Justin’s Blog: “The Jog”

Small changes, over time, lead to big results.   Keep Choppin’ If you chop a tree with an axe once per day, you won’t see much progress.  Daily for a year and a tree (most) won’t stand a chance.  However, we are often limited with black and white, insular thinking (a cognitive distortion), also called “all […]

Our Feelings and Thoughts Are Not A Guarantee In Part 1 of 2: Doubt, Fear, and Uncertainty, I emphasized a key point: Just because a problem deals with a spiritual issue doesn’t mean it must be exclusively a spiritual problem addressed through exclusively spiritual means.   Let me add one: Just because I feel or think something […]

Join me on Wednesday, August 25th, 6:00 – 7:30 pm CST, for “Common Pitfalls In ERP (Exposure & Response Prevention) 4 OCD” Livestream Evidence-based treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is not tremendously difficult to understand.  It involves things like tracking when you compulse, learning to face challenging situations without compulsion, and how to tolerate […]

As a gift to my subscribers, the guide, Get Unstuck: Your Intro to Facing Fear & Getting Healthy is YOURS, FREE.  Not a subscriber? This is the updated version of the prior “Thriving Mental Health Alongside COVID-19,” leaving the best intact along with new considerations for 2021 and several new handouts, connected articles, guides, and […]

I’m just gonna say it: EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is not an established evidence-based treatment for OCD.  It is not a first line treatment (aka, best first pick), nor does it have any specific research backing as a comprehensive OCD treatment at this time.   Does EMDR Treat OCD? This topic is raised often […]

This article is aimed at Christians but also provides a rich overview on scrupulosity.  It was written by Ted Witzig, Jr., PhD and was graciously allowed to be reproduced in its entirety.  I first met Dr. Witzig at IOCDF conferences.  He is compassionate, intelligent, and provides some of the best overviews I’ve seen with OCD […]

As with many of my clients, Anne* was befuddled as to why she couldn’t stop obsessing.  She was a high performer at work and revered in relationships.  However, she couldn’t get it out of her thoughts that she was failing, that imminent doom was about to befall her, and that it would all come crashing […]

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* […]

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 […]

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

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 […]

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 […]