ADAA Mental Health Blogs for the Public

While treatment for OCD is highly effective for many, it can be hard work! It’s not an uncommon experience to lose momentum midway through treatment or even in the final stages. Below are some helpful tips from an OCD specialist to help you make it across the finish line!

1.    Watch out for assigning the hard work to your “Future Self”

Choosing a therapist can be an overwhelming decision: there are so many therapists out there, how can you be sure you are choosing someone who is the right fit for you?

The normal reasoning process is what we use throughout our day. It guides us to make inferences about possibility based on trust in our senses and selves. We don’t reason that the microwave is failing and causing a fire unless we smell smoke or see sparks or flames.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is often misunderstood in our shared culture. Some people think of people with OCD as someone risky, potentially dangerous, or as someone with quirky personality traits.

Have you ever knocked on wood to ward off bad luck? If so, you’ve experienced magical thinking.  

It can be difficult to talk about suicide. It’s a taboo topic, fraught with discomfort. Couple that with some harmful misunderstandings and our tendency, as a society, to shy away from hard conversations, and it’s no wonder that you may struggle to find the right words.