Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with Penny Moodie

15 snips

Oct 13, 2024

Penny Moodie, a writer and OCD advocate, shares her journey with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, providing valuable insights into its complexities. She discusses common misconceptions, key mechanisms like thought-action fusion, and the impact of OCD from childhood to adulthood. Penny emphasizes the importance of understanding and compassion, while sharing effective strategies such as Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and self-compassion practices. She also advocates for open conversations about mental health and offers support resources for those affected by OCD.

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Intro

00:00 • 2min

Understanding Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

01:47 • 19min

Breaking the Stigma of OCD

20:18 • 6min

Navigating Childhood Fears and OCD Compulsions

25:59 • 5min

Normalizing Children's Thoughts and Fears

30:43 • 3min

Navigating Life with Relationship OCD

33:41 • 24min

Navigating OCD with Compassion and Support

57:17 • 9min

Understanding OCD: Neurobiological Insights and Support Resources

01:06:42 • 6min

This week we speak with Penny Moodie about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Penny is a writer, OCD advocate, and mum of three little people. She is the author of ‘The Joy Thief: How OCD steals your happiness – and how to get it back’ and the co-creator the website soocd.com.au, which is packed with information on OCD and how to get support.

In this episode Penny very generously shares her personal experience with OCD, and she takes us through the ‘why’ of OCD and the strategies and treatment approaches she has found helpful.

We cover:

What is OCD, and crucially, what isn’t OCD?
Some of the key mechanisms of OCD, including thought-action fusion, uncertainty anxiety, the ‘just right’ feeling, and the feedback loop between obsessions and compulsions.
Periods of OCD onset.
Talking to kids about their thoughts.
Penny’s personal experience of OCD throughout her life, including in childhood, her adolescence, and throughout her adulthood, and her path to accurate diagnosis.
OCD in the perinatal period.
Treatment approaches for OCD and strategies that Penny has found useful, including ERP, methods to reframe and manage distressing thoughts, medication, self-compassion practice, and connecting with other people experiencing OCD.

You can find Penny on Instagram @pennymoodie and through her website, So OCD. Get a copy of Penny’s book, The Joy Thief, here.

The book Penny mentioned was The Man Who Couldn’t stop, by David Adam.

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