OCD Awareness Week 2016
It’s #OCDWEEK! Help raise awareness and understanding about obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and related disorders. Welcome to #OCDWEEK 2016, a week organized by IOCDF to help raise awareness about OCD and related conditions! If you visit IOCDF’s website, you’ll find information about local and online programs and events designed to help increase the general public’s understanding of OCD. When I started this blog a few years ago, the internet was awash in misinformation about the nature of OCD. OCD was (more often than not) described in oversimplified terms, and the popular media largely mischaracterized OCD as a disorder defined primarily on the basis of excessive washing or checking behaviors. If you didn’t fit this mold, it was implied that you didn’t have OCD. I was hoping that, through my writing, I might be able to address some of these...
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OCD Treatment Group Using ERP
OCD Treatment Group! I am pleased to announce the availability of our new exposure and response prevention (ERP)-based treatment group. The intent of this group is to provide a supportive environment for completing ERPs. Participants wishing to attend are required to register using the links at the bottom of this post. This group will first meet on Saturday (8/10/13), 1pm-3pm. The fees for attending this group are $75/session or $50/session if you pay in advance and commit to a 4-week group treatment sequence. Insurance will not be accepted; however, if you have out-of-network benefits, you may be eligible to submit your bill for reimbursement by your insurance company. Subsequent 2-hour sessions will be held on 8/17, 8/24, and 8/31 @ 1pm. You are free to participate in any or all of these sessions; however, individuals are most likely to...
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Scary Thoughts as Costumes: The Illusion of Danger
It’s nearly Halloween, and kids around the country are digging through dusty closets and plundering the aisles of local Halloween shops in search of the perfect costume. Halloween is the one night of the year when we give ourselves permission to be silly, scary, or fantastical. We can act a little weird, and nobody will disapprove. On Halloween, it’s normal to see the ghastly holding hands with the divine; fairy princesses walk amongst zombies, lions, and super heroes. There is something thrilling about handing over the reins to your imagination…even if it’s only for a single night. But what would happen if the masks got stuck? What if every goblin remained a goblin and every ghost remained a ghost? The children underneath the make-up would still be our children, but their appearance would remain altered. How would we feel...
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Postpartum OCD – Fear of Harming Your Baby
Parents brace themselves for many changes when a new baby comes home. As new routines replace old, life quickly becomes a confusing jumble of cherished memories, bottles, and dirty diapers. Parenting can be joyful, but it can also be terrifying. Parenting comes with many important responsibilities, and it can be intimidating–if not downright frightening–to be responsible for protecting and caring for a vulnerable new life. What is Postpartum OCD (ppOCD)? For some parents (mothers and fathers alike), new parenthood may spark postpartum obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a surprisingly common anxiety disorder that is associated with violent and disturbing thoughts, images, or urges (Fairbrother & Abramowitz, 2007). Symptoms may begin suddenly after the new baby arrives home, or pre-existing OCD symptoms may be exacerbated by new parental responsibilities. Postpartum OCD symptoms can involve virtually any type of OCD symptom, but harm obsessions...
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Suicide Obsessions: Fear of Killing/Harming Yourself
Thoughts of death, dying, and suicide are an unfortunate reality for many individuals. In the U.S. alone between 2008 and 2009, approximately 3.7% of adults (8.3 million Americans) reported having suicidal thoughts (Crosby et al., 2011). During that same time frame, approximately 2.2 million U.S. adults reported making specific plans to commit suicide. An estimated 1 million Americans attempted suicide, and 36,035 individuals died as the result of suicide. Clearly, suicidal thoughts and actions impact a significant number of Americans. Although suicidal thoughts are most often associated with depression, suicidal thoughts are not experienced exclusively by those who are clinically depressed. Suicidal thoughts may also accompany other mental health conditions and may even occur in healthy individuals in the general population. Not all thoughts related to suicide pose the same level of risk. Suicidal thoughts can range in intensity....
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Dr. Steven Seay is a licensed psychologist in Florida & Missouri. He is the Director of the Center for Psychological & Behavioral Science and provides treatment & therapy throughout South Florida, including Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Fort Lauderdale, & Miami.
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