Podcast – The SOS Show with Suchita Bhhatia
This is my interview on a mental health podcast "The SOS Show with Suchita Bhhatia" in which I talk about my personal story and about how OCD needs to be dealt with. https://omny.fm/shows/the-sos-show-with-suchita/ep-40-understanding-treating-ocd
Locus of Control
Locus of Control (image courtesy - Min Thein, pexels.com) Years ago, when I was a child, a family friend had come over to visit us. He was supposedly a good chess player, and as mothers are wont to extol the talents of their children, my mom mentioned that I played...
Work Stress!
Work stress! (Picture courtesy - www.pexels.com) “How in the hell could a man enjoy being awakened at 6:30 a.m. by an alarm clock, leap out of bed, dress, force-feed, shit, piss, brush teeth and hair, and fight traffic to get to a place where essentially you made lots...
What is Pure-O OCD?
Some people with OCD have visible compulsions. Like in contamination OCD, compulsions include washing hands repeatedly. Or ‘just right’ OCD will have the person repeating an activity till it feels 'just right' to him. However, there are manifestations of OCD which...
Distraction – compulsion or technique?
Distraction is very poorly understood in the context of OCD or other anxiety disorders. Most books or literature on anxiety disorders tout distraction as a way of getting past intrusive thoughts. You get an intrusive thought? Distract yourself by thinking of something...
How do I stop overthinking?
One of the most damning symptoms of mental disorders like anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, etc is overthinking. While on the surface it seems like overthinking may help arrive at solutions on how to beat the problem, it rarely works that way in case of these disorders....
How do I handle OCD without drugs?
This question gets asked repeatedly on Quora, a place where I answer questions on OCD. I thought it was worthwhile converting it into a blog. So here is my answer to it: Firstly, do ascertain if it is OCD. Have you gotten it diagnosed? Have you taken the YBOCS test?...
I don’t know, Maybe!
One of the important things a client needs to keep in mind while seeking coaching, is the need to be completely open, and honest with the coach. In a sense, the coach is like the lawyer who needs to be aware of all aspects of a case, lest there be nasty surprises...
Be WEARY
Often, I come across clients who say nothing has worked for them. That they've tried everything and that everything has failed. They may think that their disorder is refractory (one that doesn't respond to treatment), or they may think that the therapist was not right...
Cognitive Distortions (4 of 4)
To recap, Cognitive Distortions are distortions in our thinking that disallow us from having a rational view of what is happening around us. Because we are looking at the world with a distorted filter, this often leads to negative emotions creeping to the surface and...
Cognitive Distortions (3 of 4)
To recap, Cognitive Distortions are ways in which our mind lies to us and tries to convince us into believing a distorted version of the truth. These distortions reinforce negative beliefs and make us feel bad about ourselves, or look at other people, or experiences...
Reassurance
One of the important reasons why getting over OCD is so difficult despite every effort on part of the sufferer and the therapist is that there are some hidden compulsions that may not get identified. These may not only hamper the process of recovery, but also could...
Modeling
During the course of ERP, a sufferer is asked to manage his anxieties, specifically by doing something that he has been avoiding or by not doing something that he has been don't repeatedly. For example, if the person has been avoiding touching the washroom door handle...
Cognitive Distortions (2 of 4)
In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the first three Cognitive Distortions, that is Filtering, Black or White thinking, and Overgeneralisation. To recap, Cognitive Distortions are the anomalies in our thinking patterns which try to convince us that things are worse...
What is OCD?
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an insidious mental disorder characterised by the occurrence of highly intrusive and disturbing obsessions (thoughts) that make the sufferer extremely anxious and force him to perform certain actions – either physical, or mental,...
Anxiety Graph
What happens to a sufferer when anxiety hits him? When anxiety hits a sufferer, he feels incapacitated. There are various physical and mental manifestations that may indicate anxiety. Some of these symptoms are: Physical Issues: Sweating Stomach issues Panic attacks...
What is ERP?
ERP stands for Exposure and Response Prevention. ERP aims at desensitizing the OCD sufferer to his anxieties. This is done by systematically exposing him to these anxiety inducing stimuli and preventing him from indulging in the compulsions to relieve the anxiety. ERP...
People Types
Understanding people has slowly become a necessary skill to develop. If we want to get something done from someone, it is important to know what kind of a person we are dealing with. It is fascinating to understand what makes people tick. Why some people react in one...
Rewiring the brain
Depending upon what we have been doing all our lives, which actions we have been repeating, which actions we have stayed away from, our brain gets wired. The things we do often, become easy for us. We do not have to think about them, while doing them. This includes...
Socratic Questioning
On any given day, about 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts cross a human mind. That means, if you don’t sleep, it is a little less than a thought per second. And if you do sleep, it is far more. Thoughts flash past our minds so fast, that we do not even have the time to...
Starting Small
OCD requires ERP for effective uprooting of the compulsions, but as explained in the ERP blog, it requires back breaking effort from the sufferer. And the sufferer often finds himself less than adequately equipped to handle the pressure exerted by the response...
Cognitive Distortions (1 of 4)
If you ever feel in your gut that what you are thinking about yourself, or about a situation, is not really true but you are still not able to shake away the feeling, and you feel yourself being pulled down on account of that, you may be experiencing the effect of...
I endeavour to make myself available
- In person, over phone, or online, so that distance is not a constraint
- Between sessions, for quick consultations if you get stuck somewhere
- To the caregiver for coping with the stress
Call me up on +91 98925 46024 or write to me on snpunjabi@gmail.com.
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