discusses the difference between two kinds of thoughts: obsessions and compulsions. It is an advanced skill to differentiate between intrusive thoughts and rumination - not easy, but often necessary. 

Reach out with any questions you might have. [email protected].

Chris discusses old theories and new ones regarding why OCD happens - a (very) cursory history of OCD research. But the real question is not, Why does OCD happen? It's, What do we do when it does? 

Reach out with any questions you might have to [email protected]

So often, OCD-sufferers speak of obsessions as being "irrational." Many have long-been told that. But are they? Chris discusses the irrationality of compulsions, centering this monologue on the reality that we can never escape uncertainty. Chasing certainty, but never really capturing it, is the irrationality of compulsions. 

Reach out to [email protected] with any questions you might have. 

Chris discusses a - the most - frequently asked question at the top of a case: How long is this gonna take? The answer is about four months; but there are important variables to consider. Obviously not every case is the same. How can you maximize the efficacy of your therapeutic experience?

Reach out with any questions you might have. [email protected]

Chris discusses the "Compulsions Decision Tree" - not technical language - in order to better identify compulsions. The purpose of these 3 questions is to increase the likelihood that listeners will learn to find compulsions in real-time. The essential task of the OCD-er, aside from going to see an OCD specialist, is finding and stopping compulsions.

Reach out with any questions you might have. [email protected]

Chris discusses a common problem among individuals suffering from OCD and clinically significant anxiety - secondary depression. What do you do when your OCD results in a comorbid (or co-occurring) depressive episode? Like OCD, depression can be thought of as a "behavioral problem" in the sense that depressive thinking tends to be associated with depressive behaviors; and depressive behaviors strengthen the whole system. 

Chris responds to an email regarding lists of compulsions that tend to travel in packs (or subtypes). But the answer isn't what you think. The fact is that there are as many compulsion-lists as there are people suffering from OCD. The ability, the honed skill of identifying compulsions in real-time, is the missing link.