Mad in America published a summary of a recent study that surveyed people with OCD about treatment preferences. I spent the last hour trying to track down a copy of the actual research article, which has not been officially published yet, but I was unable to locate a pdf and read it myself. One of … Read more
In people who develop obsessive-compulsive disorder, there are often signs in childhood. However, OCD in children can be hard to distinguish from childhood fears and age-appropriate magical thinking. For OCD Awareness Week, The Washington Post published an article by Sarah Maraniss-Vander Schaaf about the experiences of Ethan, a young man who developed OCD in childhood. … Read more
I resonated with a recent article in Psychology Today about the difficulties people have in finding therapists who offer effective treatment. The authors Dean McKay and Scott Lilienfeld—especially Dr. Lilienfeld—have been extremely active in promoting science-based psychotherapies. As an example, they offer the experience of “Jerry” (a pseudonym). Jerry struggled with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Having … Read more
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a serious and disabling problem for many people. Understandably, many people seek out medication to help with this problem, and research is shown that medication can be helpful some people. However, research is also very clear that particular proven forms of psychotherapy work much better than medication for OCD. A newly … Read more
I’ve written in the past about the use of a pharmaceutical version of the drug ketamine (known as the party drug, “Special K”) in studies with depression and with bipolar disorder. Recently, I learned researchers have published a new study looking at the impact of ketamine on obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). I was on the … Read more
