Articles by Chris Trondsen

Our board of directors would like to give a huge thank you to Barbara Van Noppen, Ph.D., LCSW, who served as OCD Southern California’s president for over three years. Barbara is stepping down as president now that her responsibilities at the University of Southern California (USC) have increased. However, we are happy to say that she will remain active with OCD So Cal and remain a member of our board of directors!

The board of directors would also like to thank Jenny Yip, Psy.D. for her immense contribution to our affiliate. Dr. Yip is now a member of the International OCD Foundation’s Board of Directors, and we thank Dr. Yip for her tireless efforts in growing OCD So Cal and serving the local OCD community.

This is a special podcast on OCD with Dr. Barbara Van Noppen which is part of the series “House Calls with Dr. K.”

Barbara L. Van Noppen, PhD, LCSW is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences, Keck School of Medicine of USC. She is the Vice Chair of Faculty Development in the department of Psychiatry. 

 Dr. Van Noppen, is an internationally-recognized clinician and expert in the areas of Anxiety and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). She is the Department of Psychiatry’s Director of OCD Treatment and Research Program while also serving on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF) and the Canadian Institute for OCD. For 3 years, Dr. Van Noppen served as president of OCD Southern California, an affiliate of the IOCDF. She is currently a board member for that non-profit organization. Dr. Van Noppen is on the faculty of the IOCDF Behavior Therapy Institute, providing advanced training for clinicians nationally. As an educator, she teaches extensively in her areas of clinical expertise. In addition, Dr. Van Noppen is one of the developers of the Family Accommodation Scale.

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeRk9QZxDik

Excerpts from the article:

The same is true for others living with OCD, many of whom are preoccupied by germs or illness. Society may be eagerly preparing for the summer to end all summers, but people with anxiety and an intolerance for uncertainty are not entirely optimistic. “The majority of people who don’t have OCD—their life will go back to normal,” Elizabeth McIngvale, the director of the McLean OCD Institute in Houston, told me. For many people with OCD, returning to “normalcy” isn’t as simple as eating indoors at restaurants again. It means recalibrating their brain.

Stress, illness, and major life transitions can make OCD worse, which is why the pandemic exacerbated many people’s symptoms. “Every therapist has a waitlist; everyone is looking for more help,” Jeff Szymanski, the executive director of the International OCD Foundation, told me. “People can’t find enough OCD specialists to hire.”

To read the entire article: “Returning to Normal Means Recalibrating the Brain – The Pandemic’s Retreat Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Life Will Get Easier For People With OCD,” on The Atlantic, click here:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/03/how-covid-19-affected-people-ocd-and-anxiety/618410/

Recently, a popular and best selling author made false and baseless claims as to the cause and treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. This misinformation contributes to mental health stigma and the prevention of individuals with OCD in receiving scientific-based treatments, such as exposure and response prevention. Help OCD So Cal and the International OCD Foundation spread information on what OCD really is by sharing these info-graphics to friends, family, and on social media!

Unfortunately, there is also another “so-called expert” (who is not an expert in OCD) making false claims about the origins and causes of an individual’s OCD. She recently wrote a book and has a recent podcast episode where she makes these false claims. Make sure to stick with organizations like the International OCD Foundation (http://www.iocdf.org) that provide factual, science and evidence-based information on OCD and related disorders—and not authors with no expertise promoting their books and products!