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Driving Fears & Driving Avoidance in Teens & Young Drivers

Driving Fears & Driving Avoidance in Teens & Young Drivers

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Reader Question: My daughter just turned 15, and no matter what I say, I can’t seem to convince her to practice her driving. It’s strange, because in the past, all she could do is talk about how excited she was to finally get her permit. I truly thought that she’d be practicing constantly once she was legally able to. Have you seen this before? Could her driving avoidance possibly be related to her OCD? Sincerely, Stressed-Out Parent Answer: Maybe, maybe not. Driving Fears May Be Normal… Driving-related anxiety is a completely normal phenomenon. For many people, learning to drive is the first time that they are individually responsible for handling a situation that could potentially be life-threatening. Although car accidents are (hopefully) rare for most individuals, accidents can be harmful (or deadly) when they do occur. Being in charge...

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ERP Tip of the Day #2

ERP Tip of the Day #2

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It’s ERP tip time. This series of posts focuses on tips to enhance the effectiveness of your exposure and response prevention (ERP). If you’re interested in more ERP tips, click the following link for all the posts in this series. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) Tips for OCD Without further ado, here’s another ERP tip to consider when designing your next exposure. ERP Tip #2 When completing your next exposure, avoid rules that dictate what you’re allowed to think during the exposure. If you try to complete an exposure without having a certain bad thought, chances are that you’re setting yourself up to think that very thought. Instead, design your exposure around having that very same unwanted thought. I love it when people with OCD do exposure, but I don’t love it when they have a long list of...

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ERP Tip of the Day #1

ERP Tip of the Day #1

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Starting today, I am going to start posting random ERP tips as they occur to me, as there are certain roadblocks that many of my OCD patients tend to encounter. If it’s helpful for my patients, maybe it’s helpful for you. If you’re interested in more ERP tips, click the following link for all the posts in this series. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) Tips for OCD These posts will probably be a bit shorter unless the concept requires a more thorough discussion. Please feel free to leave comments below, if you need more information. Today’s tip is… ERP Tip #1 Do not label your rituals as ERP. Instead embrace openness, defenselessness, and vulnerability. You might think that you never do this, but it happens more often than you think. Some people that I know will encounter triggers for...

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Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) Symptoms

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) Symptoms

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Symptoms of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a somatoform disorder that closely resembles obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder include excessive concern about perceived physical flaws, defects, or imperfections. Individuals with body dysmorphic disorder become obsessed with these unwanted aspects of their appearance and perform a variety of rituals and avoidance behaviors in order to disguise or conceal these “flaws.” BDD symptoms typically result in extreme distress and a variety of social and occupational difficulties. Body dysmorphic disorder symptom areas vary between individuals and commonly focus on the skin, hair, weight, and specific facial features, such as the nose (Philips, 2005). In The Broken Mirror (2005), Dr. Philips breaks down the frequency of different types of BDD concerns: Skin 73% Genitals 8% Hair 56% Cheeks/cheekbones 8% Weight 55% Calves 8% Nose 37% Height...

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Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)

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What is Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)? Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is not formally classified as an anxiety disorder; however, it shares many overlapping features with anxiety disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In contrast to OCD which typically focuses on specific external feared outcomes, body dysmorphic disorder involves hyper-attention to one or more perceived bodily defects, imperfections, or flaws.  BDD “flaws” are experienced as distressing and intolerable. In some cases, the imperfections that bother individuals with body dysmorphic disorder can be perceived by other people, but BDD magnifies and distorts these imperfections in the eyes of the sufferer.  In other cases, individuals with BDD notice and attend to “flaws” that cannot be readily perceived by others.  Regardless of the form of one’s symptoms, body dysmorphic disorder is associated with extreme distress and shame.  Moreover, because BDD-related “flaws” are often perceived as being...

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