Justin’s Blog: “The Jog”

I’ve had many clients and spouses state at the beginning of their exposure therapy that they are practicing ‘paradoxes’ to prove to themselves how ridiculous their OCD is.  I’m all for seeing OCD as ridiculous– however, OCD is not treated by insight-oriented approaches (psychodynamic, general psychotherapy- i.e., “talk,”). Paradoxical interventions work like the following example:  […]

Your best treatment is closely connected to how closely you stick to the evidence base.  However, you as the client always need to advocate for your best treatment.  Successful clients are assertive for their treatment, ask good questions, and sometimes even disagree with their professional.  This is healthy.  Client involvement and assertiveness is a fundamental […]

As the OCD Texas Dallas ambassador, I’ll be giving a “Learn at Lunch” talk! Title: Common Pitfalls in ERP 4 OCD (Presentation with Q&A) Description: Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) for OCD is gold standard treatment. However, successful outcomes are dependent not only on both appropriately applying the evidence base, but also utilizing effective strategies […]

You heard me. Yes, practice Failure. Not just “accept your mistakes” when they happen.  It’s a technique in exposure to social anxiety, perfectionism, scrupulosity, and more.  It’s genius if you ask me.  The Brilliant Rationale The rationale and purpose of practicing failure is to develop more flexibility and to lean in when it’s “game-time.”   Hunter* […]

Women’s mental health is getting more attention now than maybe ever before, which I think is awesome.  Acknowledging the beauty and uniqueness of strengths and struggles helps women to be more successful in their lives.   Here are some key considerations in mental health for women. In the U.S., women are twice as likely to be […]

Two OCD Specialist colleagues (and friends) just having fun on how to write exposure scripts in OCD. Exposure Therapy, in a phrase, is the systematic and intentional triggering of fear while minimizing- and ideally eliminating- all pathological responses.  Imaginal Exposure accomplishes this with thoughts and ideas. It is done in the context of addressing unhelpful/pathological responses […]

Being the last installment (here’s Part 1 and Part 2) on this important topic, we have explored fear/anxiety as a warning system, how godly characters in the Bible experienced it without being a problem, and how spending the time to address fear and anxiety properly can bring about more freedom.  This last article will briefly […]

Check out my featured article as part of the Mental Health Grace Alliance.  This is my most vulnerable personal writing yet on my journey with mental health.  I hope you’ll be encouraged. 3 Ways I Got Unstuck From Anxiety & Depression Not familiar with MHGA yet?  They are a strong voice for mental health recovery in […]

As part of the IOCDF‘s campaign to help bridge the gap between faith leaders and clinicians, they offered a PSA (public service announcement).  You can see the full comments I shared below (some were cut for time).  Hope it encourages you that faith and mental health treatment can go together. My full Script: Hi, my […]

In the first part of this series, fear and anxiety was presented as a warning system that can operate properly or erroneously.  We examined how saints throughout history (in the Bible, specifically) directly were fearful, afraid, or anxious, and this was not necessarily linked with sin.  Let’s jump into why and how spending the time […]

Behavioral Activation: Move Your Body, Change Your Feelings Relatively new is our understanding of Behavioral Activation (BA), which is an incredibly useful tool in fighting depression and mood problems. As with most things in the clinical realm, it has a lot to say for the average person, too, who doesn’t even have a disorder. Behavioral […]

A lot of my clients and readers often ask, “Is Anxiety Sin?”  Here’s the answer I’ll give you today: Maybe, maybe not.  As we do a deep dive into this topic in three parts, we will discover, however, that the faithful are often fearful. Fear Is Not Always Problematic, But Each Person Has A Different […]

Honored to be featured again in the I Am Second mental health blog, this post addresses the common occurrence of Intrusive Thoughts and how those of Christian faith can live in freedom. Click Here to Read NOW

The Beatles were on to something. It turns out that holding your romantic partner’s hand is good for you.  New research reveals that if you do so during emotional distress, it actually lessens emotional pain in recall later.  (Sahi et al., 2021). The study defines emotional pain as “an unpleasant feeling (or suffering) associated with […]

Accidental workouts are great; just don’t base your exercise off of them.   Has this ever happened to you?  You have an exercise routine (walk, weights, circuit, CrossFit), and while expecting to take a holiday break, say Thanksgiving…..until someone challenges you in the paint for pickup game of basketball (in my family we had the 6 […]