While exposure therapy (which helped me immensely) requires the OCD patient to face the worries and fears that cause you anxiety, sometimes you just want to avoid dealing with your OCD anxiety for a while. And there is nothing wrong with that. Exposure therapy, despite its powerful benefits, can be overwhelming at times and so... Continue Reading →
This tip shares a common theme with many of my others in that it is primarily focuses on awareness. With these types of tips I am trying to help prepare people with OCD for possible situations where OCD might attack. And while it would be basically impossible to list every potential scenario, I like to... Continue Reading →
For all the positive press I have directed towards my therapist and OCD therapy in previous posts, that is not to say that my treatment was all smooth sailing. There were many times that I woke up on the day of my appointment and thought "damn, I do not want to do this today". And... Continue Reading →
One of the more interesting insights that I garnered from therapy was that I had a ton of mini-rituals or compulsions that I didn't even notice because they were so ingrained in my everyday life. Every time I closed my wallet, I would say the name of the card in each wallet slot to make... Continue Reading →
As if putting abhorrent thoughts and images into your head wasn't enough, OCD apparently can also lead to spatial memory deficiencies (source). I am not sure if it directly causes it or if just the presence of OCD inhibits the actual proper process from occurring. Whatever the answer, I just learned about this and am... Continue Reading →
When that OCD anxiety hits you, it can often be overwhelming and terrifying. Your mind is screaming at you that you are something awful or that you have done or will do something terrible. And so your natural inclination is to want to quickly attend to the mental issue and try to convince yourself that... Continue Reading →
In a previous post, I discussed how people with OCD can, despite belief to the contrary, actually benefit their companies in unique ways due to the way their minds function. And at first glance, the idea that people with OCD--who are actively trying to reduce the impact the illness has on their life--can utilize some... Continue Reading →
You know how sometimes your mind will bring up some embarrassing past event from years ago in order to throw your day slightly out of whack? I would bet that you do, as it is a pretty relatable human experience. Unfortunately, for those people with OCD, the difficulty of these experiences can often be compounded... Continue Reading →
Note: In the below post, when I say "People with OCD" I am speaking generally as obviously we are all our own unique individuals with our own thoughts, ideas, likes, dislikes, etc. So far on this blog I have talked a lot about what people with OCD need to watch out for in their respective... Continue Reading →
If there is anything we know about OCD, it is that it will take every available opportunity to give you anxiety. And that (irritating) feature of OCD can manifest in even the most mundane of circumstances, like at the office. This means, that at your workplace, even the most innocuous items can be fodder for... Continue Reading →
Obsessive Compulsive Deprecation: Living with OCD at Work 