OCD Straight Talk

Chris discusses the correct way to do exposure therapy and continues the discussion on why many people don't get what they want from the process: they're not doing it the right way.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you found the podcast helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with you anxiety- or OCD-symptoms.

Chris encourages listeners with the idea that they don't "have to" do compulsions, explaining that often people confuse intrusive thoughts and anxiety with compulsions. They in turn think they "can't" stop the compulsions. The clarity between them and the choice to stop compulsions makes a big difference, especially over time.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found the podcast helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with you anxiety or OCD symptoms.

Chris discusses the OCD and anxiety disorders hack: that thoughts and feelings following the leadership of behavioral patterns. There are a few pitfalls to keep in mind...

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found the podcast helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with your anxiety-related symptoms.

Chris discusses some personal experiences that led to the launching of OCDST in March of 2020.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found the podcast helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with your anxiety- or OCD-symptoms.

Chris responds to an oft' repeated phrase, "Well, I have anxiety, but I don't have OCD. And for fun, he also addresses several myths and misunderstands relative to the diagnosis and treatment of the anxiety-related disorders.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCDST helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with your anxiety- or OCD-symptoms.

Chris responds to a listener's question regarding how obsessions or intrusive thoughts might be experienced differently across the OCD-population. He lists kinds and categories of intrusive thoughts and provides several cases examples from his own experience.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found the podcast helpful, consider giving it a 5-star rating/review and subscribing to OCD Straight Talk for more structured help with your anxiety- or OCD-symptoms.

Chris discusses the difference between the style and persona of a good OCD-therapist and the supportive way of a truly helpful family member. It's about balancing two opposing ideas. But many family members fall too far to one side or the other.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating/review, and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with you anxiety or OCD-symptoms.

Chris presents a conversation he often has with patients at the beginning of treatment. Expectations are powerful things, including if they're unrealistic. So having healthy and reasonable expectations is important, especially when it what we should expect to get out of therapy.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found the podcast helpful, consider giving it a 5-star rating and subscribing to OCD Straight Talk for more structured help with you anxiety, or OCD-symptoms.

Chris presents a definition for OCD that extends outside of the diagnostic criteria. "Why?," you might wonder. The answer is because the diagnostic criteria is so inclusive that it doesn't actually exclude very much at all.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found the podcast helpful, consider giving OCD Straight Talk a 5-star rating and subscribing for more structured help with your anxiety- or OCD symptoms.

Chris discusses an attentional principle that is readily observable for most people. You can't both ruminate and engage the goings-on of the here-and-now at the same time. You're either doing one or the other, even if that means that you're quickly switching back and forth between the two. Chris builds on this concept and provides a practical strategy to harness the principle in order to make gains on rumination.

Chris discusses a personal journey with interpersonal boundaries, confrontation, and self-esteem. He chronicles a time he confronted a person in his life who historically treated him badly; and described how he felt about himself after having done that. He then ties this into OCD-treatment, and works to show the power of behavior-change, no matter the situation you're in.

Chris presents by starting with a question that lingers in the air at this point: What am I supposed to do about my intrusive thoughts? The answer may not be what you want to hear. But it is echoed by the literature, and has been for nearly six decades.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com

If you've found the podcast helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating and subscribing for more structured help with you anxiety and OCD symptoms.

A listener responds to Pillar 3 with a question. Chris responds. There's ALWAYS risk; but there's only sometimes danger. Listen to find out more.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, feel free to give it a 5-star rating, and subscribe to the podcast for more structured help with your anxiety- or OCD-symptoms.

Chris explains a logical dynamic that goes two ways: the more we have a felt need for certainty, the harder we pursue it. And we pursue it, of course, by doing compulsions. But the harder we pursue it, the more elusive it proves to be. And then, we're back to the beginning. We have a deep and urgent need for certainty. But that street travels two ways. This is where and how Pillars 3, 4, and 5 are connected. Check out this episode to learn more.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving it a 5-star rating, and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with your anxiety- or OCD-symptoms.

