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OCD SELF-TESTOCD TREATMENT, ARTICLES & TVDR. BRODSKY, OCD EXPERTHoarding, Hypochondriasis, Scrupulosity, HOCD, BDD, Pure O, ROCD, Sexual OCD, & Other OCD TypesDr. Brodsky's OCD & Anxiety Blog
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Sunday, February 12, 2012
Valentines Day and OCD: Part 2In my last post, I mentioned ROCD in which the person questions whether their partner loves and is faithful
to them. On the flip side, many other ROCD sufferers doubt their own love for their partner. They set up tests
of their attraction and find endless minutiae wrong with their partner. Some wonder whether giving a Valentines gift
will be leading their partner on, and feel guilty they will eventually hurt or cheat on them. They break up repeatedly
only to reunite a few days later.
Many star-crossed lovers don't know their hot-and-cold
behavior might indeed be due to a anxiety disorder and the right kind of treatment could save their relationships. Many
of my clients have gone on to form happy marriages and families, and annually send photographs to me.
10:01 pm est
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Valentines and Relationship OCDThis Valentines Day, longing hearts everywhere will eagerly anticipate a romantic gift or gesture from
their partner. For millions, however, Valentines is the worst day, despite good relationships, leaving them confused and conflicted,
guilty or mistrustful, due to "Relationship OCD" or "ROCD."
ROCD is a form of OCD in which
the sufferer has irrational doubts of their partner's love, and goes to extreme lengths to compulsively check up on them.
They constantly call them, or inspect their call or email history. Valentines is one of many tests of their partner's love.
They analyze their words, tone of voice, and facial expressions. They ask for reassurance. They drive themselves crazy, unable
to think of anything else, and eventually cause the relationship to dissolve, perhaps, ironically, this very Valentines Day.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Holiday-A-Phobia Test: Can you diagnose and help holiday guests? There is no better time
than the holidays and New Years, when we have extended time together, to help a friend or relative with an undiagnosed anxiety
disorder. You can easily diagnose which guests at your holiday gathering have the following conditions. Social phobia: How
many invitees never show up or leave early, avoid eye contact or give one word answers? Social phobia is not just for loners
and introverts. Many extroverted, gregarious, and talkative people who are the life of the party are actually social phobics
overcompensating to avoid awkward pauses or being judged. How often does someone justify their behavior or opinions? Others
avoid self consciousness though alcohol. The same is true of the approval seeking host, trying too hard to make sure guests
are happy. Contamination OCD: How many hosts compulsively clean, have a spotless home, ask you to take off your shoes, straighten
picture frames on the wall, keep putting things back in order, or check candles. How many guests avoid germs from kisses,
and use a napkin when serving from platters and glassware handled by others? How many arrive substantially later than everyone,
after compulsively checking their door lock or driving repetitively around the block. Hoarding OCD: How many friends and
relatives never invite guests to their home and keep making excuses or always meet elsewhere? Body Dismorphic OCD: Who is
completely covered up in warm climates, has thin tweezed eyebrows, lots of base makeup, keeps squeezing abdominal fat to check
if they are fat, has hair that looks as if they are using it to conceal some feature? Scrupulosity: Which guests feel guilty
if they don't constantly help? Who repeatedly asks for forgiveness, asks if they hurt your feelings, habitually apologizes
while talking, or expresses guilt? Religious OCD: Who is the last to leave church, or repeats blessings. Commitment OCD:
Who either avoids resolutions or has to say them with a loophole to avoid making a promise? Agoraphobia and Panic Disorder:
Who makes excuses for not traveling to see you, asks what floor you're on, won't take an elevator, gets anxious, faint, and
sweaty in a crowd, checks where all the exits are located or abruptly goes outside
11:45 pm est
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Jane Brody's NY Times article "Time To Get Rid Of All That Stuff", (Science, 11/22/11, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/health/the-hoarder-in-you-a-book-that-can-help-cut-through-the-clutter.html?ref=janeebrody)
fails to mention that hoarding is a form of OCD. OCD can take thousands of different forms, not just cleanliness, checking,
or neatness. Hoarders feel intense anxiety when discarding: either vulnerability that they might need the item "just in case",
or the equivalent of losing a loved one, betraying a relationship, or forgetting their own past. Making the public aware
of this connection would help many to seek the proper treatment, exposure therapy, which is the only therapy recommended by
national mental health organizations.
10:13 pm est
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
"Pathological Altruism" (NYTimes, Sci., D1, 10/4/11; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/science/04angier.html?_r=1) is the
term coined for people who sacrifice too much for another. Paradoxically, such extreme sense of over-responsibility not only
hurts the giver, but also the recipient. What the Times fails to say is that this is indeed a form of Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder known as scrupulosity-OCD. While the Times properly describes the outward behavior, it fails to explain the underlying
cause, and hence the treatment for it. In mild forms, scrupulosity compels people to remove obstacles on the sidewalk that
others might trip over, to call repetitively to check up on people's safety, or compulsively give away their savings to charity.
In more extreme forms, the person can take reckless risks to ease another's pain or suffering. The Times noted examples
of animal hoarding to "save" abandoned animals, organ donors, and doctors who take overly heroic measures to help a patient
only to make them suffer more. In all of these, the "altruist" is projecting their own insecurity or suffering onto another,
seeing the recipient as more vulnerable than they may be. Moreover, self-sacrificing parents, taken to an extreme, inadvertently
make their children feel less deserving, guilty, and weak. Acknowledging that this is a common form of OCD, it gives hope
of very effective treatment for millions." Exposure-response-prevention (ERP) is a special type of behavioral therapy which
is the only treatment recommended by the International OCD Foundation.
10:44 pm est
Sunday, November 20, 2011
On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, thousands will remember those who died and plan to visit the memorial. Ironically, thousands
of the surviving victims with PTSD will turn off their TV and still can't leave their homes to attend the ceremony. The
New York Times (8/10/11, http://tinyurl.com/3b45rrw) reported on 9/11 victims who still have not obtained the proper treatment.
Further, the most popular treatment for flashbacks, antipsychotic drugs, such as Respiridone, have failed to resolve their
problems. (See 8/11, www.tinyurl.com/4yaykav.) PTSD is an extremely treatable disorder. Exposure Therapy, a special cognitive-behavioral
technique, has proven highly effective in hundreds of studies. Patients might not need medication indefinitely, if at all.
Exposure therapy is very structured, systematically reducing anxiety, avoidance, and flashbacks, the classic symptoms of PTSD.
Moreover, it works for all kinds of PTSD, whether caused by terrorism, warfare, disaster, accidents, or criminal assault
and rape. In short, it is tragic that victims and families still suffer completely unnecessarily.
9:00 pm est
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2011.12.01 |
2011.11.01
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