Opening up to your therapist is already difficult enough. When someone has OCD and wants to share the content of their unwanted, intrusive thoughts, that can add an additional challenge.
Therefore, we wanted to share the article “8 Uncomfy Things That Are Totally Normal to Talk About in Therapy” by “Wondermind” (Wondermind), a mental health resource, website, and organization (a mental health ecosystem), founded by singer / actress Selena Gomez, her mom Mandy, and Daniella Pierson (Forbes’ 30 Under 30, entrepreneur who has OCD) – https://www.wondermind.com/our-story/! The interviewed featured our Vice President, Chris Trondsen, LMFT, who shared concrete ways to open up about your intrusive thoughts to your therapist, as well as addressing the shame many with OCD feel when in therapy.
If you, or someone you love, is in therapy and finding it hard to open up about their OCD, we hope this article is helpful! We would like to thank Selena Gomez and her team, who were incredible and clearly care so much for mental health! Also, a thank you to the journalist who interviewed Chris, Sam Brodsky, who was very knowledgeable and a pro! Click this link to view the article: https://www.wondermind.com/article/body-dysmorphia/ or the embedded link below!
OCD Southern California is excited to partner with the virtual, Family and Loved One’s OCD Support Group for a free, virtual event titled, “From Feeling Alone to Reaching Millions!” The event is happening this Saturday, February 10th, from 11am to 1pm PST! To receive the link to this event, please email info@ocdsocal.org and let us know you would like to receive the link and we will send it to you.
For this Saturday event, we are excited to announce our special guest, Stuart Ralph! Stuart is an individual with OCD (https://alisondotson.com/2016/09/20/tuesday-qa-stuart-ralph/). Like many others with OCD, it took him over a decade before he finally received proper care to treat the disorder. His treatment journey had many ups and downs, and he will share what was crucial in helping him recover and what were some of the missteps your family can avoid.
Scroll down to learn more about our special guest but here is the agenda for this Saturday’s support group:
Part 1: Stuart Ralph will be talking about his OCD recovery story, the good, the bad, the ugly, the real. Stuart will include what worked for him and what he suggests others do differently. He will walk us through his OCD recovery story from first symptoms to where he is now– becoming a therapist and starting The Integrative Centre for OCD (https://www.integrativecentreforocd.co.uk). Additionally, he started an OCD Camp – https://www.integrativecentreforocd.co.uk/the-ocd-camp.
Part 2: The OCD Stories Podcast: How it got started and what the last 9 years of hosting it has been like for him– 5 million global downloads and still going strong! He will share the top OCD tips and interventions he learned from hosting the podcast. He will also highlight some of the specific episodes featuring family members and loved ones who supported someone with OCD.
Part 3: This is where Stuart will talk specifically about the things his family, friends, and wife Nami have done to support his recovery journey. This is direct advice to the family members and loved ones from Stuart. He will share how he and his wife have navigated marriage and being new parents while balancing an OCD diagnosis.
For the final hour we will open to a specific question and answer segment aimed at Stuart and his recovery story, and then we will open it to a general Q & A where we will answer general audience questions about specific challenges. Stuart will stay on and help answer those questions either from a personal or clinical lens!
Back to more about Stuart:
During his battle with OCD, he was looking for uplifting, success stories of people overcoming their OCD battle. After not finding many, he decided to create the podcast, “The OCD Stories.” (https://theocdstories.com)
The OCD Stories podcast is the number one OCD podcast in the world. Since launching in 2015, it has been downloaded over 5 million times globally! At our February 10th support group, Stuart Ralph will share his triumphant battle with OCD, including what worked for him and how he overcame an OCD flare up. In addition, he will share how his wife Nami has been supportive in his journey. Then he will share with attendees the major lessons he has learned after 417 episodes where he has interviewed some of the top OCD experts and researchers, along with people who have overcome the disorder, as wwith OCell as family members / loved ones of individuals with OCD.
Here are a few example of episodes aimed for family members and loved ones : https://theocdstories.com/tag/family/. You won’t want to miss nine years of knowledge from Stuart, who will share ways your loved one can overcome their OCD and how you can support them.
We look forward to seeing you there this Saturday and the event will not be recorded, so make sure to attend live!
OCD SoCal is constantly hosting free and low-cost events in the local Southern California area. We also host virtual events, which means those events are open to anyone from anywhere! Additionally, we send out information on exciting OCD-related events thrown by other outstanding organizations and individuals.
To stay up-to-date on what is happening with OCD SoCal and the OCD community, sign up to be on our email list. Email: info@ocdsocal.org and include your name in the body of your email and that you would like to be on our mailing list. We will then add you! OCD SoCal sends out a sensible amount of emails monthly and does not share the email list with other organizations.
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), is an OCD-related disorder, meaning it falls under the OCD disorders section in the DSM-5, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. BDD shares similarities, and many differences, with OCD. This article is a good introduction to the disorder, featuring stories of people living with BDD.
We excited to share the article “5 Things People With Body Dysmorphia Want You To Know” by “Wondermind” (Wondermind), a mental health resource, website, and organization (a mental health ecosystem), founded by singer / actress Selena Gomez, her mom Mandy, and Daniella Pierson (Forbes’ 30 Under 30, entrepreneur who has OCD) – https://www.wondermind.com/our-story/! The interviewed featured our Vice President, Chris Trondsen, LMFT, who opened up about his personal struggles with BDD and was also featured as the clinician discussing the disorder in the section with other people’s personal experiences with the disorder.
If you, or someone you love, is interested in BDD, the article shares ‘5 things people with BDD want everyone to know!’ We hope it’s helpful! We would like to thank Selena Gomez and her team, who were incredible and clearly care so much for mental health! Also, a thank you to the journalist who interviewed Chris, Sam Brodsky, who was very knowledgeable and a pro! Click this link to view the article: https://www.wondermind.com/article/body-dysmorphia/ or the embedded link below!