Chris recaps Pillar 1 with a few subtype-examples, and moves to Pillar 2. This is the idea of "reps," or repetitions. Doing something over and over again increases both our competence in executing a task, and sharpens our understanding of it - big picture. The same is true of exposure therapy. Reps are the backbone of getting better.

Chris tackles the first of the Five Pillars, showing that generally OCDers generally don't make a lot of progress without structured, expert help.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCDST helpful, consider giving it a 5-star rating and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with you anxiety- or OCD-symptoms.

Chris launches a new series on the role of the patient or the listener in the process of getting better. He reviews a document, forged from clinical experience, and written for his patients that explains their specific responsibilities in the act of getting as much out of their therapeutic journey as possible.

Chris discusses a couple of cases that illustrate that idea that sometimes OCD and anxiety disorders flip the script on you, and completely change the behaviors that feed them. All of the sudden, the behaviors that previously were healthy are now compulsive; and the behaviors that were compulsive are now healthy.

Chris responds to a listener's question about the ever-popular topic, Pure-O. He highlights the concept of identifying compulsions; as Pure-Oers do compulsions, they just don't properly identify them.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com

If you've OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving it a 5-star rating and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with your anxiety- or OCD-symptoms.

Building off of the last two episodes, Chris discusses common errors made in exposure-work. These concepts aren't new to the podcast; but they are ... common mistakes. What that means is that you're probably doing them. And the reality is that exposure therapy generally doesn't work very well if we're committing one or both of these mistakes.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

Or if you've found the podcast helpful, consider giving us a 5-star review or subscribing to OCD Straight Talk for more structured help with you anxiety- or OCD-symptoms.

In this episode, Chris faces his relationship-OCD and does what's called, an imaginal exposure.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found the podcast helpful, consider giving us a 5-star review, and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with your anxiety- or OCD-symptoms.

Chris talks through a few erroneous but common ideas of exposure therapy. These are mistakes made by both consumers and inexperienced therapists. He then explains four components of good exposure therapy. If done properly, these generally render exposure-work effective but uncomfortable.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating, and subscribing to the podcast for structured help with you anxiety- and OCD-symptoms.

Chris discusses fears and case-examples that involve physical symptoms and environmental experiences, and that the OCD says "this" is evidence of, or means "that." These can be difficult to deal with, because there's something real and observable thrown into the obsessive-compulsive "mix."

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, feel free to give us a 5-star rating, and subscribe to the podcast for more structured help with you anxiety- or OCd-symptoms.

Chris discusses some literature and case-examples relative to how anxiety- and OCD-symptoms can interfere with individuals' sex life. Most notably, he shows that most common forms of sexual dysfunction, in both men and women, are caused or maintained by Sexual Performance Anxiety.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating, and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with your anxiety- and OCD-symptoms.

Chris sits down with Kimberley Quinlan of the great podcast, Your Anxiety Toolkit. They discuss various topics from the history of their careers and supervisors who were pivotal in shaping who they are as clinicians today to what techniques they favor in therapy and why.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

I you've OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with your OCD- and anxiety-related symptoms.

Chris responds to a listener's question about the difference between OCD and excoriation disorder. This is an important question, because many OCDers report that they pick at their skin "as a compulsion." In many cases, they can just stop. But what happens when they can't?

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found the podcast helpful, consider giving it a 5-star rating, and subscribing to OCD Straight Talk for more structured help with your clinically significant anxiety-symptoms.

Chris finishes the series on SCAMP and the Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors. In this episode, he focuses on the last two trigger-categories (Movement and Place) represented in the acronym. This episode was made possible by NOCD.

Feel free to reach out with any question you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving it a 5-star rating, and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with your anxiety and OCD-symptoms.

