The OCD Workbook

Your Guide to Breaking Free from Obsessive- Compulsive Disorder

By Bruce M. Hyman, Ph.D. and Cherry Pedrick, R.N.

About The OCD Workbook, 2nd edition

The OCD Workbook, 2nd edition is the latest revision of the classic OCD self-help book from New Harbinger Publications. Below is an overview of this exciting book. You can view the Table of Contents, or read about what experts are saying about The OCD Workbook.

Order here: The OCD Workbook: Your Guide to Breaking Free from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

OCD Workbook Rated #1 Self-Help Book

In a study published recently in a leading psychology journal, The OCD Workbook was ranked number one among 50 top-selling psychology self-help books. Using a 0-100 scale, a panel of expert psychologists rated each book along several dimensions, including overall usefulness, the book's grounding in present psychological science, and the degree to which the book promotes reasonable expectations of improvement. In addition, the raters examined the extent to which the book offers specific guidance for implementing the self-help techniques, the monitoring of treatment progress, and whether the book offers advice that is potentially harmful. Ratings for the fifty books ranged from 19 to 95, with higher scores signifying better overall quality. The OCD Workbook was given a rating of 94, which was the top score.

Source: Redding, RE, et al. (2008). Popular self-help books for anxiety, depression, and trauma: How scientifically grounded and useful are they? Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 39 (5): 537-545. [Download the article now.]

Overview of The OCD Workbook

Once thought to be a comparatively rare mental illness, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is now known to affect about two out of every 100 Americans. OCD has recently attracted considerable media attention, including numerous major news magazine articles, television news program reports, and coverage in popular culture-notably in the UPN television series Monk. Because of this higher profile, more and more people struggling with the disorder are recognizing their symptoms, looking for information about the problem, and seeking treatment.

Since its first publication in 1999, the OCD Workbook has become among the most trusted and recommended OCD resources available. More than 100,000 copies have provided help and hope to people with the disorder, and therapists have come to regard the book as a useful adjunct to their private practices. This fully revised and expanded edition includes new findings on the causes of OCD, including genetic research. It offers information on treatment options including new medications and day-to-day coping strategies for people with OCD. The new edition includes expanded coverage of related disorders like body dysmorphic disorder, trichotillomania, and skin picking. New material on relapse prevention, OCD in children, and family involvement in OCD round out this important book.

OCD behaviors can take a number of forms; compulsive washing, checking, hoarding, and obsessive thoughts are among the better known. Individuals with OCD can experience significant reduction in quality of life because of the disorder. They may lose the ability to work, to function socially, or even to accomplish basic tasks like shopping and driving. The good news is that a number of treatment options have proven effective at controlling OCD. This book is a great place for anyone with OCD to start looking for help.

The OCD Workbook offers expert guidance and an intensive, self-directed program to help you overcome crippling obsessions and compulsions. Using real-life stories of other OCD sufferers, this step-by-step guide provides you with the tools and inspiration to free yourself from the distress of OCD and regain control over your life. In The OCD Workbook you will learn:

• What OCD is and how it is most effectively treated
• Powerful intervention techniques to block, alter, or delay compulsive rituals
• Effective strategies to challenge and unlearn faulty thought patterns
• How to overcome obsessional fears and worries
• How family members can support you in breaking free from OCD - do's and don'ts

Table of Contents

About the Authors:
Bruce M. Hyman, Ph.D., is in private practice in Hollywood, Florida and is Founder and Director of the OCD Resource Center of Florida, specializing in the treatment of adults and children with OCD and related anxiety disorders. Visit Dr. Hyman's website at www.OCDhope.

Cherry Pedrick, R.N., is a registered nurse and freelance writer. She lives in North Las Vegas, Nevada. Visit her website Turning OCD Caterpillars into Butterflies.

