You’re Not Mental: How Overlaps in Psychiatric and Medical Disorders Expose Gaps in Treatment

Miscellaneous, OCD Therapy

Anxiety disorders affect 17-19 million adults every year and are the most commonly diagnosed category of mental disorders. Statistics for depressive disorders are similar — about 15 million Americans will be diagnosed sometime in their adulthood. What if we could identify a medical origin to psychiatric illnesses? What if anxiety or depression could be treated in much the same way a bacterial infection or benign tumor would be? How might this change the landscape of psychiatric diagnosis and treatment?

Yes, Virginia, You Do Have OCD

Living With OCD, Miscellaneous, OCD Therapy

Earlier this month I attended the Second Annual Seacoast Anxiety Symposium, “the only educational event in the area focusing on the treatment of OCD and anxiety disorders.” Sponsored by Mountain Valley Treatment Center, the symposium brought together an array of OCD and anxiety experts from all over New England. Most of those experts were highly-trained clinicians and doctors. One of them, however, was an expert of a different variety. You see, Kate Brett knows about OCD because she lives with it.

On Uncertainty & Doubt

Miscellaneous, OCD Subtypes, OCD Therapy

I’m a reformed perfectionist. It’s still a daily effort for me to back off my perfectionistic tendencies and welcome (gasp!) errors into my life. But, when I am able to open the door to imperfection, I feel more human and free. Even harder than welcoming imperfection has been coming to terms with uncertainty and doubt. Perfectionists live with the illusion of control and the false belief that if everything is ‘just so’ they can ward off unpleasant or negative experiences. The trap here, of course, is that perfectionism is, itself, an unpleasant experience.