Chris continues to series on OCD-Related disorders, this time talking through the "A" (for Affect) in the acronym SCAMP. The important idea is effectively manage triggers, to include feelings. There's one notable exception to this rule. And I'll bet you can guess what that is. This podcast was made possible by NOCD.

Feel free to reach out with any questions to might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found the podcast helpful, consider giving it a 5-star rating, and subscribing to OCD Straight Talk for more structured help with you anxiety and OCD-symptoms.

In this episode, Chris starts off by re-emphasizing the importance of identifying and preventing relevant behaviors when dealing with a number of common mental health conditions. And he continues the series on the so-called "OCD-related disorders." This episode is made possible by NOCD.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found this episode helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating or subscribe to OCD Straight Talk for structured help with your anxiety-related symptoms.

Chris discusses evidence-based strategies for dealing with triggers relative to the anxiety-related disorders, like PTSD, OCD, Specific Phobia, etc., and other conditions like trichotillomania and excoriation disorder. There's an important difference between these strategies. Tune in to learn more.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found the podcast helpful, feel free to give us a 5-star review; and contact the Kentuckiana Treatment Center for Anxiety and OCD at KentuckyOCD.com.

Chris poses a question of what OCDers are to do when they are engaging such habitual and routine compulsions that they can't stop doing them?

Feel free to reach out to chrisleins04@gmail.com with any questions you might have.

If you've found this episode helpful, consider giving OCD Straight Talk a 5-star rating. And for treatment, visit KentuckyOCD.com, or contact Kentuckiana Treatment Center for Anxiety & OCD.

Chris discusses the idea that a lot of people tolerate the scratching behavior with the hope of getting rid of the itch. But success in the fight against OCD is about tolerating the thoughts and the anxiety that they cause and instead focusing on stopping the compulsions. This is where grit and resilience, along with a touch or two of uncertainty, are you ally.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you found this episode helpful, consider giving the podcast a 5-star rating. And for treatment, visit KentuckyOCD.com.

Chris discusses patients who demonstrate grit and resilience in the therapeutic journey. Being willing and able to tolerate psychoemotive distress is ESSENTIAL to stopping compulsions. And resisting and stopping compulsions is the active ingredient to making progress against the OCD.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, considering giving the podcast a 5-star rating. And for treatment, visit and contact us at KentuckyOCD.com.

Chris discusses a general principle that applies not just to the management of OCD and anxiety-related symptoms, but to problems and conditions that people commonly face.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving it a 5-star rating, and reach out to KentuckyOCD.com for treating for your anxiety-related symptoms.

Chris discusses the question of why individuals experience certain intrusive thoughts? In this context, he also presents the value of embracing uncertainty.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving us a 5-star review, and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with you anxiety-related symptoms.

Chris discusses intrusive images and urges, noting that often they elicit anxiety because of what we think they mean. The question, of course, becomes, Do they REALLY mean that?

Feel free to reach out with any question you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCDST helpful, feel free to give us a 5-star review, and subscribe to the podcast for more structured help with your anxiety-related symptoms.

Chris talks through the idea that compulsive responses give credibility to the obsessional anxiety. The question becomes, What does it look like for you to not respond?

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving it a 5-star rating, and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with you anxiety-related symptoms.

Chris has a conversation with Dr. B, his wife, about the OCD-system and how it works. Enjoy.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating, and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with your anxiety-symptoms.

Chris discusses the OCD-system, the pieces and parts that make up the whole. And he identifies the common reaction of making "feeling better" the end goal for most OCDers. But the minute we focus on feeling better as our primary aim, we instinctively seek to do something to achieve that goal. What that response is most liklely meets the definition of compulsion.

Chris explains the thinking and assumptions of many people and patients about what "compulsions" are, and are not. Often, it's the assumptions we make about such behaviors that allows them to continue-on unchecked.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found the podcast helpful, consider giving OCD Straight Talk a 5 star-review, and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with your anxiety-symptoms.

