Podcast
The OCD Stories
Hosted by Stuart Ralph · EN
Welcome to The OCD Stories, hosted by Stuart Ralph. The podcast has been heard over 8million times globally. Check out your first episode from our existing hundreds of episodes featuring experts, and people experiencing symptoms just like you today. If you do, you may just feel understood, heard and possibly help you identify your next step in your own personal journey to healing.
Disclaimer - this podcast is not a replacement for therapy. Please seek treatment from a licensed mental health professional.
54episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Alex Habens: A Therapist's journey with OCD and Compassion Focused Therapy (#540)
Yesterday00:46:20Summary readyIn episode 540 I interview Alex Habens. Alex is a BABCP Accredited CBT Therapist, Clinical Supervisor and OCD Specialist. He also works with myself at The Integrative Centre for OCD Therapy. We discuss why he became a therapist and his own OCD experiences, what is compassion focused therapy (CFT), compassion more generally, integrating CFT into OCD treatment, shame, connecting with compassion, fears blocks and resistances to compassion, compassion during exposures, his CFT therapy group, and his CFT therapist training he is running, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/alex-540 His CFT for OCD (Integrating Compassion Focused Therapy for OCD) training for therapists: https://www.icocdtraining.co.uk/ The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories Join many other listeners getting our weekly emails. Never miss a podcast episode or update: https://theocdstories.com/newsletter
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Katie d'Ath: OCD therapeutic communities and groups (#539)
1w ago00:47:30Summary readyIn episode 539 I interview Katie d'Ath. Katie is a cognitive behavioural therapist with a special interest in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorders. She is also the co-author of "Managing OCD with CBT for Dummies" and she has a popular YouTube channel where she shares OCD videos. In this episode we discuss running OCD therapy groups, managing an online OCD community platform, benefits of community to people with OCD, what Katie's learned from her OCD community, learning from groups that the content of OCD isn't the problem, consistency in the skills and therapy, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/katie-539 The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories Join many other listeners getting our weekly emails. Never miss a podcast episode or update: https://theocdstories.com/newsletter
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Dr Ronald Nicholson: Sensory OCD (Somatic/Sensorimotor OCD) (#538)
2w ago00:38:00Summary readyIn episode 538 I chat with Dr Ronald Nicholson. Ron is a clinical psychologist. We discuss why he doesn't use somatic and sensorimotor OCD labels interchangeably, why he likes the label of sensory OCD, core fear vs the content, the idea of taking the B grade, the obsessions and compulsions around this theme, using exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP) on this theme, exposure scripting, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/ron-538 The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories Join many other listeners getting our weekly emails. Never miss a podcast episode or update: https://theocdstories.com/newsletter
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Story: Shannon (existential themed OCD and postpartum OCD) (#537)
3w ago00:36:38Summary readyIn episode 537 I chat with Shannon who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us. We discuss her earliest OCD memory, various themes of OCD, existential themed OCD, worrying everyone is an 'non-playable character (NPC)', finding out it was OCD, starting therapy for OCD, doing therapy homework, postpartum OCD, support groups, non-engagement responses, shame and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/shannon-537 The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories Join many other listeners getting our weekly emails. Never miss a podcast episode or update: https://theocdstories.com/newsletter
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Dr Fugen Neziroglu: When a higher level of care may be needed, and overvalued ideation (#536)
4w ago00:59:48Summary readyIn episode 536 I chat with Dr. Fugen Neziroglu. Fugen is a board-certified cognitive and behavior psychologist and the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Bio Behavioral Institute in Great Neck, NY. Fugen has published more than 150 papers in scientific journals and authored or co-authored 15 books. We discuss her rich background in the field of OCD, being mentored by the late Dr Edna Foa, the dosage of therapy, when to level up care, some of the earliest signs once a week therapy isn't working for someone, intensive outpatient programs (IOP), residential treatment, inpatient treatment, medical treatments, what an IOP should look like, adapting the IOP to the clients timeframe. We then discuss overvalued ideation (OVI), low insight, the need to deal with OVI to improve treatment effectiveness, motivational interviewing, shame, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/fugen-536 The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories Join many other listeners getting our weekly emails. Never miss a podcast episode or update: https://theocdstories.com/newsletter
