Anxiety & OCD in Men
When most people think about anxiety, they probably inherently think women. When some men think about therapy, they picture mining their past and endlessly talking about “how they feel about
Read More
3 Ways to Flex Your Distress Tolerance Muscle
Here’s a little story for you. I thought I was fairly distress tolerant … until we had to do rowing time trials at the end of a grueling workout. I
Read More
What Is Distress Tolerance? (And Why It Matters.)
Recently I’ve become a bit obsessed with the idea of distress tolerance. It’s “An individual’s perceived or actual ability to withstand negative emotional or physical states” (Brown, Lejuez, Kahler, Strong
Read More
Distraction: Love It or Leave It?
In my last article, I talked about Dr. Sally Winston’s notion of the “while.” Essentially, Dr. Winston suggests that we feel the feelings WHILE we take the action. You don’t
Read More
Why You Want to Feel Anxious, and Do It Anyway
I can’t remember where I first heard Dr. Sally Winston talk about “the while,” but I do remember the light bulb going off. I was so excited because it made
Read More
Urge Surfing: How to Ride Out an Urge
Coined by Dr. G Alan Marlatt, PhD, “urge surfing” is a term meant to help people ride out the desire or urge to do something that they really don’t want
Read More
Mindfulness Isn’t What You Think It Is
One of my pet peeves (and I have many) is when people say, “mindfulness doesn’t work for me.” I always ask, “what did you expect it to do?” They invariably
Read More
5 Tips for Handling Thanksgiving When You Have OCD
Here in the U.S., Thanksgiving is right around the corner. And then comes Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year’s … it can be a lot of pressure with expectations and togetherness.
Read More
How to Support Someone With OCD
I think it’s probably fair to say that many of us have some level of fear around the holidays and Covid. Is being vaccinated enough? Will we unknowingly expose or
Read More
Understanding Your Amygdala
If you’re at all familiar with the amygdala, you know it affects so much. And if you’re learning how to respond differently to your anxiety or OCD, understanding this part
Read More
5 Ways to Get Out of Emotional Reasoning
We all engage in emotional reasoning, which is using our feelings as proof of something and/or allowing those feelings guide to guide our behavior. Who can’t relate to feeling something
Read More