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💞 Libraries exist and they often have self help books

Look up reviews of self help books. So you could google ‘self help books for OCD’. You could also skim self help books in the library itself. Here’s a link to a list of OCD self help books. r/OCD has a recommended reading list.

Your self help book should include a scientifically backed therapeutic technique for treating OCD.

Exposure Response Prevention therapy (ERP therapy)

Mindfulness

Cognitive Behavioural therapy (CBT)

Certain libraries allow people to suggest books to order or allow books to be requested from another library branch. Ask your local librarian for more information because it varies on location.

Some libraries loan out ebooks which are good for readers who like to tweak font size, or background colours for better readability, or for use with screenreaders for blind readers.

If someone asks why you’re borrowing a book, you could say that it’s for a friend or you have an interest in psychology.

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Here’s a thought I had about how therapy & treatment works (vs how many people imagine it works). This is based on my experience with depression and chronic illness, but I hope it applies more broadly as well.

Imagine you have to take a road trip on a deserted road alone. Halfway through the trip your engine starts to splutter and the car breaks down. What do you do?

A lot of people imagine that therapy and treatment is like calling a mechanic to come and fix your car for you. You make the call, and then you just have to wait around until the mechanic has fixed the problem, and your car is good as new! Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. There is no on-call mechanic. No-one is able to fix this car except for you.

Instead, it’s like you pull a toolbox out of the trunk, pop open the hood, and dial up the mechanic on the phone. You have to try and describe the problems as clearly as possible, and follow the advice they give you as well as you can.

Sometimes you won’t understand the advice, and you’ll need them to explain it again or suggest something else. Sometimes you’ll do what they say and the car still won’t run, and they won’t be able to explain why, only give you something new to try. Sometimes you’ll think you fixed the problem and start driving, and the car will break again two minutes down the road. No matter what happens, it’s going to be hard and messy and frustrating work.

But at the end of it, not only will your car be running again, but you’ll know how to fix it now. Which isn’t to say that you’ll never need another mechanic again, but next time you get stuck, it’ll be that little bit easier to handle.

So keep at it everyone, and good luck on your journeys!

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i know that no single piece of advice can apply to everyone but i really wish people would stop saying things like ‘trust your intuition!!! if someone or something gives you a bad feeling, theres a reason for it and you should run away!!!!’ like that is LITERALLY the worst thing you could say to people with OCD or anxiety disorders. if i followed that advice id never leave my house or interact with any human being or accomplish anything in my life. nearly EVERYTHING gives me a bad feeling no matter how harmless it seems to ppl without ocd

if someone or something gives you a ‘bad feeling’, try and ask yourself WHY before jumping to any conclusions. are there any red flags? what are the actual chances of you getting hurt in this situation? have other people done this before without getting hurt? could your worries be rooted in anything like racism/homophobia/ableism? and if youre still not sure, ask someone you trust for their opinion. but PLEASE stop acting like having a ‘bad feeling’ always means something is dangerous. 

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the idea that someone having bigoted intrusive thoughts means they secretly believe them is just really absurd. obviously you can be a bigot and have those types of intrusive thoughts (nobody is immune to holding bigoted ideas, ocd or not), but the two aren’t inherently connected. 

if you can comprehend that people with violent intrusive thoughts don’t actually want to hurt anyone, then you can comprehend that someone can have bigoted intrusive thoughts and not actually believe in them. 

that said, if you have those kinds of intrusive thoughts… please don’t talk about them to people from marginalized groups if they haven’t explicitly told you they’re comfortable with it, and avoid talking about it publicly without any kind of trigger warning. and don’t go around saying harmful things and blaming them on your ocd, either. 

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learn to accept uncertainty. there are very few, if any, things in this world that you can be 100% certain of at all times, and that’s okay. you can still be okay without knowing everything. 

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procrastinate your compulsions. you dont need to do them at all, but ESPECIALLY not right now. take a deep breath, get yourself a glass of water, vacuum your house, play with your cat. most people can’t stop doing their compulsions cold turkey; but if you start out by putting them off til later, you might start to realize it’s irrational, and it’ll become easier over time to break the habit altogether. 

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This is your reminder that you do not needed to have had a bad childhood or a bad relationship with your parents or anything like that for you mental illness to be valid.  I used to think that since I did not have a traumatic experience in childhood that my problems were not as bad or important as other people’s.  If you are struggling you deserve help and support no matter what your childhood was like.  Don’t ignore the struggles you have they are valid and you should not feel less “worthy” or anything else of getting help.

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10 Things I Wish Clients Knew Before Starting Therapy

I realized as I started to write this list that I could probably put way more than 10 things on it, so maybe there will be a part 2 eventually. Your suggestions/additions are very welcome! Of course, clients are very different from one another, but in general, here are some things I wish clients knew before they started therapy. (Credit to the anon who suggested doing this list!)

