Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Library

• Triggered: A Memoir of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
  Fletcher Wortmann obviously knows his subject.  "Triggered: A Memoir of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" is for anyone who is or knows someone who is suffering from mental illness of any type.  While Wortmann wrestles with OCD, he ...
• ERP Therapy: A Good Choice for Treating OCD
  During OCD Awareness Week in October, I sat in front of my computer, mesmerized, as I watched a live ...
• OCD: Treatment for Contamination Fears
  Before discussing currently accepted treatments for contamination obssessive-compulsive (OC) disorder, let's cover treatments that should be avoided (but unfortunately are still used ...
• OCD: Symptoms of Contamination Fears
  The most common association regarding people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are that these people are primarily concerned with germs and becoming 'contaminated.' ...
• Avoidance in OCD: It’s Never the Answer
  One of the common ways that people deal with anxiety is through avoidance. Afraid to fly? Well then, don’t. A large crowd of people ...
• Length of Stay for Residential OCD Treatment
  Toward the end of his freshman year of college, my son Dan’s obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) was so severe that he ...
• OCD and ADHD: Is There a Connection?
  By the end of his freshman year in college, my son Dan’s obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) was so severe that he ...
• Is Using Technology To Treat OCD a Good Idea?
  For people who are suffering for any reason, the Internet can offer ready-made support. Those with OCD, for ...
• Understanding Recovery Avoidance in OCD
  Dan would sit in a chair for hours, “stuck” and unable to move. He couldn’t eat, socialize, or enter most buildings. My ...
• Helping or Enabling? A Fine Line When Dealing with OCD
  Parenting for me has often involved following my instincts and using good common sense. Whether it ...
• 10 Things You Should Know About Compulsive Hoarding
  Many people might claim that, at least at one point in their lives, they could be classified as a "pack rat" or a ...
• 5 Steps to Reduce Worrying and Anxiety
  Everyone worries from time to time. But for some people, “worry is a way of life,” writes clinical ...
• When In Doubt, Make Belief: An OCD-Inspired Approach to Living with Uncertainty
  Written by a recovered Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) sufferer, When in Doubt, Make Belief aims to explore the doubt we all face, in varying degrees, in our daily lives. Bell chronicles his personal journey with ...
• Living Victoriously with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
  As a clinician with an interest in OCD I was excited to have the opportunity to review a recent (2007) book on the topic entitled “Living Victoriously with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.” Heather Crilly is very ...
• The Boy Who Finally Stopped Washing: OCD From Both Sides of the Couch
  John B. is a therapist who both suffers from and treats OCD.  In this memoir, he describes what it’s like to live with OCD, and, in general terms, the treatments that helped him and his ...
• The Genetics of Compulsive Hoarding
  Is compulsive hoarding inherited? People who compulsively acquire and hoard clutter to the extent that it impairs their daily activities are labeled "compulsive hoarders." The condition is classed as a subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), present ...
• Body Dysmorphic Disorder: When the Reflection Is Revolting
  Fifteen-year-old Joel wakes up two hours before school to begin cleaning his face and covering up his bad skin. Many days this means he’s either late to school or doesn’t show up at all. He ...
• Tackling the Fears of the ‘Worried Well’
  It is estimated that millions of people in the U.S. suffer from imaginary illnesses, including a rise in recent years in food intolerances. Are we really a nation of hypochondriacs? The "worried well," it would ...
• What Causes Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)?
  A condition resembling OCD has been recognized for more than 300 years. Each stage in the history of OCD has been influenced by the intellectual and scientific climate of the period. Early theories regarding the ...
• Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
  People who experience obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often turn to medications first for treatment (since they often turn to their primary care physician first for a diagnosis as well). However, decades' worth of research actually suggests ...
• When Your Child Has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
  Most people have heard of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). It is the condition Jack Nicholson's character has in the movie "As Good as it Gets." It's been featured on television programs such as 60 Minutes, Dateline ...
• Medications for OCD
  The modern era in the pharmacotherapy of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) began in the late 1960s with the observation that clomipramine, not other tricyclic antidepressants such as imipramine (Tofranil), was effective in treating OCD. Clomipramine is ...
• Helpful Hints about OCD for Family Members
  OCD affects not only the sufferer but the whole family. The family often has a difficult time accepting the fact that the person with OCD cannot stop the distressing behavior. Family members may show their ...
• Frequently Asked Questions about OCD
  What is the difference between the ruminations of depression and the obsessions of OCD? Morbid preoccupations (sometimes called ruminations) of depression can be mislabeled as obsessional thinking. The depressed patient typically dwells on matters that are ...
• Conditions Related to OCD
  Some conditions have been referred to as Obsessive-Compulsive (OC) Spectrum Disorders on the basis of clinical similarities to OCD (i.e., recurrent disturbing ideas or irresistible urges), higher-than-expected co-occurrence with OCD, and favorable response to SRIs ...