Overcoming Compulsive Checking Free Your Mind from OCD

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 any time—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.

This book has been awarded The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Self-Help Seal of Merit — an award bestowed on outstanding self-help books that are consistent with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles and that incorporate scientifically tested strategies for overcoming mental health difficulties. Used alone or in conjunction with therapy, our books offer powerful tools readers can use to jump-start changes in their lives.

“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

Imagine being unable to leave the house without first checking the stove, the faucets, the lock on the door ten, fifty, one hundred fifty times. Even performing the simplest daily routines can be a source of considerable fear and anxiety for someone suffering from the most often seen form of obsessive-complusive disorder, checking. These individuals engage in these kinds of behaviors to avoid some perceived danger, the looming consequence they fear if they don't check and recheck and check again the objects of their obsession. Even though the effects of checking are dramatic, research suggests that behavior therapy and medications can enable 80 percent of checking sufferers to significantly reduce or eliminate their symptoms.

While many books offer generic strategies for treating the whole spectrum of obsessive-compulsive symptoms, this is the first book to apply the proven-effective techniques of cognitive behavioral therapy specifically to overcome checking. Its engaging exercises teach you to identify your specific ritualistic compulsion, and then help you build skills to free yourself from obsession. The book helps you confront your fears and experiment with safe, controlled exposure to situations youíve been avoiding. Chapters further help you to troubleshoot particularly difficult situations and educate family members and loved ones