In episode 260 I chat with Ashley Annestedt and Felipe. Ashley is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in OCD, Anxiety, and Neurobehavioral Disorders. Ashley is the founder of Beyond Borders CBT. She is joined by Felipe Malaco de Oliveira a former client from Brazil who has agreed to share his story. 

In this episode I chat with Ashley and Felipe about what is beyond borders CBT and why set it up, Felipe’s OCD story, sexual orientation OCD, doing exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), living with uncertainty, a relapse after the birth of his son, postnatal violent and sexual intrusive thoughts, OCD and Brazil, Ashley’s take on Felipe’s therapy, opening up to his wife about OCD, increasing the global access to ERP, and much much more. Hope it helps. 

Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/ashley-and-felipe-beyond-borders-cbt-260

This episode is sponsored by OCD Jacksonville and Natural Life. Shop the Fearless collection of apparel and gifts here https://www.naturallife.com/collections/fearless-giveback-collection. Use code “FEARLESS” at the checkout for 20% off the Fearless range. To find out more about OCD Jacksonville click here: https://ocdjacksonville.com/

In episode 259 I chat with Jon Hershfield. Jon is a psychotherapist and the director of The Center for OCD and Anxiety, at Sheppard Pratt. He is the author six OCD books, including his most recent book the 2nd edition of “The mindfulness workbook for OCD”, and his upcoming book “The OCD Workbook for Teens”.

In this episode I chat with Jon about what’s new with him, The mindfulness workbook for OCD, what the book about, what’s new with this 2nd edition, Jon’s personal experiences with meditation and mindfulness, why he broke the book down by themes. We discuss The OCD workbook for teens, what it’s about, Sean Shinnock’s illustrations in the book, exercises in the book, how he works with teens, staying in the present moment, dealing with uncertainty, living joyfully, and much much more. Hope it helps. 

Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/jon-hershfield-mindfulness-workbook-for-ocd-259

This episode is sponsored by OCD Jacksonville and Natural Life. Shop the Fearless collection of apparel and gifts here https://www.naturallife.com/collections/fearless-giveback-collection. Use code “FEARLESS” at the checkout for 20% off the Fearless range. To find out more about OCD Jacksonville click here: https://ocdjacksonville.com/

In episode 258 I chat with Dr Jonathan Hoffman. Jon is a licensed psychologist in the states of Florida, New York, and Utah. He is Chief Clinical Officer of the Neurobehavioral Institute (NBI) in South Florida, and director and founder of the NBI ranch residential program. He is author of the book Stuck: Asperger’s Syndrome and Obsessive-Compulsive Behaviors.

In this episode I chat with Jon about what he’s been up to, what is Autism Spectrum Disorder, where OCD and ASD can overlap, Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors, how Covid has impacted people with ASD and OCD, exposure and response prevention (ERP) for OCD with ASD modifications, the NBI ranch, words of advice on getting the most out of your therapist, advice for parent and families, and much much more. Hope it helps.

Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/autism-spectrum-disorder-and-obsessive-compulsive-disorder-258

In episode 257 I chat with Stefan Batorijs. Stefan is an Integrative Psychotherapist and founder of Nature and therapy UK. He is an associate Lecturer at Plymouth University, where he teaches the role of Nature and benefits of natural immersion for mental health and recovery from trauma on the clinical psychology doctorate programme.

In this episode I chat with Stefan about why he became a therapist specifically doing ecotherapy, his relationship with nature, what is Shinrin Yoku, the benefits of being in nature and practicing Shinrin Yoku, Stefan shares some examples of working therapeutically with individuals in nature, why Shinrin Yoku and ecotherapy can be deep serious work, being prepared when going out in nature, appreciating nature close to home, start small and build up, anxiety and the woods, nature as a restorative environment, advice for people in cities, what Stefan wants you to know about nature, and much much more. 

Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/stefan-batorijs-shinrin-yokuand-ecotherapy-257

In episode 256 I chat with Dr Sam Greenblatt. Sam specializes in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for OCD and other anxiety disorders. Sam works at the Center for Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy in New York.

In this episode I chat with Sam about what got him into therapy, why some other therapies may not work for OCD, fully embracing the uncertainty of Exposure and Response Prevention therapy (ERP), the importance of not white knuckling through exposures, inhibitory learning theory to explain how ERP works, why anxiety doesn’t always need to go down to see improvements in ERP, the back door spike, treat the problem not the symptoms, being mindful of the wording we use in therapy, and much much more. 

Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/dr-sam-greenblatt-frequent-reasons-therapy-doesnt-work-and-how-to-improve-it-256

In episode 255 I chat with Dr Patricia Zurita Ona. Patricia is director of the East Bay Behavior Therapy Center and host of the Playing It Safe podcast. She is the author of several books including “The ACT Workbook for Teens with OCD” and her new book “Living Beyond OCD Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: A Workbook for Adults”. 

In this episode I chat with Patricia about what is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), what is Exposure and Response Prevention therapy (ERP), facing ones fears in service of what matters to them, blending ACT and ERP, her acronym W.I.S.E. M.O.V.E.S. and how she uses it with her clients, misconceptions about ACT, a values based exposure menu, inhibitory learning theory as a way to understand how ERP works, she gives plenty of OCD theme examples, and much much more.

Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/dr-patricia-zurita-ona-wise-moves-in-act-based-erp

In this special 5-year anniversary episode I share my thoughts on the evolution of the podcast, my own journey with the show, my wish for you the listener, future direction of the show, and of course a thanks to you for listening to the podcast.

Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/5-years

Thanks for listening,

Stu

In episode 254 I chat with Stephen Johns who has kindly agreed to share his story with us.

In this episode I chat with Stephen about his story, violent, sexual orientation and self harm/suicidal intrusive thoughts, getting ineffective treatment, eventually finding a therapist that helped, working hard in Exposure and Response Prevention therapy (ERP), he goes into details into the lengths he went with his compulsions, his medications, how the suicide of one of his favourite musicians triggered a relapse for him, how perfectionism impacted his therapy, how the experience of OCD taught him to slow down in his life, words of hope and much much more.

Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/story-stephen-johns-254

In episode 253 I chat with Dr Steven Phillipson. Steven is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for OCD. Steven is the Clinical Director at the Center for Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy in New York.

In this episode I chat with Steven about when other people are the focus of one’s obsessions, he sets up the episode by explaining his view of OCD for context, Dr Phillipson gives a lot of different therapy examples across many themes, how people’s OCD themes involve others, advice and words of hope for the partners and family members who may be the recipient of one’s obsessions, some of the compulsions that may be paired with these obsessional themes, misophonia, I ask him 3 questions about himself and his therapy practice at the end and much much more. Hope it helps.

Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/dr-steven-phillipson-when-ocd-involves-others-253

In episode 252 I chat with Dr Michael Greenberg. Michael is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Anxiety Disorders and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

In this episode I chat with Michael about his OCD journey, the line between obsession and compulsion, what is rumination, why rumination is a compulsion, advice on stopping rumination, the idea of a core fear in OCD, the importance of understanding the core fear, how understanding the idea that OCD is a strategy to keep you safe allows you to start to let it go, how rumination may be the core of OCD, the idea of letting go of rumination when scared, how to stop ruminating about ruminating, the issues that may get in the way of stopping rumination, why it matters how we talk about OCD, words of hope and much much more.

The podcast is sponsored by NOCD. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories