OCD Straight Talk

By Chris Leins, MA, NCC, LPCC-SHealth & Fitness Mental Health

OCD Straight Talk episodes

January 09, 2024 Pillar 4 is about Letting Go of Both Thoughts & Compulsions
Chris presents by starting with a question that lingers in the air at this point: What am I supposed to do about my intrusive thoughts? The answer may not be what you want to hear. But it is echoed by the literature, and has been for nearly six decades.
Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to [email protected]
If you've found the podcast helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating and subscribing for more structured help with you anxiety and OCD symptoms.
23 min
January 02, 2024 What's So Wrong with Trying to Manage Risk?
A listener responds to Pillar 3 with a question. Chris responds. There's ALWAYS risk; but there's only sometimes danger. Listen to find out more.
Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to [email protected].
If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, feel free to give it a 5-star rating, and subscribe to the podcast for more structured help with your anxiety- or OCD-symptoms.
12 min
December 20, 2023 Accepting Uncertainty Reduces Your Need for Compulsions, Pillar 3
Chris explains a logical dynamic that goes two ways: the more we have a felt need for certainty, the harder we pursue it. And we pursue it, of course, by doing compulsions. But the harder we pursue it, the more elusive it proves to be. And then, we're back to the beginning. We have a deep and urgent need for certainty. But that street travels two ways. This is where and how Pillars 3, 4, and 5 are connected. Check out this episode to learn more.
Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to [email protected].
If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving it a 5-star rating, and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with your anxiety- or OCD-symptoms.
13 min
December 14, 2023 "Practice Makes Perfect," Pillar 2
Chris recaps Pillar 1 with a few subtype-examples, and moves to Pillar 2. This is the idea of "reps," or repetitions. Doing something over and over again increases both our competence in executing a task, and sharpens our understanding of it - big picture. The same is true of exposure therapy. Reps are the backbone of getting better.
16 min
December 08, 2023 You Gotta Go to Therapy, Pillar 1
Chris tackles the first of the Five Pillars, showing that generally OCDers generally don't make a lot of progress without structured, expert help.
Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to [email protected].
If you've found OCDST helpful, consider giving it a 5-star rating and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with you anxiety- or OCD-symptoms.
19 min
November 28, 2023 What is My Role in Getting Better?
Chris launches a new series on the role of the patient or the listener in the process of getting better. He reviews a document, forged from clinical experience, and written for his patients that explains their specific responsibilities in the act of getting as much out of their therapeutic journey as possible.
15 min
November 20, 2023 When OCD Turns Itself Inside-Out and Backward
Chris discusses a couple of cases that illustrate that idea that sometimes OCD and anxiety disorders flip the script on you, and completely change the behaviors that feed them. All of the sudden, the behaviors that previously were healthy are now compulsive; and the behaviors that were compulsive are now healthy.
17 min
November 07, 2023 You Need Both Will and Strategy
"Life's a fight!" Chris discusses a personal slogan and explains what that means in the context of OCD. Fighting means both the will to win and a strategy to succeed. In the fight against OCD, you need both. Why? Because OCD has both, too.
14 min
October 27, 2023 Everybody's Pure-O ... Sometimes
Chris responds to a listener's question about the ever-popular topic, Pure-O. He highlights the concept of identifying compulsions; as Pure-Oers do compulsions, they just don't properly identify them.
Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to [email protected]
If you've OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving it a 5-star rating and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with your anxiety- or OCD-symptoms.
15 min
October 17, 2023 Mistakes You're Probably Making in Exposure Therapy
Building off of the last two episodes, Chris discusses common errors made in exposure-work. These concepts aren't new to the podcast; but they are ... common mistakes. What that means is that you're probably doing them. And the reality is that exposure therapy generally doesn't work very well if we're committing one or both of these mistakes.
Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to [email protected].
Or if you've found the podcast helpful, consider giving us a 5-star review or subscribing to OCD Straight Talk for more structured help with you anxiety- or OCD-symptoms.
17 min