Help me welcome the wonderful Katie O’Dunne to this week’s Q&A! As you’ll soon learn from Katie herself, she is a dedicated advocate for OCD awareness and how the disorder can affect—and be affected by—a person’s faith. Read more from Katie! When were you diagnosed with OCD, and how did you first realize it might…
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Using Creativity to Treat OCD: Krista Reed
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can feel so dark. It can make a person feel lonely, afraid, isolated, ashamed, guilty, and just plain bad! Therapist Krista Reed breaks through some of that darkness with her vibrant and colorful personality as well as the refreshing perspective that therapy is still effective even when there’s an element of fun…
Read MoreOCD, Depression, and Suicide: There Is Hope
It’s hard to believe OCD once had such a powerful hold on me I thought suicide might be the only way out. I’m so glad I got help when I did. Check out my latest blog post for the International OCD Foundation.
Read MoreStomping Out Stigma at School
There’s no age limit when it comes to people making hurtful jokes about OCD or saying things like, “I’m so OCD!” But the preteen and teen years are a great time to educate and try to nip these remarks in the bud. Get some tips on how.
Read MoreOCD, the Masterful Bully
Yesterday most of us read the sad news that the superbly talented Phillip Seymour Hoffman had died. Reports state that heroin was found near his body and that he had a needle in his arm, so we have a pretty good idea of how he died. What we don’t really know, as mere fans of the…
Read More“OCD” Products
Today I visited Amazon to see the ratings for my book (which, by the way, fluctuate so wildly they’re not at all helpful). Instead of searching by the full title, I just typed “OCD” into the search box, and since I didn’t choose “Books” from the drop-down menu, I came across a surprising number of…
Read MoreWhy a Print Version of My Book Is a Good Thing
Being Me with OCD will be out as a paperback in March, and I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. When I submitted my proposal, the publisher was interested but hesitant to go forward with a “regular” print book. OCD is a sensitive topic, and they thought teens might feel embarrassed to carry around…
Read MoreOvercome Your Obsessions By Facing Them Head-On
Last month I faced a huge fear of mine–speaking to a roomful of people–and upped the ante by reading very personal passages from my book. What I read aloud was once so shameful to me that even my husband was hearing some of it for the first time. (He told me later that it helped…
Read MoreA Must-Read for School Counselors and Teachers
It’s no wonder people with OCD are so afraid to tell people what’s going on. In “Obsessive Thoughts: A Darker Side of OCD,” the young author says she was suspended from school after she wrote an anonymous article about her harm OCD symptoms in the high school newspaper. School officials thought she was a threat…
Read MoreThe Thin Line Between Helping and Hindering
Notice the title of this post refers to “hindering,” not “hurting.” I hesitate to refer to any kind of help a person offers as hurtful because the intentions are good. But it’s so often hard to know what to do to help someone with OCD. After my book reading earlier this month, we opened the…
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Alison Dotson 