The OCD Stories

In episode 559 I chat with Saraa D. Lee, MSW, LCSW. Sarah is an OCD therapist who also lives with OCD. After recently getting re-married and having a second baby, her experience with OCD led her to take a different approach to helping people with OCD find, build, and maintain lasting love in their lives. As a licensed therapist and Clinical Supervisor specializing in Love, Marriage and OCD, she treats the full picture: ROCD, dating with OCD, marriage/couples with OCD, perinatal & postpartum OCD, and parenting with OCD by combining Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) with Gottman Method Therapy tools and other evidence based therapies for supporting healthy relationships. We discuss an update on her, the topics of love ,marriage and OCD, working with the whole person, we discuss when someone feels like they struggle with key life stages, some of her own recent struggles, we talk dating and pregnancy, relationship skills and OCD, and much more. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/saraa-559 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

In episode 558 I chat with Dr Anthony Pinto and Dr Michael Wheaton. Anthony Pinto, Ph.D. is Senior Director of the Northwell Health OCD Center at Zucker Hillside Hospital on Long Island and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Dr. Pinto has published over 100 manuscripts/chapters on OCD/related conditions and has an extensive record of conference presentations, invited lectures, and media appearances. He is the leading clinical and research authority on obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). He co-edited a comprehensive academic book on OCPD (2020) and co-authored a self-help OCPD workbook (2026). He is the lead author of the self-rated Family Accommodation Scale for OCD and the Pathological Obsessive Compulsive Personality Scale, both of which are being used worldwide. He serves on the International OCD Foundation's Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board and is on the teaching faculty for the IOCDF's Behavior Therapy Training Institute. Michael Wheaton, Ph.D. is currently an Associate Professor of Psychology at Barnard College, where he teaches classes related to clinical psychology and conducts research on OCD and related disorder, including OCPD. Dr. Wheaton earned his PhD in clinical psychology from UNC-Chapel Hill and completed his postdoctoral training in the Center for OCD and Related Disorders at the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University Medical Center. His work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, American Psychological Foundation, and International OCD Foundation. He also runs a private practice focused on OCD and related disorders (including OCPD) in New York, NY. We discuss their therapy backgrounds, what is obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), the diagnostic criteria for it, the overlap with OCD, the comorbidity rate with OCD, their new OCPD workbook, they share plenty of skills for helping people with OCPD, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/anthony-and-michael-558 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

In episode 557 I chat with Krista Reed. Krista is a Licensed Specialist Clinical Social Worker (LSCSW). Krista is passionate about working with patients who have Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders. We discuss her therapy and OCD journey, being your authentic self, struggling to develop an acceptance of her authentic self, learning to be authentic, the Inference-based CBT (ICBT) feared possible self, feeling regret, OCD impacting one's ability to be authentic, Krista gives lots of examples from her own life, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/krista-557 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

In episode 556 I chat with Jake who has kindly agreed to share his story with us. Jake is a psychotherapist and person with lived experience of OCD. We discuss his OCD story, experiencing panic, having a drug induced mental health episode, existential themed OCD, working with an unethical OCD coach, past OCD themes, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and values, compassion, his therapy training, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/jake-556 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

In episode 555 I chat with Natalia Aíza. Natalia, LPC, is a therapist, writer, and mental health advocate. She is the founder of Kairos Wellness Collective, an innovative therapy center specializing in OCD and Anxiety Disorders. She is the author of Self-Guided Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy for OCD, Self-Guided EMDR Workbook, and the forthcoming Anxious to Launch: Empowered Parenting Skills to Nudge Your Adult Child Out of the Nest. We discuss her story, getting distracted by trauma in her own recovery, doing therapy in China, her self-guided exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP) workbook, doing compassionate ERP, and her new book anxious to launch, supporting young adults struggling to leave home, her new EMDR book, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/natalia-555 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

In episode 554 I chat with Pat who has kindly agreed to share his story with us. We discuss getting diagnosed, religious themed OCD, relationship themed OCD around friendships, pOCD, switching themes, speaking to his workplace about his OCD, exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), his compulsions, creative ways of expressing himself, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/pat-554 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

In episode 553 I chat with Ashley Ordway and Victoria Schweiger. Ashley is a licensed mental health counselor and acting President of the Board at JACK MHA. Ashley's work at the University of Florida Health was foundational in developing the University of Florida's Fear Facers Camp, one of the first in the nation, which provides treatment to children ages 7- 15 with OCD. Ashley also runs her private practice at Magnolia Behavioral Health. Victoria is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor at the Anxiety and OCD Treatment Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ashley and Victoria are part of a team that runs JACK's Plant A Camp initiative. We discuss their therapy backgrounds, their kids summer camps through JACK, the Plant A Camp initiative, what the camps look like, making exposure engaging for the kids and teens, helping kids feel connected to other kids, shame in OCD, exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP) games, community, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/ashley-and-victoria-553 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

In episode 552 I chat with Andrea who has kindly agreed to share her story with us. We discuss panic attacks, existential OCD, some OCD worries including what if gravity ceases to exist and what if my eyes roll up into my head, a core fear of living with suffering, her experiences at the Bergen 4-Day Treatment (B4DT), mental compulsions being missed in therapy, gender dysphoria and gender treatments, sensorimotor OCD, tools that helped her, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/andrea-552 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

In episode 551 I chat with Andrew who has kindly agreed to share his story with us. We discuss his story, how a bad experience with psilocybin triggered his OCD, trying to control thoughts, medication, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), sexual orientation themed OCD, compassion focused therapy (CFT), internal family systems therapy (IFS), working with parts of himself, meditation, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/andrew-551 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

Chrissie Hodges, peer support specialist, founder of OCD GameChangers and author, shares her lived‑experience work and new Relapse Roadmap workbook. She talks about recognizing relapse patterns, building a practical relapse plan, acceptance versus surrender, addressing shame and resilience, and tools like planners and letters to self. The conversation focuses on normalizing relapse and creating concrete supports for recovery.