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Rewire Your OCD Brain by Catherine M. Pittman and William H. Youngs explains how your brain works and how you can take advantage of that to manage OCD. The book focuses on the two main areas in the brain that are relevant to OCD, the cortex and amygdala. It explains the role of each, how… Continue reading Book Review: Rewire Your OCD Brain
The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD by Jon Hershfield and Tom Corboy has just been released in its second edition. I was curious what a mindful approach to OCD would look like, but, as the subtitle says, this is a mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in combination book; it's not a pull up a cushion… Continue reading Book Review: The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week's term is obsessive compulsive personality disorder. When people say that someone is "a little OCD," chances are, what they're referring to has little, if anything, to do with obsessive compulsive disorder. What they're talking about is far more like… Continue reading What Is… Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder
This post is by Joey of Schizowhatnow. You are not your intrusive thoughts My psychologist recently said to me “who do you think has lots of intrusive thoughts every day?”. This was easy, I had been diagnosed with OCD at age 13 and one of the first things I had learned was that intrusive thoughts… Continue reading Emerging Blogger Series: Joey (Schizowhatnow)
The Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Diary by Charlotte Dennis shares her experiences using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to manager her OCD. It's designed as a workbook to be written in, so the paper version would definitely be a better pick than the ebook. The book is filled with exercises to help you reflect on yourself and… Continue reading Book Review: The Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Diary
This post is by Mim from Digging the Dirt on OCD. The Willy Crisis I’ve been struggling to write as I’ve been stuck in a bit of a psychological rut. Rather than delve into the intricacies of a lifetime of OCD or offer up a hopeful message for others, I’m going to be self-indulgent this… Continue reading Emerging Blogger Series: Digging the Dirt on OCD
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week's terms are ego-syntonic and ego-dystonic. The terms ego-syntonic and ego-dystonic come from the field of psychoanalysis, and they were coined by Sigmund Freud in 1914. Ego-syntonic ideas match up with the ego's needs, view of the self, and personality. Ego-dystonic… Continue reading What Is… Ego-Syntonic & Ego-Dystonic
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week's term is safety behaviour. Safety is supposed to be a good thing, isn't it? Maybe, but sometimes the mind will start shouting at you to do things that don't actually keep you safe and instead just make you anxious,… Continue reading What Is… a Safety Behaviour?
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week's term is exposure and response prevention. Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is a type of cognitive behavioural therapy used to treat obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). It's similar to prolonged exposure therapy, which is used in anxiety disorders and PTSD,… Continue reading What Is… Exposure and Response Prevention
In this post I'll take a look at some of the available guidelines for evidence-based treatment of anxiety disorders. While psychotherapies are extremely important in the management of anxiety disorders, this post will focus only on anti-anxiety medications. The treatment guidelines I refer to come from the British Association for Psychopharmacology and the World Federation… Continue reading Evidence-Based Treatment of Anxiety