Your therapist is not your friend. You and your therapist should have an important, close relationship, but it’s the not the same as a friendship. This is a good thing! (See #7). You want your therapist to be able to see you and your treatment as objectively as possible while being caring and empathetic about you as a person. This will help you two work successfully together. It’s okay if it takes time to figure out how your particular relationship will work, and if it is different from one therapeutic relationship to the next. 

Start and work through treatment with the end in mind. Ideally, therapy should not last forever- you should begin with a goal or goals (see #3) and you and your therapist should figure out how to achieve those goals so that you no longer need treatment. Your therapist will probably check in about how close you are getting to these goals, and may set a timeline at the beginning of therapy or partway in. This is normal. We like our clients, we want to continue seeing them, but treatment is successful when they don’t have to see us anymore. 

Goals are essential to successful treatment. Some clients would like to come in and do a “weekly review” sort of thing, or a “crisis of the week” sort of thing. The problem with this is that it doesn’t help them achieve a goal or improve their lives, it mostly just passes the time and maybe provides some social support. We’re not really doing our jobs when this is all that happens. That’s why goals- short and/or long-term- are essential. 

There are infinite worthy goals. There are lots of things that are worthy of being a therapy goal. I usually group them into three categories: goals related to decreasing your distress (for example: decreasing anxiety), goals related to increasing your functioning (for example: having better social skills), and goals related to increasing meaningfulness (for example: pursuing hobbies, existential questions).  

Structure is also essential. If a client has great goals, but they continue to come in with a crisis of the week, or are constantly distracted throughout session, it’s often hard to get things accomplished. Although it isn’t necessary to only discuss the therapy goal(s) 100% of the time (and sometimes it’s necessary to halt things due to crisis), it is important to have some kind of structure of make sure that treatment is progressing. Lots of different kinds of structures can be used (from almost nothing, to agendas, to manuals) depending on your needs. 

Your therapist is not being mean to you when they enforce boundaries. Boundaries are necessary, to uphold professional ethics, protect the therapist and their family/loved ones, protect the mental health field, protect the agency the therapist works for, protect other clients, and most importantly, to protect you. It isn’t random, and it isn’t a punishment. We do our very best to be both professional and have a sincere relationship with you.  

Your therapist is not judging you. Here’s the thing- you really are a special and unique person, with your own backstory. But as therapists, we have heard some weird and terrible things (it’s unlikely you’re going to top the list, for better or worse). It is our job to listen to those things and not judge. Since we’re not our client’s friend, we’re not thinking about judgement, we’re thinking about how to help, or how impressed we are that you trusted us enough to share, and so on. We’re in your corner. 

The therapeutic relationship is important- and not off-limits to discuss. I always make such a big deal about the therapeutic relationship, and it is because it matters so much to client outcome. So pay attention to it. It’s okay to care about how things are in the interaction and relationship with your therapist. And if you are confused, or upset, or concerned, or pissed off, talk about it with your therapist. You are not doing anything wrong- this is key to the success of your treatment. 

It’s okay to question and disagree with your therapist. Clients sometimes think that therapists are untouchable– sort of all knowing experts. It’s true that therapists are trained in specific things, and hopefully know how to do the things they need to do to help you accomplish what you want to in therapy. But this does not mean they know everything about you or will not mess up (we don’t and we will). So ask questions. Get more information. If you disagree, speak up. A good therapist is comfortable discussing the process and being wrong. 

It’s okay to find a new therapist, but make sure you think about why you are doing it. If you do not like your therapist, it is okay to look for a new one. But- “therapist shopping” is sometimes frowned upon because we worry that you are looking for a therapist who will tell you what you want to hear about something, and a good therapist is willing to challenge their clients- which means their clients will sometimes be pissed off and uncomfortable. This means a good therapist is sometimes not the one who makes you feel warm and fuzzy all the time. So, find a new therapist if you do not like yours, but think carefully about why you are doing it. Make sure you work with someone who helps you reach your goals. (That’s why you’re there, right?) 

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What I should expect when going in for a diagnostic evaluation with a clinical neuropsychologist? How long is the overall process? (Also, I have this irrational fear that because my symptoms are in remission, I will be dismissed). Thank you.

Usually, the way I do neuropsych evaluations and other evaluations is to first do an interview, then the testing, then I go and score everything, interpret everything, consult with people, and write the final report (so no client contact during that bit), and then the client and I meet to go over the results and discuss recommendations.

Interviews are different depending on the client, but the point is generally to figure out what the client is looking for from the evaluation and then get the basic information I need in order to ask that question.