Chris discusses common patterns across years of cases. Many patients struggle to make progress early in treatment (or because they are not in it to start with) for one or both of two reasons. Making efficient progress is first about distinguishing obsessions from compulsions, and second about finding the needle-compulsions in the behavioral haystack.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating, and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with your anxiety-symptoms.

Chris sits down with Dr. Mark McMinn to discuss scrupulosity and religious scrupulosity. The two talk through various issues, though, the simple issue. They also talk about spiritualty and psychology and how or where the two bodies of knowledge intersect.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you found the podcast helpful, give us a 5-star rating; and consider subscribing to OCD Straight Talk for more structured help with your anxiety-symptoms.

Chris discusses the idea of meta-cognitions: the thoughts we have about the thoughts we have; and he answers a listener's question about intrusive images. He points not to the images or thoughts we have, but what we think about those thoughts or images that makes them scary. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating, and subscribing to the podcast for more structured help with you anxiety-related symptoms. 

Chris discusses the idea of overriding your urge to manage your thoughts and feelings. This isn't easy; and nobody (at least nobody who knows what he or she is talking about) is saying it is. But it certainly is possible. To further unpack this, Chris gives the example of behavior-change within the context of depressive episodes, and explains its longitudinal effect. He then shows how behavior-change within the context of clinical anxiety or OCD is not only a similar concept but also enjoys the same results. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com, and subscribe to OCDST for more structured help with your anxiety.

Chris takes on the question of the degree to which OCD is unlike the anxiety disorders and more like Trichotillomania and Excoriation Disorder. It comes down to emotionality and what specifically to focus on managing.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com; and consider subscribing for more structured help with your anxiety. 

Chris tackles a good question relative to exposure therapy: How informal is too informal? Many of us walk into exposure-work with the idea that it has look a certain way; and that way is often accompanied by some preconceived notions. Some of these are good and accurate. Some of them are not. Well, which notions or "parameters" are actually helpful, according to the literature? 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com; and consider subscribing to OCD Straight Talk for more structured help with your OCD or anxiety-symptoms. 

Chris provides a bird's eye view of the process-landscape. One of your questions at this point might be, Am I doing my exposures right? And that's a good question. Chris explains a few concepts and then connects them in such a way that will help you answer that question.

Chris asks listeners a question about the possibility of live-meetings, and invites feedback.

And he takes on the question of whether differentiating between so-called anxious behaviors and objective compulsions is truly helpful; and he provides a clinical principle that orients individuals in the clinical process. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com, and subscribe to OCD Straight Talk for more structured help with your anxiety symptoms. 

Chris reflects on a conversation he recently had with a respected colleague. They discussed the resistance some patients/OCDers appear to have toward doing exposure therapy on their own (that is, without the direct or immediate support of a therapist). Chris believes that under the right conditions, people may be willing to do exposure therapy despite not being in traditional treatment. The question is: If he's right, what conditions might those be?

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com, and consider subscribing to OCD Straight Talk for additional help with your anxiety-related disorder.

Chris discusses a therapeutic conversation he had recently with a new patient. They work through a few basic concepts, and how those concepts fit together in real-time.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have, chrisleins04@gmail.com; and to subscribe to OCD Straight Talk for further help with your anxiety-related disorder.

Chris responds to a listener: Are these symptoms even related to OCD? Following a confusing meeting with a mental health professional, she further inquires as to the difference between overthinking and rumination.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, feel free to give us a 5-star rating, and subscribe to the podcast for further help with your anxiety-related symptoms. 

We've all learned real skills from watching YouTube videos and listening to podcasts. Some of us have earned college, and even graduate degrees in asynchronous university programs, in which we've read and wrote and watched prerecorded lectures. The idea of DIY-learning is not new. What if there were a way for you to learn a structured process and formal, therapeutic skills? What if you could be your own behavior-therapist and treat your own OCD or anxiety-symptoms? OCD Straight Talk is launching Subscriber-Based Content that will walk users through the same process that Chris uses in therapy.Chris will walk with you as you put together, and do your own exposures. He'll not just encourage you as you work to stop compulsions, but even help you identify them in the process. You'll even be able to measure the severity of your symptoms as you go, to confirm that you're making progress. 

