Overcoming Obsessive Thoughts: How to Gain Control of Your OCD

By David A. Clark and Christine Purdon

Book Overview

Although once thought to be a rare and unusual condition, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has become increasingly a part of everyday discourse as it has gathered more and more media attention. News magazines and programs have done features on the disorder and its range of symptoms, and popular culture has depicted characters suffering from OCD, such as the eponymous detective in the UPN television program, Monk . One facet of OCD that is just beginning to be widely known is that people with the disorder can present a wide range of symptoms. Some people with OCD wash compulsively, others hoard objects, while still others-the audience of this book-struggle with obsessive thoughts. The most effective treatment techniques vary from symptom to symptom. This is why New Harbinger launched, with the publication of Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding, a series of books designed to bring the latest coping strategies for specific OCD symptoms to the people who need them most. Since that first book, we have brought readers two more titles: Overcoming Compulsive Washing and Overcoming Compulsive Checking. The professional community and OCD sufferers alike have warmly received all three books. This fourth book in the series addresses the needs of those who struggle with obsessive thoughts they perceive as violent, disgusting, or blasphemous. Psychologists estimate that more than 50 percent of OCD sufferers experience aggressive, religious, or sexual thoughts. The goal of this book is to help people understand the impact of their control efforts on their obsessional thoughts. It works to help them recognize that thoughts, in themselves, are not threatening, dangerous, or harmful. Rather, it is the compulsive strategies they develop for coping that make the thoughts seem so harmful. The book offers safe and effective exposure exercises readers can use to limit the effect obsessive thoughts have on their lives. In addition to self-care strategies, the book includes information about choosing and making the most of professional care.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1572243813
• ISBN13: 9781572243811
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

OCD Help

This book is filled with exercises to help you take a look at your thoughts and how you react to them. Don't expect to finish this book in a few days. It will take a couple of months to do all the exercises. (Don't cheat yourself.) I think this book is a good tool for people suffering from OCD or "Pure O". Intrusive thoughts that stick are unpleasant, I know, and this book will help you to look at those thoughts for what...

Excellent Book on Pure-O OCD

This book is an excellent resource for people struggling with Pure-O OCD. Most books on OCD deal with the disorder and ritualistic physical behaviours which provide insight but don't offer concrete solutions on overcoming the anxiety associated with the thoughts. This book focuses on why you have the thoughts and why they won't go away. It also explains why you have great anxiety associated with the thoughts and confirms...

Best (only?) book on obsessive thoughts I have found!

My boyfriend was diagnosed with OCD a little less than a year ago. While I found many books on OCD, and several written for family/friends of those with OCD, these books mainly focused on "visible" obsessions and compulsions (checking, washing, cleaning, rituals, etc.), rather than intrusive and obsessive thoughts, which is what he primarily suffers from. This book was an AMAZING find, as it focuses ONLY on obsessive thoughts,...

The best OCD book I have ever read next to Brain Lock

One of the most powerful attributes of this book is the idea that in order for one to overcome obsessive thoughts one must actually avoid using mental coping mechanisms. Its ironic that the remedy and even cure is often contingent upon an individuals willingness to go in the opposite direction of his thoughts. I am a current graduate student and CPA who has been struggling with OCD just about all my life. As soon as I read...

An excellent self-help guide to why obsessive thoughts persist and how psychologists treat the disor

If you struggle with violent or unpleasant thoughts which just keep coming back, you may have obsessive-compulsive disorder - and if so, OVERCOMING OBSESSIVE THOUGHTS can help get a handle on the problem. Learn to identify ritualistic and intrusive thought patterns, and learn how to deflect them and turn them away with an excellent self-help guide to why obsessive thoughts persist and how psychologists treat the disorder...