Lori Riddle-Walker MFT, Treating OCD and Related Disorders, San Diego

Often there are multiple issues that come together to create hoarding, an over-accumulation of possessions, which negatively impacts life.  Having a collection of items does not necessarily indicate a hoarding problem if the collection is manageable both physically (space, ability to care for properly) and financially (not part of unplanned compulsive spending patterns).  Hoarding is a situation where possessions become overwhelming to manage physically, cause distress, are a safety hazard, interfere with living, cause financial problems or relational problems.

The 16th Annual Obsessive Compulsive Foundation Conference will be held August 7-9, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The first time I held you in my arms

You don’t understand all this suffering

and pain, this heavy burden,

Occasionally changing dilemma
Can’t make up your mind
Try to put it behind
Just say no
Then it will go
Maybe it will climb up a tree
I don’t care as long as it flees
It’s overwhelming
The problem is swelling
Just say no then it will go
Going around and checking
Everywhere, you even rewash your hair

Hittin’ and clawing with a panic attack
Hanging on the ledge of manic, slipping fast
Weapons of thought repeat to me
Ripping my emotions with OCD
I am not going to die, I am going to defy
All of the thoughts inside my head

Following is a list of organizations, treatment centers and clinics related to OCD that you might find helpful.

Have any questions about OCD or spectrum disorders?

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists, also known as MFTs or LMFTs, are clinicians with a minimum of a master’s degree in psychology, clinical psychology, counseling psychology, or marriage and family therapy.

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.