On this episode, I answer a listener’s question about the idea of “late bloomers,” or people who discover their sexuality later in life, and how the idea serves as a tremendous trigger and rocket fuel for their Sexual Orientation OCD. Next, I discuss a listener’s concerns about not feeling anxious when they do imaginal exposures, i.e. scripts, for their anxiety. Lastly, I discuss someone’s fear that they are truly gay due to genetics and whether this is genuinely their sexuality talking, or their obsessions.
For today’s episode and edition of Anxiety in the Arts, I was joined by Lefty-Lucy, a professional actor, performer, podcaster, producer, and educator for theater and burlesque. She was kind enough to spend some time with me discussing how she manages to work and perform despite the pressures of the pandemic and her own anxiety. Below, you will also find links to some of the projects she is connected to, as well as pictures of her calendar system that she describes in the episode. https://www.witchdailyshow.com/ https://www.nodreamdeferrednola.com/ https://www.iloveleftylucy.com/burlesque-bingo
On this week’s episode, I answer three questions! The first is from someone who’s partner says that love isn’t a choice, and that their partner with ROCD should leave unless they have constant strong feelings. Next, I answer a listener’s questions about breaking up a relationship because of the guilt they feel about having ROCD related obsessions. Lastly, I follow up with someone who previously asked a POCD question, but their compulsions have shifted into needing to explain why it’s wrong to be a pedophile! I mention in the episode that I’d love to get questions from people with Harm, Contamination, Just-Right, and Order/ Symmetry obsessions. There have been very few of them historically, so I’m calling on listeners to share their questions to mix up the episode topics!
For today’s episode, I was joined by artist, graphic designer, and cartoonist JSalvador who discusses his journey through his career as an artist and his experiences with mental health along the way. I had a great time catching up with JSalvador and learning more about how he started in his art career, his decision to go into art full time, and his motivation behind his most popular art endeavor. For more about JSalvador, check out SuperEmoFriends.
On this week’s episode, I decided to pack a relatively short episode with three questions and a feedback email. I discuss a wide range of topics, including how to deal with obsessions about past partners and how this impacts the state of the current relationship. I also discuss someone’s swallowing obsessions (Sensorimotor OCD) and their awareness spiking especially around close friends and family, but not around strangers. Lastly, I discuss a question from Instagram about what to do about not feeling “Saved” and how it impacts their faith and Religious Scrupulosity.
On this episode, I was joined by Carl Robbins, LCPC, to discuss Inference Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or IBT. Mr Robbins was kind enough to share his expertise and passion about this fascinating approach for those with OCD and related disorders. Inference based CBT is a treatment method for OCD that emphasizes the role of reasoning in the development and maintenance of ocd. Treatment is based on the idea that obsessions are doubts that arise due to reasoning errors leading to confusion between obsessional fantasy and reality. Inference Based CBT aims to correct the faulty thinking while resolving core insecurities at the root of the obsessional themes. To learn more about Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, please visit IBAOCS.com Carl Robbins can be found at his practice here at the Anxiety and Stress Institute of Maryland.
Today’s episode kicks off a short series I’m doing to highlight the anxiety and mental health struggles of people in the arts. Sarah Winchester is a multi-talented singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and writer and was kind enough to join me to discuss her story. More from Sarah Winchester: https://www.sarahwinchesterband.com/ About the Anxiety in the Arts Series: The Anxiety in the Arts series features artists from a wide range of disciplines sharing their stories of how their mental health has impacted their art and what they are doing to overcome it. The people highlighted in this series may not be at the end of their journey (who is) and may still be in the middle of fighting their battles. Nonetheless, they share their stories to highlight their efforts to overcome and to offer encouragement to people on their own road to recovery.
On this week’s episode, I answer two questions from listeners about their struggles with OCD. The first question deals with how someone can practice being with their thoughts and disengaging from their rumination. What are they supposed to do? The second question is about how someone can get certainty about their feelings about their partner. Their “constant checking” isn’t helping, so what can they do?
On this episode, I answer two listeners questions. The first one is about how someone can deal with reducing and managing rumination compulsions. She also wants to know whether medication will reduce or eliminate ruminations. Then, I answer a question about how someone can discuss their HOCD (SO-OCD) symptoms with their partner without them getting upset. Of course, just like me, I made it all the way to episode 100 without even knowing or acknowledging this milestone on the podcast. Of course… I’ll comment on it next time. Or I won’t. I am also publishing the video of this episode to YouTube! Check it out of there too!
This past weekend, I spoke with the Lauren Rosen, MFT, Kelley Franke, MFT, and Elena Fasan, LCSW, at the OCD SoCal 6th annual conference on the topic of mental compulsions. As usual, I had a great time presenting this rag-tag group of brilliant people, and hopefully our talk was helpful to a few people. You can log in and watch our talk along with a ton of other fantastic presentations from a long list of well know, knowledgeable thought and clinical leaders in the field by going to www.OCDSoCal.org. As a fun aside, if you listen carefully, I completely botch Lauren’s name in the intro by giving her maiden name rather than her married name (Lauren Rosen), so if you are listening to and reading this Lauren… you know I’m the worst and this is just clear evidence of that.