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Clinical psychologists Dean McKay and OCD advocate Uma Chatterjee discuss what OCD actually is — a debilitating disorder driven by intrusive thoughts and compulsive rituals — and how it differs from the popular stereotype of 'being organized.'
This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.
Highlights
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OCD is driven by intrusive thoughts — the same thoughts everyone has, but with an inability to dismiss them
Mills: OCD sufferers experience the same intrusive thoughts as everyone else (unwanted violent, sexual, or blasphemous images). The difference: while most people can dismiss these thoughts as meaningless noise, OCD sufferers cannot. They interpret the thoughts as meaningful and dangerous, triggering compulsive rituals aimed at neutralizing them.•
Exposure and response prevention (ERP) treats OCD by breaking the thought-ritual cycle
Mills: the gold-standard treatment for OCD is exposure and response prevention (ERP): deliberately triggering the intrusive thought (exposure) while resisting the compulsive ritual (response prevention). This teaches the brain that the thought is not dangerous and the ritual is not necessary.Was this useful?