What is Psychosis/Mental Health OCD?

 – by Madison Di Silvio     Psychosis/Mental Health OCD is a subtype of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, that consists of intrusive thoughts and ritualistic behavior in attempt to reduce the level of distress these thoughts cause. Psychosis/Mental health OCD is when the sufferer fears they are developing psychosis or another mental health condition that they deem as “worse”. Both could be … Read More

OCD Core Fears: The Man Behind the Curtain

   – by Madison Di Silvio The core fear is an important part in the treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  Identifying the core fear is like revealing “the man behind the curtain” of OCD; we must pay attention to it in order to understand how it is controlling thoughts and compulsions. What is a Core Fear? The “core fear” in … Read More

What is Real Event OCD?

  – Carolyn Moriarty, LCPC   Real Event OCD is a subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a mental health condition characterized by intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors that cause significant distress and interfere with daily functioning. As the name suggests, Real Event OCD can be defined as simply as “having OCD about real events”. As humans, we have all done things … Read More

What is Maladaptive Daydreaming?

– Carolyn Moriarty, LCPC   The human mind is always active. We have approximately seventy thousand unique thoughts every single day. This probably comes as no surprise to the overthinkers out there who may be asking themselves “do I have that many thoughts per day? Does this thought count? Am I going over my ‘normal person thought quota’ by thinking about … Read More

The Surprising Difference Between Intrusive vs. Impulsive Thoughts

– Carolyn Moriarty, LCPC   Every day, twelve-year-old Emily is consumed with the fear that she might accidentally hurt somebody or cause them harm. One day, she sees a knife on the kitchen counter and the thought “you could walk into the other room and stab your father with that knife” immediately pops into her head. For the rest of the … Read More

Negative Thinking Traps… Part 3

Finishing up our in-depth review of negative thinking traps, there are another five common traps that can hijack us into negative feedback loops if we are not prepared. Taking us to places that are unproductive and skewing the truth when in reality, the situation may be easily resolvable. Rounding up the last of the prominent negative thinking traps we can … Read More

The Nature of Intrusive Thoughts

Intrusive Thoughts - Chicago Counseling Center

As human beings we experience thousands of thoughts a day. Some are intentional, such as when we are planning for something or trying to remember something, and some are unintentional, such as a worry about something going wrong or a memory of someone being triggered by something. Thoughts can also be pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, though most often they are … Read More

“That’s OCD?” Part 1

Types of OCD (that People Don’t Like Talking About) By Taylor Newendorp, M.A., LCPC The most common stereotypes of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are that it is characterized by someone being overly concerned with cleanliness (excessively washing hands, cleaning and disinfecting things, etc.), someone liking things very organized, or someone repeatedly checking things like locks. These can be symptoms of … Read More