Customer Reviews

Stop Obsessing!: How to Overcome Your Obsessions and Compulsions

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

...get this book. My girlfriend has suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder for over 10 years. Recently it began to significantly impact her life, affecting her job and threatening our relationship. When she decided to face her illness head on, she got this book and it has helped her enormously. Reading it has also given me insight into what I had regarded as her irrational phobias and strange behavior.

Clearly and compassionately written, the book explains the characteristics of OCD and explains the different types and subtypes of OCD sufferers, from washers and checkers to repeaters and hoarders. With a minimum of psychobabble, it then lays out excellent concrete and focused exercises and strategies to help OCD sufferers desensitize themselves, conquer their anxieties, and take control of their lives.

My girlfriend is a compulsive "checker" and by using some of the techniques in this book she has been able to significantly control her OCD behavior and thoughts. It does take time, patience, and practice, but it can work. Just as importantly, I think, the book helped her recognize and acknowledge her problem, made her feel that she was not alone, and gave her hope.

As a partner of someone with OCD, the book has helped me have more understanding and compassion, and taught me ways to be supportive of her in ways that are healthy and do not feed into her obsessiveness and compulsive ritual actions.

On the subject of psychopharmaceuticals, the book is brief and a bit dated, but given that this edition is already a few years old, that is to be expected. You can get more current info from your doctor or psychotherapist. That said, the cognitive-behavioral therapy approach the book outlines is still sound and on the money.

I've read many books on OCD - I've been a sufferer since I was a child. This is definitely the best one yet! It offers so much hope: strategies for postponing compulsive actions, quizzes and checklists, etc. I have even tried a few, and they actually worked!! That's a new one for me. YOu definitely feel as if you can get help from this book. I congratulate the author - she must be an amazing therapist!

I have OCD and didn't understand what I had or how to treat it. I was treated with medication for 5 years and had to go off it because of liver problems all the while not understanding the kind of OCD I have. I had a relapse about 10 months later and really struggled for answers. I discovered the self help books here at amazon and found this book. I am a pure obsessive and ritual thinker and never scored high on any OCD test. This book helped me understand what I have, how to treat it, and has specific suggestions on developing a CBT program that works for me. It has been such a great help to me I can't begin to tell you. I really recommend this book to all OCD suffers but especially to you pure obsessives as there is not much out there for us. I read three books and this was by far the best.

OCD can be a devastating blow to the flow of everyday life. I know because I have it. This book covers all areas of OCD. From hoarders, to obsessive thinkers and worriers. This book can shed light on a subject that affects 2.5% of the population.

This book is an invaluable piece of literature.

I've read many good books about OCD, but this is the one that offers the best help for those called "pure obsessionals".

On the advise of my sister, I am purchaing this book today. You may ask yourself, how can I rate this book 5-star if I have not read it yet. Well, my sister has on the advice of her therapist. With the help of her therapist and working through the exericses in this book, she has overcome most of her obsessions (in under 1 year). Personally, I cannot wait to dive in. I am looking forward to the freedom away from my obsessions and compulsions. The biggest one is germs, followed by a range of other "quirks". Good Luck to you all. OCD can be beaten!

I had never allowed myself to seriously think that I had OCD, I was just a little quirky, I thought. What I had was a mild range of compulsions that relieved my anxiety - counting (silently)by twos to twenty, constantly rechecking to see if I'd locked the house, the car, turned off my headlights, feeling obligated to read anything that even slightly interested me (and most things did, because what if there was something in that particular book that I needed to know?), mentally repeating words I'd hear, and all the while I'd think something wrong here. Well, anyway, among the solutions I've found have been in this book. Train yourself to reduce the compulsions (mine distracted me from my real fears), it can be done. There may be not cure but there is effective management.

After our son was diagnosed with OCD we went from one doctor to another. This book actually gave us strategies we do in our family to help him. He is finally coming around to a more normal way of life and is getting a grip on knowing how to divert his thoughts away from his obessions.

I was diagnosed with OCD in 1997 and have been treated with Zoloft and psychotherapy. I thought this book sounded good so I read the beginning of it. Towards the middle of the book I got to the authors' suggestions for treating obsessions about public restroom sanitation. I was truly disturbed by their suggestion: to smear your own fecal matter on your body in order to overcome your fear of contamination. I thought this was truly disgusting and did not finish reading the book. Maybe the ending had some great advice but I definitely do not recommend this book. There are much better ways of treating OCD.