What the Experts are Saying about "The OCD Workbook"

"This is the best new book on behavior therapy for OCD that has come out in almost a decade. It includes detailed, easy-to-read descriptions of the very latest behavioral techniques for OCD, information that is not found in any other book. Hyman and Pedrick's step by step descriptions of difficult-to-implement strategies such as imaginal exposure are the best found anywhere. Hyman and Pedrick spell out the latest behavioral techniques for OCD in such detail, in formats that are so easily understood, that many OCDers will now be able to treat themselves just with this manual. The OCD Workbook is a remarkable triumph for OCDers."

- Ian Osborn, M.D., Author of Tormenting Thoughts and Secret Rituals

"This is an excellently organized self-directed program to assist sufferers of OCD. The examples of cognitive-behavioral treatment components for adults and OCD children are very comprehensive. Parents and family will find support and assistance in breaking the pattern of enabling and therapists will be able to implement behavioral assignments that will decrease OCD suffering."

- Blanche Freund, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Miami School of Medicine

"There has long been a need for a workbook that puts concrete instructions for doing therapy directly into the hands of people with OCD and their families. Bruce Hyman and Cherry Pedrick have admirably filled that need with this book. The OCD Workbook provides critically important practical information on how to overcome a wide variety of OCD symptoms."

- Jeffrey M. Schwartz, M.D., Associate Research Professor at UCLA School of Medicine and author of Brain Lock and A Return to Innocence

"This book offers a clear explanation of the modern treatment of OCD. I personally expect to recommend it to many of my OCD patients. It contains clear step-by-step procedures for exposure and ritual prevention that is a fundamental part of what we know to be the most powerful treatment for OCD. In addition I was pleased to find step-by-step procedures and examples of how to use cutting edge cognitive techniques. It offers clear suggestions for working with a variety of forms of OCD including scrupulosity, hit and run, and hoarding problems. This book should be helpful to people who need to do self-directed treatments as well as to therapists who can use the examples and steps to treat OCD effectively."

- James M. Claiborn, Ph.D., ABBP, Psychologist and member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation

"More than just a workbook, Hyman and Pedrick define and demystify Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. In addition they offer therapists and patients a highly specific and useful treatment program. The OCD Workbook should be an important addition to your collection of OCD treatment literature."

- Robert H. Ackerman, MSW, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn

"What a delight to read The OCD Workbook!" In my twenty years of clinical practice and research involving people suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, this is the best self-help resource I have come across. Dr. Bruce Hyman, a clinical social worker, and Cherry Pedrick, a registered nurse, have written a terrific resource for persons with OCD and their families. Plus, this book should be on every therapist's bookshelf. Thoroughly grounded in the principles of evidence-based practice, The OCD Workbook is a very readable, interesting, and easy-to-understand manual. I highly recommend it."

- Bruce A. Thyer, Ph.D., Research Professor of Social Work, School of Social Work, University of Georgia, Athens

"The OCD Workbook" is extremely helpful to patients with OCD and their families. It is full of useful information on symptoms and causes of OCD and it provides an easy to follow step-by-step guide to combating this debilitating disorder. The authors have managed to make complex ideas, theories and treatment delightfully engaging, humorous and simple. For those who want to learn whether some of their behaviors or thoughts are obsessive or compulsive, a checklist of symptoms and assessment tools are provided. I would highly recommend this workbook to my patients and their families."

- Fugen Neziroglu, Ph.D., ABBP, Board Certified in Behavioral Psychology, Co-Author of Over and Over Again

"The OCD Workbook is a practical and comprehensive therapeutic guide. It will assist millions of people with OCD and their support persons in recovery from this serious disorder."

- Barbara Van Noppen, M.S.W., Research Associate, Department of Psychiatry in Human Behavior, Brown University

"The OCD Workbook is readable and informative. I would encourage my patients to read it to learn more about OCD, its symptoms, and how we can be partners in its treatment."

- Roberto A. Dominquez, M.D., Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Miami School of Medicine