I’m sure this article will elicit some harsh responses from people who use ACT to treat ‘Pure O.’ I did not write this article to cause a stir. I wrote it because I feel compelled to speak out against an approach that I believe hurts patients. Please read with this in mind, and feel free […]| Dr. Michael J. Greenberg
This article offers some guidance regarding how to handle some experiences that people with OCD deal with. Case #1: An Average Trigger or No Trigger You’re walking down the street minding your own business when your obsession comes into awareness. There may have been a trigger or it may just have occurred to you out […]| Dr. Michael J. Greenberg
(How to Stop Ruminating addressed the problems people most frequently encounter when learning how to turn off rumination. If you don’t know how to turn off rumination at all, start with that article. This article addresses the problems that people most frequently encounter when they know How to Stop Ruminating, but can’t seem to stop all the […]| Dr. Michael J. Greenberg
This article is for you if you already know that You Are Not Having Intrusive Thoughts All Day, You Are Ruminating; know that Rumination is a Compulsion, Not an Obsession, and That Means You Have to Stop; and know How to Stop Ruminating. Whenever you find it difficult to stop ruminating, the first question to ask yourself is […]| Dr. Michael J. Greenberg
I use the series of exercises in this article to help patients practice eliminating compulsive rumination. Per Targets and Rationales for RF-ERP Exposures, the goal of these exercises is not to make the patient anxious. Rather, the goal is for them to learn that they can control rumination, even when they encounter a trigger. Some […]| Dr. Michael J. Greenberg
As discussed here, directing attention is a controllable mental process, and as discussed here, directing attention is part of our definition of rumination. Sometimes people feel like they can’t stop paying attention to something; this is especially a problem for people with sensorimotor OCD. The key to solving this problem is differentiating between something being […]| Dr. Michael J. Greenberg
An essential part of treating OCD is distinguishing between mental processes that can and cannot be controlled. This can be especially confusing when it comes to attention. Confusion about this leads, in turn, to confusion about distraction, as well as to difficulty eliminating rumination. The purposes of this article are: (1) to explain what aspects […]| Dr. Michael J. Greenberg
Different therapists and researchers (and farmers, actually) use the word rumination in different ways, and that makes it important to define exactly what I mean when I use that word. When I talk about rumination, I’m talking about any type of mental engagement with the problem; put another way, I’m talking about shifting into problem-solving […]| Dr. Michael J. Greenberg
Please note that Rumination-Focused ERP is a new and evolving approach to ERP. It has not yet been researched, and therefore to the extent that it differs from classical ERP, it is not evidence-based. How you conceptualize OCD and ERP affects not only how you do exposure but also what you do as exposure. By […]| Dr. Michael J. Greenberg
Please note that Rumination-Focused ERP is a new and evolving approach to ERP. It has not yet been researched, and therefore to the extent that it differs from classical ERP, it is not evidence-based. In classical ERP, it is considered important that the patient feel anxious during exposure, because the goal of exposure is habituation. […]| Dr. Michael J. Greenberg