Testing is the main part of answering the referral question (could be “what is my diagnosis?” or “am I experiencing memory loss?” or any number of things). Again, depending on the client and what the question is, some number of tests, measures, interviews, and so on will be chosen to answer that question. Some might be paper and pencil type measures that you fill out, others might be interview style, and others might be interactive with the psychologist. 

The middle part is when I’m scoring all the tests, looking at all the information I have, and figuring out what I can figure out. I might talk to other people (consulting or getting supervision or talking to other providers). Then I write the report, which has the findings and recommendations in it.

The feedback session is when I meet with the client and discuss what we found out from the testing, and what the recommendations are. Sometimes there’s a really obvious answer (“no, you don’t have memory loss”) and sometimes there really isn’t (“well, you might have memory loss but since you’ve got such severe PTSD and fibromyalgia and insomnia and you’ve taking these medications, it’s hard to tell”). Then we talk about what to do- given what we think is going on, what are the best treatment and other options from now on? This might include referrals as well.

The whole process can take awhile. Definitely multiple meetings. Sometimes it takes multiple appointments to complete the interview + testing bit. Then it takes awhile to score and interpret and write it all up. Then another appointment for the feedback session. For me, it has depended from a week, to more than six months (usually when it is over two weeks, it’s due to difficulty scheduling with the client or similar client-related issues). 

As far as feeling like you’ll be dismissed, I won’t tell you that you will be definitely taken seriously. Although I have found the neuropsychologists and other clinical psychologists I have worked with clinically to be very sensitive to client questions and concerns during evaluations, not every professional is as professional and as good as at their job as they should be. I can tell you that you have the right to make your needs known, to be clear about what you need and what you want, to ask questions, and to find somebody else should this particular neuropsychologist be dismissive of you. 

I would also note that when we diagnose, it is a current diagnosis, based on current symptoms. It is possible to talk about prior symptoms and history and so on, and take that into account when considering the larger (and more important, generally) picture, but- diagnosis is always about what is going on with the client at that moment. So if your question is “what is my diagnosis?” and you are in remission, you may qualify for a “X diagnosis, in remission,” which some diagnoses have, or that may not exist, so you may not receive the diagnosis you expect or any at all. This isn’t necessarily being dismissive, it’s the way that the DSM works at this point. You may want to widen your referral question a bit if there’s more to what to want to know, or other things you want the neuropsychologist you will see to take into account. The greater context may be what you’re looking for- it isn’t just about that you are currently in remission, it might be about what happened on the way, or what to do to remain in remission, or something else. I hope that helps! 

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If you’re reading this please be nice to yourself today because you do matter

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👻 Good news

I fixed my Guide to POCD.

EDIT: Version 1.1: updated Intrusive Thoughts link.

EDIT: it’s still broken on Safari. It worked when I used Firefox on desktop.

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👻 Apologies

The Guide to POCD page has been broken for over a year and I haven’t fixed it yet.

I haven’t been as active as I’m focused on Uni.

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If you come to terms with your thoughts, you are not agreeing with them. Accepting them as thoughts you cannot control or stop does not make you a bad person.

🏵🌸 MAP’s please don’t interact 🌸🏵

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The most powerful weapon against OCD and any anxiety, is acceptance of uncertainty.

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I’m still here, if you need someone to talk to.

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I’ve been doing a little bit of research into ocd on my own and i’ve noticed that I really strongly relate to some of the examples of obsessions and compulsions i’ve seen listed, specifically obsessions surrounding uncertainty about things and then checking to be sure of them, but I don’t know whether the nature of my obsessions,, counts? i guess? A lot of the stuff about uncertainty i see is like not knowing whether you’ve locked the door or if the stove is on, but mine aren’t like that (1/2)

I mostly just feel as if i can’t trust my own memories, so i have to have documentation of things like people’s names or times or i can’t use them, because i’m afraid the way i’m remembering them is wrong. I think a lot of the fear of saying something wrong is related to my rsd but i haven’t seen anyone else describe their rsd as obsessive like this before, so i don’t know whether it might be something more. Does this seem like obsession to you or just rsd? (2/2)

uncertainty obsessions dont have to coincide with specific compulsions. an Exa ple:Suzy thinks she remembers a specific scene in a move, but she has to make sure, so she rewatches the movie. 

A lot of compulsions are based around researchim not very well versed on rejection sensitive dysphoria, so i cant really say, I will say however, that it sounds like some type of anxiety, of course, and the amount of obsession related seems consistent with obsessions in obsessive compulsive and related disorders (NOT A DIAGNOSIS TALK TO MENTAL HEALTH PROFFESIONAL PLEASE)