Overcoming Compulsive Checking: Free Your Mind from OCD [Paperback]

Paul Munford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2004

If you struggle with compulsive checking, one of the most common types of obsessive-compulsive disorder, you know some things all too well: the pain and frustration of feeling irresponsible and careless, the anxiety caused by the fear that you might hurt or offend someone and by living with the worry of criticism. But what you may not know is that there are things you can do—by yourself, at anytime—to start feeling better. Most books on OCD focus on many types of this complex group of disorders. This book offers a program designed with you in mind, focusing just on your problem with checking.

Start with the book’s self-assessment tools, which will help you understand the scope of your particular problem. Then get ready to do something about it. Based on his decades of clinical experience, author Paul Munford has developed a treatment for compulsive checking called exposure, ritual prevention, and awareness therapy (ERPA), which is adapted in this book for you to use as a self-care approach. Through this process, you’ll learn to confront your fears and experiment with safe, controlled exposure to situations you’ve been avoiding. Once you’ve achieved security and peace of mind, find out how to maintain your progress and deal with particularly challenging situations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“I would like to full heartedly endorse Munford’s book. This book is written by one of the experts in the field of behavioral treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Munford brilliantly uses more than thirty years of experience in the treatment of this disorder. The book is written in simple language and gives excellent practical examples that can help patients and their therapists achieve success in fighting this terrible illness. This book can be used as a treatment manual or self-help tool. I consider it to be a great contribution to the field.”
—Alexander Bystritsky, MD, Ph.D., clinical professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine, director of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic and director of the Partial Hospitalization Program for Treatment Resistant Anxiety and OCD at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital

From the Publisher

This is the first book to adapt clinically-effective cognitive behavioral techniques specifically to the treatment of checking, the most common form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. 6 million people in the United States have OCD; the fourth-most common mental disorder. OCD is more prevalent than more visible disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and panic disorder. This is the first self-help book specifically written to people with compulsive checking. Research indicates that CBT alone is as effective for treating OCD as combination treatment using medication and CBT.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications; 1 edition (December 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572243783
• ISBN-13: 978-1572243781
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #227,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OCD Is Not A Psychotic Disorder, December 13, 2010

By 

Stephen C. Bird (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Overcoming Compulsive Checking: Free Your Mind from OCD (Paperback)

Being a person who suffers from a mild case of OCD rituals (for example: checking electrical appliances and stoves, turning lights off or on before leaving the house, checking letters for curse words that I haven't written but I somehow believe are there, obsessions with certain numbers and/or patterns of numbers), I utilized this book in the context of self-help after it was suggested to me by an acquaintance. This text will be helpful to those who suffer from the following manifestations of OCD: fear of making mistakes, contamination obsessions/washing compulsions, harm obsessions/repeating compulsions, sexual obsessions/compulsive confessing and reassurance seeking, blasphemous obsessions/praying and confessing compulsions, obsessions of losing or discarding something important/hoarding, obsessions about symmetry and orderliness/arranging and ordering compulsions (these examples are taken directly from Chapter 1 of this book).

The double-edged sword of perfectionism can also be a complicating factor in cases of OCD, in that it can lead one to obsessive/compulsive rereading and rewriting (which was necessary for me to complete this review). I believe that OCD is also connected to a self-image problem, as in low self-esteem/self-hatred; an individual who believes he is "not good enough" is more likely to be afflicted with OCD. Of course, theories like these can be subjective, and I live in New York City where, as a stand up comic I know put it, "everyone's in therapy and no-one's getting better". That being said, I do have a friend who had to leave her job on at least one occasion to go home and make sure she'd turned the faucet off; she sought help via cognitive behavioral therapy, which according to the latest research in that area, can be effective for those suffering from severe OCD. Apparently a number of those with OCD also have a fear of being gay; it is referred to as "gay OCD" or "HOCD" (this area is not dealt with in "Overcoming Compulsive Checking"). Chapter 4 of this text advises: "Face, Embrace and Erase the Fear" which, as a potential solution, makes the most sense to me. In the end it all comes down to facing fear. Once the fears are faced (as Juliet was finally able to do in Federico Fellini's "Juliet of the Spirits"), their power over an individual diminishes greatly. Of course, this takes focus--easier said that done. In closing, in the final chapter of this book (Chapter 8) the author, Paul Munford, correctly states "OCD is not a psychotic disorder". And so it is not necessarily debilitating.

Stephen C. Bird, author of "Hideous Exuberance: A Satire"

3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing new, October 1, 2011

By 

Nancy B. Madden - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Overcoming Compulsive Checking: Free Your Mind from OCD (Paperback)

This book is just how to do Cognitive Behavior Therapy. If you have already tried it, or it has not worked for you in the past, this book may not be for you. Very informative, if that is what you are looking for. Says it may not work for the most severe cases of OCD (anything worse than moderate OCD), which is what my boyfriend has.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Proven strategies to overcome compulsive checking!, May 2, 2009

By 

Michael A. Tompkins "San Francisco Bay Area C... (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Overcoming Compulsive Checking: Free Your Mind from OCD (Paperback)

Few clinicians understand the nature and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder as thoroughly as Dr. Munford. He has written a book that is thoughtful, sensitive, and pragmatic and will certainly help anyone who follows his straightforward and proven strategies to overcome compulsive checking. I recommend his book to those who suffer with compulsive checking as well as to clinicians who are looking for ways to help their clients overcome this debilitating problem.