OCD

On February 7, 2019, ADAA held a Twitter chat under the title #GotOCD. ADAA member experts Jonathan Grayson, PhD and Jenny Yip, PsyD, ABPP answered questions on the different types of OCD and treatment. Read the Q&A below:
 

So, you’re a failure. Fine. Get on with your life! In my work as a psychologist treating anxiety disorders, I’ve learned that often an underlying driving fear in my patients is the worry that they are failures.

As my OCD patients get better with treatment, they are relieved that their obsessions are less frequent and less intense and they have more control over performing rituals. This they expect. But what can be unexpected is the feeling of mourning as symptoms dissipate.

Many of my patients took an extended holiday over the Christmas/New Year's break. When they returned to treatment in mid­January most of them reported that their OCD symptoms had worsened. Obsessions returned that had been dormant.