Many mental health professionals are now conducting patient visits virtually. I am one of the only psychologists left in my building who has stayed behind to continue in-person work while abiding by COVID protocols. Since our practice specializes in refractory OCD spectrum disorders and anxiety disorders a lot of the work done at our outpatient clinic requires in-vivo exposures, which cannot be replicated on Zoom.
In BDD, people are tormented by obsessive thoughts associated with a part or parts of their physical appearance being flawed in some way, yet these flaws tend not to be noticeable to anyone but themselves.
I’m a psychologist who treats OCD and Anxiety Disorders. When my patients get to a point in treatment when they shrug their shoulders and say to me, “Yeah, I had an intrusive thought, but ‘Whatever”, I know we have hit a home run.
"What if” thinking is not unique to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). It is a feature to a greater or lesser extent in several other conditions. Using what we know about Exposure and Response Prevention (E/RP) for OCD might improve treatment for these other conditions.[i]
1. How can you know if something is an intrusive thought, or monkey brain, and what is a genuine desire to do something bad? Where do the intrusive thoughts even stem from?
Anya, a 26-year-old, was in charge of organizing the schedule for the annual camping trip with her college classmates. She was excited and ready to make phone calls and gather prices for transportation, camping sites, etc.
If you engage in some positive distracting activities during this crisis, then the flow of the day will move like a steady stream rather than a slow drip.
