Being Me with OCD : How I Learned to Obsess Less and Live My Life, livre ebook

Foreword by Elizabeth McIngvale

Introduction: Climbing Up from Rock Bottom

Chapter 1: OCD and Me

• What Is OCD?
• It’s Official: I Have OCD
• What Do OCD Symptoms Look Like?
• Types of OCD
• Karissa’s Story: What If?
• Josh’s Story: I Had a Germ Phobia
• Why Do I Have OCD?
• Sophie’s Story, Part 1: My OCD Started with a Dog Attack
• What Now?
• Sophie’s Story, Part 2: I Got the Help I Needed

Chapter 2: Reaching Out

• Advocating for Yourself
• Finding a Psychiatrist or Therapist
• My First Visit with a Psychiatrist
• Sometimes Labels Are a Good Thing
• Nicole’s Story: Being Diagnosed Was a Relief

Chapter 3: How Therapy Can Help

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
• Robert’s Story: Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy
• Helped Me
• Facing Your Fears on Your Own
• “I Don’t Want to Go to Therapy”

Chapter 4: How Medicine Can Help

• Finding the Right Medication
• Kiersten’s Story: It Took Time to Find the Right Medicine for Me
• Side Effects
• Worrisome Side Effects
• Paying for Medication
• I Missed a Dose (and a Dose and a Dose and Another Dose)
• I Took Too Many Pills!
• How Long Will I Need to Be on Medicine?

Chapter 5: What Else Helps?

• Self-Help
• Beyond Basic Outpatient Therapy
• Rachel’s Story: I Got the Help I Needed in a Residential Program
• Surgery
• Believe in Yourself

Chapter 6: I Am Not OCD: Popular Perceptions and Stigmas

• Molly’s Story: Stigma Made OCD Feel Worse
• Everyone and Their Brother Think They Have OCD
• What OCD Is Not
• Using Humor as a Coping Method
• Times Have Changed
• OCD and Related Disorders

Chapter 7: Being You with OCD

• Putting Yourself in Control
• Building a Community of Support
• OCD and Dating
• OCD and School (and Work)
• Keeping Realistic Expectations
• Looking Back
• Looking Ahead

References and Resources

Acknowledgments

About the Author