Justin’s Blog: “The Jog”
120+ Articles Driven by Research and Practice
“I Don’t Want to Do This”—The Starting Point for Exposure, Discipline, and Conquering Fear
An enduring reality of life: we all have to do things we don’t want or like. An enduring principle of life: discipline builds strength and character. A curious paradox of life: doing disciplined things we don’t like often leads to greater contentment. An enduring joy of life: experiencing discipline and seeing it pay dividends brings […]
Read More >Being in a Relationship with Religious Scrupulosity- FREE Livestream
Faith & OCD Roundtable October 18 at 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm EDT Topic: Being in a Relationship with Religious Scrupulosity Join Lead Advocate Rev. Katie O’Dunne and clinicians Dr. Caitlin Clagget Woods & Justin K. Hughes, LPC, along with Carolyn Ringenberg of the Faith & OCD Task Force to discuss the topic of being […]
Read More >#OCDWeek 2022
The IOCDF and its Advocates invite you to celebrate OCD Awareness Week, October 9–15, 2022! “#OCDWeek began in 2009 to share knowledge and reduce stigma around OCD and related disorders. Each year in October, individuals, community groups, service organizations, and clinics around the world celebrate with OCD-inspired educational talks, youth events, grassroots fundraisers, yoga, creative […]
Read More >Family Accommodation in OCD- Addressing Specific and Systemic Accommodations
Everyone Loses Lucas* regularly expressed frustration about his parents’ “nagging” him. Though he is a young adult, he lives out home and is mostly dependent on his parents for all essentials. He gave permission to involve his parents in treatment, which is ideal in many cases. It was frustrating for his compulsions to impair his […]
Read More >Less Frequently Discussed Subtypes of OCD
Join my fellow expert, Saharah Shrout, MA, LPC-S, and myself for the recorded live presentation during #OCDWeek 2020 we gave for OCD Texas (IOCDF Affiliate) in 2020. A very rough copy of some notes, providing examples, is below. I hope this helps you feel less alone and understand this: just about any distressing thought/feeling can […]
Read More >Do You Repeatedly Check Things to Make Sure? BIG Mistake. Checking Leads to Memory Distrust
The research is really clear on this: disordered checking behaviors (and thoughts) lead to distrust of your memory (van den Hout & Kint, 2003; Radomsky & Alcolado, 2010). Let’s say you walk away from your front door or your car. You typically lock them. But you start to think about it, and you are now […]
Read More >HOW You Do Exposure Therapy is MORE Important Than What You Do
Lisa is a learner, sensitive to do the right thing, and receptive to the input of other people. She’s just another example of one of the true “sweethearts” that I get to work with. When we started therapy she was a “therapist’s dream”: receptive, ready to learn, willing to try any exercise suggested, and highly […]
Read More >Bill Nye, Potential Energy, and How To Recover From Uncertainty
Ever noticed how if you try to push something away it seems to come back even stronger? A common phrase in my work is “What you resist, persists.” And this couldn’t be truer than with anxiety, panic, OCD, and maybe just about any problem that’s fear related. Repeated checking leads to “memory distrust” (Hout & […]
Read More >Time-Savings OCD Shortcuts
In the journey of recovery from OCD, developing quick shortcuts to identify obsessions and/or compulsions is very helpful. Otherwise, clients who attempt to stop and pause to assess every obsession run into two problems: The risk (and actuality) of over-analyzing, thus obsessing more on what is or isn’t an obsession. This is part of the […]
Read More >Common Pitfalls in ERP 4 OCD- FREE Training
As a sequel to my popular, “ERP 4 OCD- Ultimate Guide to Treating OCD” training, here is the full length training on “Common Pitfalls in ERP 4 OCD.” I have given this to OCD sufferers, family/friends, clergy, and clinicians. May it benefit you wherever you find yourself today. Intro Evidence-based treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder […]
Read More >Where Your Thinking Will Trip You Up In Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Talk therapy is not the way to improve with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Talk therapy is also known as “supportive psychotherapy” or insight-oriented therapies. In many cases, these approaches can OCD worse. Writer and actress Lena Dunham shares how she experienced both sides of the street. The Gold Standard of treatment is Exposure and Response Prevention […]
Read More >How Alcohol Interferes with Getting Over Your Fears (Hint: It Interrupts Fear Disconfirmation)
The Question It was a good question. Anne* suffered extensively with fear, anxiety, and OCD. She wanted any relief she could find. “Can I drink a little alcohol during exposures?” Little Therapist Justin As an early specialist in OCD, I said to Anne my favorite thing to say when I don’t know: “I don’t know.” […]
Read More >Get Unstuck: Your Intro to Facing Fear & Getting Healthy
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 […]
Read More >An Introduction To The “Over-Active Conscience”: Understanding Scrupulosity & Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder by Dr. Ted Witzig
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 […]
Read More >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: […]
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