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving this a shot. The fee is $4.99 monthly; and there's no commitment. What do you have to lose ... other than the severity of your symptoms? 

Subscribe at: https://anchor.fm/chris-leins/subscribe

MAJOR OCD STRAIGHT TALK ANNOUNCEMENT coming tomorrow.

Chris responds to a listener's question, and discusses the concepts of distinguishing between obsessional and ruminitive thinking in so-called "pure-o OCD, and of mental contamination. 

feel free to reach out with any questions you have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

Chris responds to a patient's question, Is one compulsion better than another? Good question. The short answer is, No; but the long answer is, Yes. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating, and supporting the podcast to help us produce more content.

**MajorOCD Straight Talkannouncement coming November 1, 2022.

Chris discusses the question of, After I stop compulsions and mental rituals (e.g., ruminating), and I stop arguing with my thoughts, what I am supposed to do with them? The answer is not easy but simple. He ultimately presents a hard truth: the unabated acceptance of the future's uncertainty. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving us a 5-star review, and supporting the podcast to help us produce more content. 

*** Big OCD Straight Talk Announcement coming November 1, 2022.

Chris discusses a really common response OCDers have to their intrusive thoughts. The conversations we have with ourselves can often happen almost outside of our conscious awareness. Certain responses can be instinctive or reflexive. But does that mean that they're not compulsive? But wait, does it mean they are? These are important questions, as arguing with our compulsions can be a very common response to the experience of obsessions. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating, and supporting the podcast to help us produce more content.

Chris deals with a common question in therapy: What do I do: I have anxiety, not OCD. The Cognitive Model provides a useful roadmap for understanding anxiety-related symptoms; and it offers a practical, step-by-step guide for beginning to change their severity. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have. Chrisleins04@gmail.com

If you found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating and supporting the podcast to help us produce more content.

Chris responds to a listener's question about how to manage "just right"-OCD. It's important, first and foremost, to remember that OCD is OCD; and although OCD often appears in so-called "subtypes," the condition is largely treated the same way. Chris explains how just right-OCD is distinct from other subtypes, and discusses managing the "feeling" of "just right."

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have. 

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating, and supporting the podcast to help us produce more content. 

At the request of a listener, Chris returns to the question of, How do I stop ruminating? He provides a specific technique, but explains the importance of first distinguishing between different kinds of thinking. It is a compulsion to block intrusive thoughts; but it is not a compulsion to stop a compulsion (e.g., rumination). 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have. Chrisleins04@gmail.com; @ocdstraighttalk.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating, and supporting the podcast to help us produce more content. 

Chris responds to a question regarding perceived memory loss and obsessional distress, and incorporates various clinical observations and explanation into his response. 

Feel free to reach out with any question you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com, or @ocdstraighttalk.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating, and supporting the podcast to help us produce more content. 

Chris discusses his understanding of the dreaded phrase, "I can't" in relation to the resistance of compulsions, and discloses his battle with OCD. But an important difference is to be highlighted between the notion that you can't and the empowering idea that you won't. One points to power and therefore the possibility of a different tomorrow. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com, or @ocdstraighttalk.

If you've found OCDST helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating and supporting the podcast to help us produce more content. 

Chris discusses the Cognitive Model and how it applies to depressive and anxious symptoms. Distinguishing between symptoms that we can directly control and symptoms that we can't is an essential first step to making progress. The questions become, Where do you have control? and, What are you doing to feed the bear? 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com; or message Chris on Instagram @ocdstraighttalk.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating, and supporting the podcast to help us produce more content.

