Recommended Books

Regain control over your life. If you find yourself tormented by unwanted, disturbing thoughts or compelled to perform rigidly set action to reduce your stress, you may be one of the millions of Americans who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It may be as mild a doubting whether you turned off the iron before leaving the house, or it may be as severe and disabling as washing your hands for hours each day. But whatever its degree, OCD is distressing, uncomfortable, and can disrupt your life or destroy your most important relationships. Until recently, OCD was considered to be almost untreatable. Now it is known to be a highly treatable disorder using behavior therapy. Drs. Foa and Wilson, internationally known authorities on the treatment of anxiety disorders, have developed a revolutionary self-help program that can help relieve crippling obsessions and compulsions.

In Stop Obsessing! you will discover: A series of questionnaires to help you analyze the severity of your obsessions and compulsions. An initial self-help program to overcome milder symptoms and reduce more severe cases. The most effective way to help you let go of your obsessions and gain control over your compulsions. An intensive three-week program for anyone who spends more than two hours a day on obsessions or rituals. Expert guidance in determining whether you need the added help of a professional. Stop Obsessing!'s powerful and reliable techniques have helped thousands of patients with OCD reduce or eliminate unwanted thoughts and rituals.

Brain Lock by Jeffrey M. Schwartz

An estimated 5 million Americans suffer from obsessive- compulsive disorder (OCD) and live diminished lives in which they are compelled to obsess about something or to repeat a similar task over and over. Traditionally, OCD has been treated with Prozac or similar drugs. The problem with medication, aside from its cost, is that 30 percent of those treated don't improve. And among those who do respond, when the pills stop, the symptoms invariably return.

In Brain Lock, Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz presents a simple four-step method for overcoming OCD that is so effective, it's now used in academic treatment centers throughout the world. Proven by brain-imaging tests to actually alter the brain's chemistry, this method doesn't rely on psychopharmaceuticals. Instead, patients use cognitive self-therapy and behavior modification to develop new patterns of response to their obsessions. In essence, they use the mind to fix the brain. Using the real-life stories of actual patients, Brain Lock explains this revolutionary method and provides readers with the inspiration and tools to free themselves from their psychic prisons and regain control of their lives.

This book is a self-treatment program for obsessive-compulsive disorder that shares personal case stories and demonstrates how sufferers can apply a drug-free, brain metabolic behavioral therapy to their own lives. Through the real-life stories of actual patients, this book offers OCD sufferers a simple four-step program to overcome their disorder without the use of drugs.

A Return to Innocence by Jeffrey M. Schwartz

In A Return to Innocence, psychiatrist and neuroscientist Jeffrey M. Schwartz--a Jewish student of both Buddhist meditation and Christian philosophy--combines 3,000 years of wisdom with cutting edge brain and behavioral research to guide us in recovering our souls, our safety, our integrity and our capacity to love. After a 35-year experiment in unbridled self-gratification that has left a burden of tremendous suffering in its wake, at last we are ready to understand that innocence--in its original meaning of "not harming"--is actually the highest and most difficult of human achievements. A practical path to this wellspring of inner purity was mapped out 2,500 years ago by Gotama Buddha--in Dr. Schwartz's view the greatest psychologist who ever lived--whose still-fresh insights into human nature can serve as a bridge joining the wisdom of the Bible to the discoveries of 21st century science.

A deeply felt, thought-provoking exchange of letters between "spiritual coach" Dr. Schwartz and sixteen-year-old Patrick Buckley, the son of a single mother, frames this fascinating, powerful code for living that shows how the best in each of us can thrive. Spiritual and philosophical ideas become hands-on tools for dealing with real-life dilemmas as Dr. Schwartz addresses Patrick's urgent questions about morality, responsibility, and freedom of choice.

This book offers an empowering combination of hope, inspiration, accurate information about the biology of human nature, as well as desperately-needed guidance for keeping that nature on a life-affirming path.

Tormenting Thoughts and Secret Rituals : The Hidden Epidemic of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder by Ian Osborn

Obsessive-compulsive disorder has been called the "hidden epidemic": only a very few of the many people who have it reveal their condition. Ian Osborn is one of those who suffers from OCD, and his personal experience imbues this book with an exceptional clarity and understanding. Dr. Osborn discusses the various forms OCD takes and--using the most common focuses of obsession--presents detailed and dramatic cases whose objects are filth, harm, lust, and blasphemy. He explains how the disorder is currently diagnosed, and how it differs from addiction, worrying, and preoccupation. He summarizes the recent findings in the areas of brain biology, neuroimaging, and genetics that show OCD to be a distinct chemical disorder of the brain. He contrasts OCD with other "OCD spectrum disorders" such as anorexia nervosa and hair pulling, and he provides a historical overview that traces the development over the centuries of both behavior therapy and medications.

Mastery of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Workbook by Edna Foa and Michael Kozak

This workbook was written by Drs. Edna Foa and Michael Kozak, recognized experts in the field. The workbook helps OCD patients identify the symptoms of OCD and to develop and put into practice exercises to reduce these unwanted symptoms. It is available in both a therapist's and client's version.

Trapped Within Documentary by National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, California

This one hour documentary, hosted by Mariette Hartley, was produced jointly by the California Alliance for the Mentally Ill (CAMI) and the OC & Spectrum Disorders Association (formerly the OC Foundation of California). It features courageous patients stepping forward to share the dread, terror, and horrible haunting images of OCD. Leading researchers and therapists offer fresh insights into the illness and new treatments that have brought hope to so many.

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