Coping with OCD: Practical Strategies for Living Well with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Book

Description

Do you know about the Doomsayer? He’s the guy dressed in raggedy clothes, hanging around on street corners with a cardboard sign that reads, “The End Is Near!” He’s always ready to tell you that mobile phones cause cancer, air traffic fatalities are up this year, and locusts are poised to swarm the city. Having OCD is a lot like having this character living inside your head. He’s with you all the time; he knows your deepest fears, and he’s not afraid to use them. You try to brush him off at first, but he’s so sure of himself, so persistent that you find yourself taking his proclamations to heart. And you worry-a lot. Is my cell pone giving me tumor? What about those locusts? The anxiety of not knowing is unbearable. After a while, you start engaging in little rituals to keep the Doomsayer at bay. You wash your hands three times after you make a phone call. You check the garden once, twice, three times for locusts. You get little relief from your rituals, though. Soon the Doomsayer is onto that trick, and the doubting comes back with a vengeance. What can you do? A lot, it turns out. Coping with OCD offers a simple and engaging program that can get anyone with mild to moderate OCD started on the road to recovery. The book begins with a crash course on what OCD is-and what it is not. You’ll learn to think realistically about their condition and how it is likely to change over time. The book proposes a three-part program for recovery that uses safe and gradual exposure to distressing thoughts and situation, mindfulness practice, and techniques to restructure thinking. Additional chapters address shame and blame, depression, and maintaining progress. The book includes a helpful list of resources for further reading and additional support. Coping with OCD offers a brief yet comprehensive and effective approach to dealing with the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)-a great book for people recently diagnosed with OCD and a source of in-the-moment strategies for managing symptoms for those already receiving treatment. About the Authors: Bruce M. Hyman, Ph.D., LCSW, is a Florida licensed clinical social worker and board-certified diplomate in clinical social work who earned his masters and doctoral degrees from Florida State University. For the past twenty-three years, he has maintained an active private practice specializing in the treatment of anxiety disorders. In 1992 he established the OCD Resource Center of Florida to offer comprehensive services to adults and children with OCD and related anxiety disorders from all over the North and South America. Today he is one of the most sought-after clinicians treating OCD and anxiety disorders in the United States. He is coauthor of The OCD Workbook. Troy DuFrene is a writer who lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. Paperback 160 pages. Published June, 2008.