Customer Reviews

Overcoming Obsessive Thoughts: How to Gain Control of Your OCD

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One of the most powerful attributes of this book is the idea that in order for one to overcome obsessive thoughts one must actually avoid using mental coping mechanisms. Its ironic that the remedy and even cure is often contingent upon an individuals willingness to go in the opposite direction of his thoughts. I am a current graduate student and CPA who has been struggling with OCD just about all my life. As soon as I read this book, it changed my life. Everytime I get the urge to respond to an OCD thought I prohibit myself no matter how hard it is from employing mental coping mechanisms which actually fuel OCD and make it worse in the long run. I have been using this strategy for the last month and my life has changed. When you actually do not use mental coping mechanisms your OCD thoughts will diminish. In the past, I would use mental coping mechanisms over an over again as a temporary remedy. However, after reading this awesome book I stopped employing the coping mechanisms and allowed my thoughts to float resisting the urge to respond to them no matter how hard my brain was telling them to. The result FREEDOM.

My boyfriend was diagnosed with OCD a little less than a year ago. While I found many books on OCD, and several written for family/friends of those with OCD, these books mainly focused on "visible" obsessions and compulsions (checking, washing, cleaning, rituals, etc.), rather than intrusive and obsessive thoughts, which is what he primarily suffers from.

This book was an AMAZING find, as it focuses ONLY on obsessive thoughts, and does a fantastic job at it. While it does give an overview of what OCD is, it does so with the assumption that the person reading suspects that they might have unhealthy obsessive thoughts, and that they are not yet diagnosed with OCD.

There are entire chapters dedicated each to repugnant obsessions (themes of harm, violence, and sex) and to religious obsessions, which in other books are not explained in depth at all. The book also gives methods to overcome the obsessive thoughts which are challenging but doable, and explains why other methods of "stopping" thoughts are ineffective and actually cause OCD to persist.

Most importantly, the book focuses on the fact that the person is not sinful (religious obsessions) or [...](repugnant obsessions) for having these intrusive thoughts.

This booked helped me to understand what my boyfriend is going through a million times better than any other book on OCD he or I have read, and he agrees that the book is right on track. I would recommend this book to anyone who is, or is close to, someone who struggles with obsessive thoughts. I can't stress my satisfaction enough!

This book is an excellent resource for people struggling with Pure-O OCD. Most books on OCD deal with the disorder and ritualistic physical behaviours which provide insight but don't offer concrete solutions on overcoming the anxiety associated with the thoughts. This book focuses on why you have the thoughts and why they won't go away. It also explains why you have great anxiety associated with the thoughts and confirms you're not a bad person for having them. Everyone has irrational thoughts from time to time but those who suffer from Pure-O OCD equate having the thought equal to performing the action which causes the anxiety. It offers solutions to overcoming the anxiety which are VERY challenging but worth the effort. One month after reading this book, my anxiety has decreased 85-90% and when the anxiety goes away, so do the thoughts! It requires self discipline and can be scary but worth the effort. I recommend this book to anyone struggling with Pure-O OCD or anyone who worries excessively.

This book is filled with exercises to help you take a look at your thoughts and how you react to them. Don't expect to finish this book in a few days. It will take a couple of months to do all the exercises. (Don't cheat yourself.) I think this book is a good tool for people suffering from OCD or "Pure O". Intrusive thoughts that stick are unpleasant, I know, and this book will help you to look at those thoughts for what they are, and guide you to the next step. By doing the exercises I think you will gain a different perspective on your thoughts.

If you struggle with violent or unpleasant thoughts which just keep coming back, you may have obsessive-compulsive disorder - and if so, OVERCOMING OBSESSIVE THOUGHTS can help get a handle on the problem. Learn to identify ritualistic and intrusive thought patterns, and learn how to deflect them and turn them away with an excellent self-help guide to why obsessive thoughts persist and how psychologists treat the disorder.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Overcoming Obsessive Thoughts is the best book on OCD I have ever read, and I have read many OCD books. It is great for "Pure O" OCD sufferers. It nicely covers the paradoxical nature of techniques used to deal with OCD. When all is said and done, it makes perfect sense!

This is the first book I bought after being diagnosed with OCD. I found myself starring and underlining so many words, as the author describes the experience of OCD so accurately. A very good buy.

This comment is completely inappropriate for this site. Whilst thoughts can never be harmful to an OCD sufferer this kind of comment can be - it is a striking example of exactly the kind of OCD-perpetuating delusion the Overcoming Obsessions book is designed to treat. The first step to beating OCD is ignoring this kind of rubbish.

Very good and informative book to all of those who suffer extremely from anxiety pure-o and ocd

If this book were candy, I would consider it of the cotton candy variety. All fluff and no substance. If you know what CBT and ERT are, then find another book. As a long-time sufferer of OCD I found absolutely nothing helpful. It's just a rehash of what's been known and practiced for the last two decades. This book pales in comparison to the incisive and highly innovative 4 steps found in Dr. Charles Schwartz's Brain Lock.