Chris sits down with Dr. Kathleen Rupertus, Clinical Director of the Anxiety & OCD Treatment Center in Wilmington, DE, and coauthor of the acclaimed Loving Someone with OCD. Together they discuss a range of topics, from the difference between OCD thoughts and real-world concerns, the so-called "disconfirmation of beliefs" in the treatment of OCD versus the concept of accepting uncertainty; and how family members can love and support their symptomatic loved ones without participating in their compulsive patterns.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCDST helpful, feel free to give us a 5-star rating, and support the podcast to help us produce more content. 

Chris is on Instagram (@ocdstraighttalk)!

On this episode, Chris explains the idea that we're not really doing exposure therapy if we're also doing compulsions (or OCD minus the "C" equals Exposure and Response Prevention), and presents the concept from a few points of view. But some people get stuck on the idea of stopping compulsions. Afterall, certain things are easier said than done. So he provides two pointers. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCDST helpful, consider giving us a 5-star rating, and supporting the podcast to help us produce more content. 

Chris sits down with Dr. Edna Foa, a psychological scientist who needs no real introduction. To those who are even somewhat familiar with the literature relative to the treatment of OCD, the anxiety disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder, Dr. Foa is internationally recognizable as one of the great contributors to evidence-based psychotherapy. She is among those who will go down in psychological history as one of the greats. 

Two schools of thought are apparent among OCD- and anxiety disorders-treatment specialists. Nowhere are these differences more visible than at the issue of "the disconfirmation of beliefs" vs. the acceptance of uncertainty. Listeners to the podcast will hear subtle references to these schools of thought. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, feel free to give us a 5-star rating, and support the podcast to help us produce more content. 

Chris discusses the symptomatologic reality that individuals can't manage their anxiety and manage their compulsions: they're either working to keep their anxiety in check, and in so doing they're engaging compulsions; or they're identifying, resisting, and preventing compulsions when they feel anxious, and facing the anxiety head-on. They can't do both; and neither can you.  Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com. And view my recent interview with the Anxiety Commander at (6) OCD Interview with Chris Leins | OCD Treatment Specialist - YouTube. If you've found OCD Straight Talk helpful, feel free to give us a 5-star rating, and support the podcast to help produce more content.

Chris discusses a phenomenon that he calls, The Banana Peel Effect that changes the power individuals report feeling over resisting and stopping compulsions. The idea is that the more individuals engage their compulsions, the less ability they feel they have to resist and stop them. Or, the more we engage the OCD, the more the power differential shifts to favor it. 

Chris discusses the idea of coupling your fight to get better with strategic no-how. Being determined to stop compulsions without the skill of identifying them is like swinging at the baseball with a blindfold on. 

Reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

Chris discusses a central distinction between symptoms indicative of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD and those indicative of OCD. The punchline is: you can't have trauma without trauma; but you can have OCD. In other words, trauma is a past-oriented system of here-and-now symptoms, while OCD is very typically a future-oriented anxiety-construct. Beyond these distinctions, however, you might say that they actually have a lot in common - from their symptom-dynamics at 30,000 feet to the therapeutic models that are widely documented to treat them. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCD Straight Talk to be helpful, feel free to give us a 5-star rating; and consider supporting the podcast to help us produce more content.

Chris discusses the differences in symptom-presentation and evidence-based intervention between two common, anxiety-related disorders: Panic Disorder and OCD. Fundamentally, you might say, they're the same thing. But be careful, you're only right to a certain point. Important differences characterize these conditions. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have to chrisleins04@gmail.com.

If you've found OCDST helpful, consider giving us a 5-star review, and supporting the podcast to help us produce more content. 

Chris puts several pieces together and discusses significant challenges in the process of treatment. A different life is possible; but you've got to fight for it.

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Chris shares two clinical experiences that he says helped shape him as an OCD therapist. Bottom line, "It's not my job to get you better," he says. He ties therapeutic skills and strategies to the empirical truth that control and responsibility cannot be separated; they travel together.

