While I’m still mourning the loss of the 2020 IOCDF conference (and a trip to Seattle!), I am excited for the upcoming Online OCD Conference. The schedule is here and , as always, it features some great talks. I’ll be presenting a talk for families - “All Grown Up: Adjusting to Better Help Your Adult Child with OCD” on Saturday, 8/1 at 2pm. I’ll also be running a Community Discussion Group (formerly known as a support group) for parents of adult children with OCD on Friday, 7/31 at 12:30pm.
How do you adapt ERP for a pandemic?
Many people wonder about where to draw the line with exposures. This conundrum has become particularly muddy in our current situation, as we are faced with new and uncertain risks. Some of my former colleagues at McLean Hospital’s OCD Institute recently wrote an article, detailing many of the considerations affecting how we deliver ERP during a pandemic. The article is featured in the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies’ newsletter, the Behavior Therapist and is called “Adapting Exposure and Response Prevention in the Age of COVID-19”.
In short, the article suggests that we can adjust by: doubling down on response prevention (given the limits on actual exposure), focusing on function over form (am I washing my hands to follow the recommended guidelines or to reduce distress?), and by leaning into inhibitory learning rather than habituation-focused exposures (changing our relationship to anxiety and uncertainty rather than trying to eliminate it).
Figure it out yourself!
“From Camping to Dining Out: Here’s How Experts Rate the Risks of 14 Summer Activities”
I love this article from NPR. Like me, it completely dodges the question of what you should or should not do in the current pandemic. Instead, it encourages you to gather reliable information about risk, then make your own choice about which risks you would like to take. There are no easy answers, no formulas to apply - just a rough approximation of risk and a choice to act with uncertainty.
IOCDF conference will be virtual this year!
IOCDF recently announced that the annual conference is canceled and will be replaced with a virtual event. I’m feeling many conflicting things about this announcement. I’m sad to be without the community of the conference for another year, as I love being able to facilitate my annual support group and will miss connecting with my colleagues. I’m also excited, as this will provide a unique opportunity to bring the conference to a wider audience. As a member of the conference planning committee this year, I have been able to get an early glimpse at some of the virtual programming in store for us and it does look exciting!
Embracing the Many Contradictions of a Pandemic
I keep getting asked about how people with OCD and anxiety are handling all of this. And I get it. Many people are feeling heightened stress and anxiety right now and so it seems natural that folks who were already dealing with these things might be struggling. And of course, for some people, that assumption is accurate. But I think it also oversimplifies this situation. We all want to understand what’s going. We see the enormity of the pandemic and want to be able to wrap our heads around it. But humans are complex and the situation has pervaded so many aspects of our lives that it seems impossible to boil this down to something so simple. Instead, I think we need to embrace the ambiguity of it all. There are many conflicting thoughts and feelings that we are all cycling through. We don’t have to pick one. We can allow ourselves to experience these thoughts without having to filter it into a binary choice. I’ve highlighted just a few of these contradicting thoughts below:
It’s okay if we move back and forth between these contradictions. It’s okay if, in any given day or hour, we vacillate between these thoughts. Give yourself some space to allow these thoughts in without having to attribute meaning or significance to the thought’s presence. The thought does not need to be emblematic of you or a summation of your pandemic experience; it can simply be a snapshot of one particular moment in time. Maybe someday we’ll sort this all out and and reach a better understanding, but for now, we have no choice but to accept the uncertainty and navigate our way through this experience.
Telehealth ONLY beginning Tuesday, 3/17
Due to the rapid progression of COVID-19 and the need for increasingly stringent efforts to practice “social distancing”, I will be shifting my practice to 100% telehealth beginning Tuesday, 3/17. I’ll be utilizing the HIPAA-compliant video platform which is already built into my electronic medical record, Simple Practice. While I certainly prefer to provide therapy in person, it does seem like this is the best way to ensure the safety of both my clients, my office mates, and myself. As soon as it is reasonable to do so, I plan to revert back to in person treatment.
OCDNC Board Retreat!
The OCD North Carolina board had a chance to gather this past weekend for our first annual retreat! It’s been great to see the affiliate finally hitting it’s stride and we’re really exciting to continue to roll out more events and programming for the OCD community through North Carolina. Oh, and we successfully found our way out of an alien abduction at NC Escape.
Facing Fear
I was recently featured in a Psychology Today article called “Top Ten Reasons Therapists Give For Conquering Fears: The Importance of Facing Fear and Winning”. You can check out the article here.
OCD NC Community Events
OCD North Carolina has been working hard to develop more events to raise awareness of OCD and to build community across North Carolina. There will be two events in the Triangle coming up in the first week of December.
The first event will be Mental Health Trivia Night. It will be December 4th at 7pm at Bull City Cider Works, where $1 of every purchase of Off Main Cider will go to support OCDNC.
The second event will be gingerbread cookie decorating on December 7th at 3:30pm. We will also be creating holiday cards to be sent to individuals in residential treatment for OCD.
OCD Awareness Week
OCD Awareness Week is coming up! OCD North Carolina will be hosting events throughout the state and we hope you’ll consider attending or getting involved. A list of events, both for this coming week and throughout the fall, is below. Hope to see you there!