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Story: Michael (health anxiety, trauma and OCD) (#535)
Apr 2600:56:16Summary readyIn episode 535 I chat with Michael who has kindly agreed to share his OCD story with us. We discuss his OCD story, nightmares in childhood, relationship themed OCD, the onset of his OCD, harm themed OCD, getting therapy, experiencing a health condition, medical trauma, health anxiety, balancing real health conditions with health anxiety, trauma and OCD (PTOCD), living life and making choices, doing exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP) for health anxiety in the midst of an actual health issue, self compassion, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/michael-535 The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories Join many other listeners getting our weekly emails. Never miss a podcast episode or update: https://theocdstories.com/newsletter
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Rachel Kuchem Woodward: Faith, Scrupulosity and OCD (#534)
Apr 1900:36:21Summary readyIn episode 534 I chat with Rachel Kuchem Woodward (LCSW). Rachel is the owner of Re-Viving Lives Counseling, in Fort Worth. Rachel is a therapist holistically and clinically treating girls and women since 2019. Having her own 20+ year personal journey with OCD, Rachel is passionate about treating sufferers of OCD and educating faith circles on OCD, bridging the gap between biblical and clinical circles around this topic for clients, church leaders, and mental health leaders. We discuss her therapy journey, how OCD can latch on to faith, telling the difference between a genuine faith based question and an OCD question, how pastors and churches can help, scripture and OCD, moving towards values, exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), addressing shame in therapy, bringing in family members, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/rachel-534 The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories Join many other listeners getting our weekly emails. Never miss a podcast episode or update: https://theocdstories.com/newsletter
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Dr Steven Phillipson and Sean: 'Sarnos' and Sean's story (#533)
Apr 1200:53:06Summary readyIn episode 533 I chat with Dr Steven Phillipson and his patient Sean. Steven is a licensed clinical psychologist who specialises in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for OCD. Steven is the Clinical Director at the Center for Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy in New York. He is joined by one of his patients, Sean, who has kindly agreed to share his story. We discuss Sean's OCD story, Steve discusses the idea of Sarnos (psychosomatic symptoms), Sean's difficulty bragging and worrying about Sarnos, exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), the idea of the brain voice and the gatekeeper voice, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/steve-and-sean-533 The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories Join many other listeners getting our weekly emails. Never miss a podcast episode or update: https://theocdstories.com/newsletter
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Dr Sorcha O'Connor: The PsilOCD study investigating low-dose psilocybin for OCD (#532)
Apr 500:49:41Summary readyIn episode 532 I chat with Dr Sorcha O'Connor. Sorcha is a neuroscientist and PhD graduate from Imperial College London, where she led the PsilOCD study investigating low-dose psilocybin for OCD. We discuss Sorcha's background that led her to this work, what is psilocybin, the background to the study, what the actual study looked like for participants, the outcomes of the study, what's happening in the brain during a dose of psilocybin, future studies, how psychedelics may improve learning, integration sessions with a therapist, what people with OCD can take from this study, limitations of the study, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/sorcha-532 The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories Join many other listeners getting our weekly emails. Never miss a podcast episode or update: https://theocdstories.com/newsletter
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Story: Alex (suicidal OCD, existential OCD, health anxiety, I-CBT) (#531)
Mar 2900:56:05Summary readyIn episode 531 I chat with Alex who has kindly agreed to share his OCD story with us. We discuss his OCD story, suicidal themed OCD, inference-based cognitive behavioural therapy (I-CBT), worries of harming others, existential themed OCD, how his wife helped, meditation, low self worth, understanding the past, peadophile themed OCD, health anxiety, self compassion, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/alex-531 The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories Join many other listeners getting our weekly emails. Never miss a podcast episode or update: https://theocdstories.com/newsletter
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