Justin’s Blog: “The Jog”
120+ Articles Driven by Research and Practice
Exposure & Response Prevention Is NOT A Paradoxical Intervention
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: […]
Read More >Practice Failure
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* […]
Read More >Video: How To Write an OCD Exposure Script- With Nathan Peterson!!
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 […]
Read More >Behavioral Activation: Move Your Body, Change Your Feelings
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 […]
Read More >Intrusive, Unwanted Thoughts and Faith (I am Second Blog)
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
Read More >I Want To Hold Your Ha-aa-aa-aaand
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 […]
Read More >Getting Aroused With Anxiety
Mark* was generally confident in his therapy, but bringing up sex….well, he got a little sheepish. He had these small avoidances that he never realized were behavioral and cognitive avoidances. For example, he would never have sex with his wife when the kids weren’t away from home. He intentionally steered conversation away from topics with […]
Read More >Journaling vs. Exposure Scripting in CBT (Therapy Insider Tip)
When clients become experts in doing exposures (Social Anxiety, PTSD, OCD, Phobias), they become used to facing fear, disgust, and other uncomfortable feelings square on without tricks and escapes- while still pursuing the valued behaviors and thought processes they want. Sounds too good to be true? It’s not, but it takes discipline and hard work, […]
Read More >What is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder & How Is It Treated?
OCD in context. You may already be very familiar with references to OCD, especially in the larger culture. “I’m soooooo OCD” is a phrase, often unhelpful to true sufferers, that reflects the current sentiments of many as to what it is. Neat. Picky. High Standards. Demanding. This is NOT necessarily OCD in and of itself. […]
Read More >Playing It Safe Can Harm You
Teddy pumped the sanitizer bottle for the second time in three minutes. “I know, I know, it doesn’t help when I haven’t touched anything else, but I want to be sure. You never know these days, right?” Freda waits to enter gatherings and meetings until everyone else has shown up- “It just helps me know I […]
Read More >A Biblical Rationale for Exposure Therapy
“You want me to do what?!” Many of my clients, and particularly for the sake of this article, Christian clients, are a bit surprised when I ask them to practice exposure. Repeating scary, terrible thoughts on paper or aloud. Doing things that feel risky. It seems as a clinician I’m disrespecting your beliefs and don’t […]
Read More >Flip the Script- A Guide To Imaginal Exposure
Imagine intentionally telling yourself- again and again- “Maybe I’ll get sick and die.” Or, “I’ll have a sudden urge to kill someone.” Or, “Maybe I blasphemed God and will go to hell.” What if your therapist asked you to repeat these things to yourself? Does that sound like negative self-talk? A cause for grave concern? […]
Read More >Thriving Mental Health Alongside COVID-19
One of my first questions to a professor in my earliest IOCDF BTTI (Exposure Therapy training) at Massachusetts General Hospital was, “What happens if someone actually gets sick after a contamination exposure?” I haven’t forgotten the simplicity of the answer that went something like this: “People get sick all the time. Yes, that might create some additional […]
Read More >10 Tips for Effective ERP (Exposure & Response Prevention)
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), the gold standard treatment for OCD, can be fairly straightforward once understood. However, certain nuances are crucial for facilitating learning, growth, and maximal fear disconfirmation (fancy terms for successfully overcoming fearful responses). Here are 10 tips- click on the picture for a downloadable version: Be prepared to feel uncomfortable- a […]
Read More >Fear Not
The Bible has a lot to say about fear and anxiety. In fact, some variation of “do not be afraid” is the most common directive in Scripture, occurring in some fashion more than ‘do not steal,’ ‘do not kill,’ and even ‘love your neighbor.’ How Does Anxiety Work? When we study these constructs in research, […]
Read More >