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OCD & Anxiety: The Year 2009 in Review

OCD Center of Los Angeles December 30, 2009 9:26 am 2 Comments

    

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and anxiety were in the news throughout 2009.  Some news was good, some bad, and some flat-out ugly.  Here are our votes for the top stories of the year related to OCD, Social Anxiety, Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), Trichotillomania, Phobias, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): (more…)

Bizarre, Disturbing, Weird, and Unwanted Thoughts in OCD

OCD Center of Los Angeles December 18, 2009 8:47 am 26 Comments

    

I was leaving my house today to go on my morning walk and noticed that the front gate was open.  As I passed through the gate, I had a thought that if I closed it, I would not return safely to my home.  If I left the gate open, I would return safely.  Prior to taking an important exam, it occurred to me that if I left the test registration in the car and folded it a certain way, it would mean that I would pass the test I was about to take.

Do I Have OCD?

I’ve had intrusive thoughts, images, and impulses of being catapulted down a flight of stairs and stabbing myself in the eye when cutting up vegetables.  I’ve had disturbing thoughts about dropping my newborn niece in a big pot of boiling water and dropping babies to the ground as I held them.  When juicing fruit and vegetables, I had an image of my parakeet flying into the machine and coming out as juice.

Something else you should know is that I do not have OCD.  While these thoughts were out of the ordinary and unsolicited, they did not bother me.  While everybody has bizarre, unwanted thoughts, people with OCD attribute meaning to these thoughts and the anxiety related to them.  They frequently feel the need to investigate or make sense of these intrusive thoughts, and may desperately try to prove to themselves that these thoughts are not premonitions of events to come or of a subconscious desire.  People with OCD often need to know with 100% certainty that these events will not occur and that they are not a bad person for thinking them. (more…)

Emetophobia and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

OCD Center of Los Angeles December 13, 2009 7:32 pm 85 Comments
Emetophobia treatment at the OCD Center of Los Angeles
Emetophobia can be effectively treatedwith Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

The OCD Center of Los Angeles often receives calls and emails from people seeking treatment for various phobias.  Among the most common phobias we treat is emetophobia – the intense fear of vomit and/or vomiting.

Most people who contact us with emetophobia are initially quite surprised to learn that this problem has a name, and often equally surprised to learn that they are not the only person in the world to suffer with it. (more…)

OCD and Mental Checking

OCD Center of Los Angeles December 7, 2009 8:55 am 186 Comments

    

If you are faced with the challenge of Pure Obsessional OCD (Pure O), then chances are you’ve completed your first round of obsessions and compulsions before you’ve even gotten out of bed each day.  Before you open your eyes, the wheels in your OCD machine start turning, and a sort of science fiction scan of your brain begins searching for evidence of “it”.  Whatever “it” is, “it” is sure to be in there somewhere. (more…)

Cyberchondria: Health Anxiety in the 21st Century

OCD Center of Los Angeles November 29, 2009 12:32 pm 8 Comments

    

Lately, the OCD Center seems to be getting more and more calls from people suffering with Hypochondria, also known as Health Anxiety.  Many in the public, as well as many physicians, don’t take Hypochondria very seriously.  Their attitude is often that this is not a “real” problem, and that people with Health Anxiety are simply being neurotic or seeking attention.  Numerous physicians I have spoken to have complained that patients with Hypochondria use a dramatically disproportionate share of doctors’ limited time. (more…)

Is Compulsive Overeating OCD?

OCD Center of Los Angeles November 24, 2009 10:08 am No Comments

    

Just in time for Thanksgiving, the Los Angeles Times weekly health section ran an issue this week dedicated to binge eating, also known as compulsive overeating.  This special issue had four articles on binge eating, with a strong focus on the question of whether or not this problem should be formally identified as a psychological condition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, also known as the DSM. (more…)

Cy Young, Zack Greinke, and Social Anxiety

OCD Center of Los Angeles November 19, 2009 7:47 am No Comments

    

Baseball’s best story of 2009 just got better.

As reported in a previous entry here (July 2, 2009), major league baseball has in recent years seen a spike in the number of players reporting symptoms of Social Anxiety.  Perhaps the most noteworthy example of this trend is Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals, who missed much of the 2006 season due to his struggles with the condition.

What a difference a few years makes. (more…)

Exposure Therapy for OCD and Anxiety

OCD Center of Los Angeles November 16, 2009 7:53 am 46 Comments

    

Exposure Therapy for OCD and Anxiety
Exposure therapy is the key to
effective treatment for OCD and anxiety.

At the heart of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for OCD and related anxiety disorders is the process of “exposure therapy”. There are numerous variations on exposure therapy, depending on which specific condition is being treated – for example for OCD, the treatment of choice is a specific therapy called Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). All variations of exposure therapy focus on the same core principle, which is that those suffering from these conditions will experience the greatest reduction in their symptoms by repeatedly doing the very thing that most terrifies them, without responding with any behaviors that are meant to reduce or control their anxiety.

For someone with OCD focused on contamination fears, exposure therapy will likely include purposely touching doorknobs or other allegedly “dirty” items without then washing. For those with variants of Pure Obsessional OCD (Pure O), effective treatment will almost certainly include imaginal exposure, in which the client purposely and repeatedly thinks the very thoughts that they would prefer to avoid, such as thoughts of being a pedophile or a murderer. A person with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) may be asked to go out for a walk without the hat they usually wear to hide their face, or to go to a brightly-lit restaurant with a group of friends. For those with Panic Disorder, exposure might mean driving on the freeway or taking a plane flight. And an individual with Social Anxiety may be urged to go to the mall to initiate conversations with strangers. (more…)

Social Anxiety Research

OCD Center of Los Angeles November 6, 2009 7:14 pm No Comments

    

Anyone who has ever been socially rejected or had their heart broken knows that it really hurts.  And now, researchers at UCLA have discovered evidence of a biological basis for this pain.  It appears that people with a variation of a specific gene are not just more sensitive to physical pain, but also more sensitive to social pain. (more…)

OCD Awareness Week

OCD Center of Los Angeles October 12, 2009 6:33 am No Comments

    

Today, October 12th, is the first day of OCD Awareness Week.  The International Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation (OCF) is the force behind the creation of OCD Awareness Week, which it describes as “a vehicle for support, advocacy and education to help end the stigma surrounding OCD and encourage sufferers to identify the disorder and / or seek treatment”.  The OCF is also working with its many local affiliates around the US “to educate their communities and the public as a whole about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and its treatments.” (more…)
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    1 Comment
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    92 Comments
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    No Comments
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    No Comments
  • OCD & Anxiety: The Year 2009 in Review
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    2 Comments
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    26 Comments
  • Emetophobia treatment at the OCD Center of Los Angeles with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)Emetophobia and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
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    85 Comments
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    186 Comments
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    8 Comments
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    No Comments
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    No Comments
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    46 Comments
  • Social Anxiety Research
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  • OCD Awareness Week
         […]
    No Comments
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    No Comments
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    No Comments
  • OCD and the Swine Flu – Part 2
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    No Comments
  • 2009 Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation Conference
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    No Comments
  • New Trichotillomania Research
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    No Comments
  • Parenting a Child With OCD
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    No Comments
  • Social Anxiety in Baseball
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    No Comments
  • Michael Jackson and Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
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    No Comments
  • OCD and the Swine Flu
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    No Comments
  • Meet the OCD Center of Los Angeles Staff
    Meet the OCD Center of Los Angeles Staff […]
    No Comments
  • Welcome to the OCD Center of Los Angeles Blog
    Welcome to the OCD Center of Los Angeles Blog […]
    No Comments

    

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