Please help me welcome Michael Schramm, one of the nicest and most positive people I know! He is truly a day brightener, and I’m so happy to host him today and learn more about his experience with OCD. If you live in the Wichita, Kansas, area be sure to see him—and other amazing advocates and therapists—speak at the OCD Gamechangers event this weekend. You’re about to share your personal experience with OCD at an OCD Gamechangers event in Wichita, Kansas. Why did you decide to tell your story on stage? I decided to tell my story on stage because I know how isolating having OCD can be, and ..read more

My last Q&A was with Claire Ross Dunn, the author of the novel At Last Count, and I’m back to talk about the book! At Last Count was a fast read, but not in a light and fluffy way (although I love those books too!). Since the main character, Paisley, has obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), there is a heaviness to the story, and what kept me reading even when I felt a little heartbroken for her was my desire to know what the heck happened when she was a teenager: Why had she been living in the same dingy apartment since she turned 18, and how could she afford even that in a big city (Toron ..read more

As varied as our OCD stories can be, it always amazes me when I relate with someone’s story as much as I have with that of today’s guest, Claire Ross Dunn. We both have a thing with the number eight, we both have obsessions around a fear of fire, and we both put our book drafts in a drawer for several years before we finally got them published. And I am so glad Claire wrote her book, At Last Count! (Stay tuned for a review in a few weeks.) Read more about Claire’s inspiration for the book, how she navigated OCD before resources were widely available, and how she’s doing now. Thank you, Clair ..read more

Help me welcome today’s guest, OCD advocate Katy Marciniak! As you’re about to read from Katy herself, she has dipped her toe into different kinds of advocacy and has found ways to spread awareness that work best for her and her life as a busy parent of two. I see so much of my story in Katy’s, and I hope you relate, too, even if your OCD journey has looked a little different. Thank you, Katy! When were you diagnosed with OCD, and how long did you experience symptoms before you started to get some answers? My OCD symptoms onset around the age of twelve and I experienced symptoms of vary ..read more

As often as I’ve lamented the lack of accurate media representation of the other aspects of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)—taboo intrusive thoughts, mental compulsions, less quirkiness and more torment—I’ve also understood it’s hard to capture on film. Today’s guest, Peter Cannon, has managed to do just that in Exposure, his new movie that’s about OCD but not just about OCD. Let’s hear from Peter on why he made the film and what he hopes viewers will get out of it. Thank you, Peter! You’ve written and directed a film about OCD called Exposure. Can you tell us about Exposure and what ..read more

Natasha Daniels has been helping the parents of kids with OCD and anxiety navigate the ups and downs of life, from toddlerhood to the teenage years, for most of her career. Now, following the unexpected death of her husband, she’s writing and talking about grief and how to work through it both as a grieving spouse and the parent of three grieving kids. Natasha has dedicated herself to helping others, and we are lucky to have her in our community! Thank you, Natasha! Through your resources in AT Parenting Survival, you offer a wealth of support for parents of children with OCD and anx ..read more

I love to laugh, even about the hard stuff in life. And my guest today, Peter Scobas, loves to joke and make people laugh—even about the hard stuff in life! Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can wreak so much havoc, make us question who we are and where we’re going, but it can help if we’re able to make light of it now and then. Read on to see how Peter takes OCD down a peg. Thank you, Peter! You’ve described your newsletter Psychology Onions as “If The Onion and Psychology Today had a baby.” What inspired you to start it? I suppose I started Psychology Onions because I didn’t feel like I c ..read more

Full-time OCD advocate Tia Wilson is stomping out stigma in nearly everything she does, and she does it with such irresistible humor and creativity you almost forget she’s schooling you on mental health! Thank you, Tia, for sharing your story with us and for giving us hope that life with OCD can be fulfilling and fun. How long have you had OCD? How did you know what you were experiencing might be OCD? I have had OCD for as long as I can remember. Symptoms started when I was as young as three when I put myself in timeout due to scrupulosity OCD (or fear of being immoral). From there, symptoms ..read more

I met today’s guest, Jed Siev, PhD, several years ago at an OCD conference—I think Lee Baer introduced us, and as I mention later in the Q&A, I loved Dr. Baer! One of the reasons I loved him was that he was truly and deeply empathetic toward sufferers of “taboo obsessions” (i.e., me) and worked hard to ease the immense pain they can cause. Jed, too, has dedicated so much time to studying these distressing thoughts and how to help people address them. As long as people like Jed exist, we’ll never stop learning about OCD and how people who have it can live richer, fuller lives despite it. T ..read more

Help me welcome the wonderful Katie O’Dunne to this week’s Q&A! As you’ll soon learn from Katie herself, she is a dedicated advocate for OCD awareness and how the disorder can affect—and be affected by—a person’s faith. Read more from Katie! When were you diagnosed with OCD, and how did you first realize it might explain what you’d been experiencing? Even in my earliest memories, I was consumed by terrifying worries and did everything in my power to alleviate my deepest fears. For instance, I can remember being absolutely plagued by guilt following the death of my aunt to cancer, as I wor ..read more