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Chris responds to a question about a so-called subtype of OCD known as Real Event OCD. This is a unique presentation among OCD symptoms in the sense that it emerges in the context of intact memories. 

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How you ever dissected your OCD to see how it works? In this episode, Chris discusses both the difference between, and the mutual connection of the symptom-dimensions of OCD. 

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Chris sits down with Dr. Robert Hindman, a trainer at the widely respected Beck Institute, and specialist in the treatment of clinically significant anxiety problems. Chris and Dr. Hindman discuss issues spanning from the concept of the Cognitive Model to the application of that model to beating your OCD-system. 

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Chris grapples with the question of uncertainty. Is it your enemy, like many OCDers tend to think, or is it actually your friend? Good question. Let's talk through it. But where does accepting uncertainty end? Another good question. 

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Chris tackles a very common question among OCD-ers internationally - Why is it that my OCD didn't get better in psychotherapy? It is a complicated issue. But at the end of the day, there's only so many reasons why this might happen, despite the fact that the phenomenon is common. 

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Chris discusses subtle difference between classical Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Exposure and Ritual Prevention (Ex/RP) in the treatment of OCD. The two have a good deal in common, as Ex/RP is really the "grandchild" of CBT; and both are based upon the cognitive model. 

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Chris discusses a summary-comment that a patient made at the "finish line" of treatment: "When you can tell the difference between the obsessions and the compulsions, you're halfway there." 

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Chris talks with Dr. David Barlow, one of the world's foremost experts on the treatment of psychopathology, and leading experts in the area of disordered anxiety. Chris and Dr. Barlow discuss his Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders, along with both the overlap of the anxiety disorders and their effective treatments. The all-important emphasis on behavior-change takes center stage as they talk about the Unified Protocol, and evidence-based psychotherapy. 

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At the request of a listener, Chris revisits the mosquito analogy, and explains "the moral of the story." Punchline is: you can tolerate more discomfort (in the context of OCD, more anxiety) than you give yourself credit for. The emphasis in the mosquito bite analogy is get rid of the itch by whatever means necessary. But it is the scratching-behavior that keeps the itching going. The real question is, How can you stop scratching?

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Chris moves past the theoretical skills "out there," and discusses getting started with exposure therapy. The key phrase is, "start small." Grow in experience and confidence. 

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Chris sits down with Jason Adams to discuss the complexities of parenting young children while simultaneously dealing with OCD. Chris and Jason talk about finding resources and encountering treatment, and ultimately discuss Jason's new book, OC Dad: Leaning to be a Parent with a Mental Health Disorder. 

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Chris takes on the question of, Why does exposure therapy work for some people, but not for me? It's a common question; and, in many cases, the answer is actually pretty simple. Adequate exposure therapy includes prolonged and repetitive exposure to targeted, anxiety-produces objects and situations. And adequate exposure therapy means response prevention. 

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Chris discusses a study published in the early 1980s the results of which have gone on to confirm the most effective treatment available for OCD - Exposure with Response Prevention. Response prevention is the general topic of the podcast. But what is exposure therapy? 

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Chris responds to a listener's questions about whether he can confirm an OCD-diagnosis for a listener, commenting on presentation and history of symptoms. Further, he discusses the nature of compulsive patterns and good treatment for OCD. 

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Chris talks with Dr. Eric Storch, a leading OCD-treatment specialist, and one of the psychological scientists who developed the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (YBOCS), the gold-standard tool for assessing OCD-symptoms. Chris and Dr. Storch discuss the concept of the "YBOCS Cheat Sheet," along with some of the processes that collectively form the Exposure and Response Prevention protocol.

Thanks, Dr. Storch for sharing your time and expertise with us!

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Chris responds to a question about the link that connects, not obsessions and compulsions, but compulsions and obsessions. 

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