Understanding OCD: Skills to Control the Conscience and Outsmart Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

by Leslie Shapiro

This is an eye-opening study of one of the most common psychiatric ailments diagnosed today—obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Written by Leslie J. Shapiro, a renowned therapist at one of the most well known OCD facilities in the world, this reference shares effective treatment strategies and clinical factors for helping therapists, mental health professionals, psychology students, clergy, and others deal with patients coping with this illness. The author offers case examples from her 15 years of residential work with patients, demonstrating how sufferers—even the most treatment resistant—can get control of the condition.



Organized into three sections, this guidebook first reveals how OCD and guilt are intertwined and explores survival instincts, cultural factors, and the nature of thoughts. The second section covers aspects of the obsessive conscience such as scrupulosity, moralosity, and obsessive guilt. The book's conclusion describes effective exposure and response prevention strategies for these symptoms and examines methods of treatment that augment and help maintain recovery. An in-depth discussion on the differences between compulsive and impulsive behaviors—as well as other treatment impediments—is included.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mental Health

263 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 10, 2015

Reviews

[Panda Incognito · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of typos and common writing errors, and in addition to this, it also boasts garbled sentences that say the exact opposite of what they are supposed to. Because of this, I feel like I shouldn't give the book four stars, but because it fills in an important gap in mental health literature by addressing the the religious and moral scrupulosity elements of Obsessive Compulsive Order, I'm giving it a high rating anyway.

Most books about OCD provide only a few paragraphs about scrupulosity, and some of them are like, "Religion is nothing more than a personal preference that undercuts psychological health and development!" Thus, I have a HUGE appreciation for this book's nuance, thoroughness, and inclusiveness. The author sidesteps the issue of where Ultimate Truth lies and focuses on the experiences of her patients, sharing case studies from people with a variety of different religious backgrounds and manifesting symptoms. At the end, she strongly encourages therapists to set aside their own feelings about religion to help their clients overcome OCD'S unreasonable demands and irrational feelings of guilt while still maintaining their belief systems.

Even though this book focuses on scrupulosity, I would recommend it to anyone interested in studying OCD in-depth, because it provides an interesting perspective on the disorder as a whole. Most resources focus on the anxiety-fueled elements of OCD without fully addressing the unique implications of patients' guilt and highly sensitive consciences, and even though moral scrupulosity was only a minor, secondary aspect of my OCD experience, I found this book's focus on understanding the OCD-hijacked conscience very helpful for making sense of past experiences and moving past lingering feelings of guilt over my bad thoughts.

[Anna Powers · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book ... haha

[Jeff Finley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book about guilt, moralosity, perfectionism, etc.