IOCDF Annual Conference 2019
Great conference in Austin this year! I ran a support group for parents of adult children with OCD, manned the OCD NC booth, reunited with friends and colleagues, and connected with lots of wonderful folks affected by OCD. I was especially proud to be able to present a scholarship, courtesy of OCDNC, to a family attending their first conference. This organization is at its best when it’s bringing much needed treatment and information to the people who need it - this scholarship hit that mark!
It's Never Going To Be Perfect, So Just Get It Done
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do well. We all want the proverbial ‘A’. But some of us struggle to know when to stop. That elusive ’point of diminishing returns’ can be hard to spot and many of us don’t see the line until we’ve crossed it. We’re generally better served by compromising on the unrealistic goal of perfection and instead, allowing ourselves to spread our efforts around to other, more useful tasks.
I have four young kids and place a lot of value in being a good dad. However, if I wanted to be a ‘perfect’ dad, I’d need to do a whole lot more. I’d need to spend every waking moment with them. I’d need to create fun crafts and cook wholesome, homemade meals. I’d stay up each night writing sweet songs to them. I could do all of this… but I’d be an awful husband, friend, and therapist. I’d have to quit my job. I couldn’t have any hobbies or get any exercise. Even though being a good dad is really important to me, I have to compromise. There are other things that are also important to me. And let’s be honest, I’m a better dad because I nourish these other parts of my life. We cannot give 100% to any one facet of our lives; that’s not how this works! We have 100% to give and we have to choose how to spread it around. If we truly want to optimize how we spend our time, we can prioritize by spending it in ways that are consistent with our values… all of them!
Can't Stop Worrying? Try Tetris to Ease Your Mind.
“Can’t Stop Worrying? Try Tetris to Ease Your Mind” by Maanvi Singh.
Check out this segment from NPR - it cites a study in the journal Emotion, which discusses the benefits of attention-grabbing activities in regulating mood and stress.
Fighting mental health stigma with...ESPN?
There are many ways to whittle away at mental health stigma. By and large, our culture seems to be moving in a positive direction, but sometimes it can feel like it's happening at a glacial pace. ESPN took a big step this week, as it has released a five-part series of articles, written by Jackie MacMullan, highlighting mental health within the NBA. She's discussed OCD, depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, medication, and even looked at the intersection of race and mental health. And not only that, but she's named names - big names. Stars like Paul Pierce, Chris Bosh, Kevin Love, Shane Larkin, Channing Frye, and Jalen Rose. She talked to coaches (Brad Stevens, Doc Rivers) GMs (Danny Ainge), and owners (Jeanie Buss). It is so incredibly important to talk about these issues. As long as mental health remains taboo, stigma will follow. But when we see these larger-than-life athletes talk openly about their struggles, it goes a long way in breaking down that stigma.
OCD Community Hang Out
Are you looking for an opportunity to connect with the local OCD community? Or to meet other individuals with OCD who actually understand your experience? Come check out the OCD Community Hang Out at Eno River State Park on Saturday, September 15th at 10am. Hope to see you there!
IOCDF 2018
A mural brought to the conference by the Peace of Mind Foundation
Another year, another amazing IOCDF conference! I am so thankful for this wonderful organization and everything that it provides. Every year I emerge from the conference reminded of just how brave and supportive this community can be. I am reminded of the importance of educating therapists and getting life-saving treatment to sufferers quickly. I am also reminded of just how meaningful it can be for individuals with OCD to connect with peers who also have OCD. So many people suffer in silence, without ever having the experience of connecting with someone else who knows what it's like to be in their shoes. I can give you a PowerPoint or lecture about OCD for hours, I can tell you about a time when I was scared or anxious; but that is not the same as connecting with another person who truly knows the struggle that is OCD.
See you in Austin 2019!
Why Your Brain Tricks You Into Doing Less Important Tasks
Cognitive distortions can play a big role in anxiety, as these skewed perceptions lead us towards inaccurate beliefs about the world and its risks. There is no shortage of ways in which our brains trick us into acting against our own interest. As noted in this article in today's New York Times, these cognitive biases can lead us towards making decisions that do not align with our values or priorities. The "urgency effect" leads us towards tasks that are easily completable, without regard for their usefulness or importance. The rubric above is a great way to help us to make choices which truly reflect our values and prioritize our goals effectively.
An OCD Comic from Japan
A client from Japan shared this comic with me. As you can see, it's all in Japanese and I'm told it's from a blog written by an individual with OCD. Even without any understanding of the text, the scenes depicted in these images should look familiar!
Post-Partum OCD in Men
It's great to see Post-Partum OCD getting some media attention. Check out this article in Men's Health highlighting this often neglected OCD subtype.
OCD Conference 2018
Click the image above for the conference webpage.
The annual International OCD Foundation Conference will be taking place in Washington D.C. the weekend of July 27-29, 2018. This is an amazing conference and, with the conference set to take place in Austin, TX and Seattle, WA in 2019 and 2020, this is a great opportunity to attend the conference while it's within driving distance of North Carolina.
As I've done for the past several years, I'm excited to be facilitating a support group for parents of adult children with OCD. It will take place on Thursday, June 28, 2018 at 6:30pm.