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Soultality Center for Psychotherapy

1218 Massachusetts Ave., 3rd Floor

Cambridge, MA 02138

Phone: (617) 631 8284

UNLEASH YOUR BEST SELF.

Copyright (c) 2017 Soultality Center for Psychotherapy • Design by Little Bow Studios • Office Photos and Headshots by Katie Noble Photo

Let’s face it, anxiety is something every human has dealt with to some extent. Some might consider it an unfortunate but inevitable side effect of being a living, breathing human traversing this thing we call life! ⠀
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Anxiety is an essential part of the human existence. It is our body’s internal alarm system alerting us to threats in our environment. It prepares the body to fight or flight. That surge of adrenaline in some circumstances is super useful in avoiding true danger however, more often than not, the body sends out a false alarm in situations where there is no true threat. This is when anxiety becomes a disorder. ⠀
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Research on anxiety suggests that efforts to control, avoid or squash anxiety more often makes things worse. Anxiety treatment focuses on learning how to lean into the discomfort, face your fears and learn to tolerate anxiety and uncertainty. ⠀
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Make space for the discomfort despite how painful it can be. Anxiety sucks but it is also a sign that you are alive! 💙⠀
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#mentalhealth #mentalhealthrecovery #anxiety #cognitivebehavioraltherapy #ocdproblems #therapy #psychotherapy #wellness #ocd #mentalhealthsupport #erp #intrusivethoughts #therapist #counseling #selfcare #selflove #liveyourbestlife #anxietyrecovery #mentalhealthawareness #soultality #empower #thoughtsarejustthoughts #moderntherapist #liveintentionally #mindfulness #selfcompassion #inspiration #gratitude #faceyourfear

NEWS FLASH!!!!⠀
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EVERYONE has weird, gross or otherwise nonsensical thoughts/images pass through their mind from time to time. Anyone who tells you otherwise, is likely lying! ⠀
Sometimes when I’m in my car waiting for people on the crosswalk I have a sudden image of plowing through them, watching their bodies fly through the air and think to myself, “now that’s a weird thought...hmm, what time am I meeting Leah for lunch again?”⠀
This intrusive thought for me comes and goes. I don’t pay much attention to it nor do I give it any value. Because I do not have OCD, it doesn’t get “stuck”.⠀
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If I did have OCD, I might immediately misinterpret that thought to mean I could be a violent person who is capable of actually plowing through people. This makes me so anxious I jump into safety mode, putting the car into park, clutching the steering wheel and slowly drive home. I determine its best to avoid driving all together “just in case”. I look for reports of seemingly normal people who just “snap” to see if I could be like them....the list goes on and on.⠀
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Getting unstuck is hard, but totally possible! Learning to accept these thoughts as just that, can help reduce catastrophic misinterpretations. Facing situations your OCD wants you to avoid, helps your brain learn that they aren’t actually dangerous and that you are more capable of tolerating discomfort and uncertainty than you thought!
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#mentalhealth #mentalhealthrecovery #anxiety #cognitivebehavioraltherapy #ocdproblems #therapy #psychotherapy #ocd #mentalhealthsupport #erp #intrusivethoughts #therapist #counseling #selfcare #thoughtsarejustthoughts #mindfulness #selfcompassion #inspiration #gratitude

One form of OCD I see often In my practice is something called Relationship OCD (ROCD). While in any relationship, it is not uncommon to have doubts or questions around whether this relationship is “good” for us, ROCD is driven by a need for 100% certainty around doubts that are often irrational or baseless. ⠀
Individuals with ROCD may ask themselves questions such as:⠀
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“How do I know if I really love/am happy with my partner?”⠀
“How do I know if I deserve my partner”⠀
“How do I know if my partner truly loves me”⠀
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To resolve the discomfort and uncertainty that arise from these questions, a person may spend hours ruminating on them or mentally try to figure it out by comparing their relationship to other ones or replaying past events checking for signs of happiness or discontent. ⠀
They may engage in checking or “monitoring” of certain thoughts (“did I have a bad thought about my partner”?), behaviors (“did I smile at that man because I found him attractive?”) and emotional states (“Did I feel love when my husband hugged me”?). ⠀
They may seek endless amounts of reassurance from their partner, friends or family. They may also spend hours searching relationship blogs and reddit forums for information on how to answer these questions. ⠀
People with ROCD often avoid situations that might trigger their obsessions and tend to have rigid or irrational beliefs about love and relationships in general. ⠀
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While the effort to resolve this doubt starts out well intentioned, the more a person engages with these obsessions and rituals, the doubt only gets worse and can have severe and damaging effects on a persons life.⠀
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CBT and ERP treatment can be used to help a person challenge these beliefs and reduce ritualizing. Most of all, learning to live with doubt and uncertainty is essential. “Love” is something you experience, not something you can conjure up whenever your OCD wants you to doubt your relationship!
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#mentalhealth #mentalhealthrecovery #anxiety #cognitivebehavioraltherapy #ocdproblems #therapy #psychotherapy #ocd #erp #intrusivethoughts

Remember this one? “Don’t step on a crack or your will break your mothers back!”🤪⠀
Believe it or not, we live in a very superstitious society! Most of us can remember growing up with myths and old wives tales connecting unrelated actions, things and/or events. Despite our rational selves knowing it is silly, most people admit to still following these old adages “just in case”!⠀
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If you are someone with intrusive unwanted thoughts, OCD or anxiety in general. It’s not uncommon for these old adages and ways of thinking to get stuck. The more you obey these fearful thoughts (ie: “if I don’t XYZ, something very bad will happen to me/someone I love”) the more engrained they become and over time, you may find yourself preoccupied with certain numbers, words, colors, gestures and/or ways of doing, saying or thinking things in order to prevent a feared catastrophe.⠀
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It’s important to remember that everyone has these thoughts from time to time but that some brains have more difficulty getting unstuck. Fortunately there is help for this phenomenon! Finding and working with a trained ERP therapist will help you over time, learn to face your fearful thoughts and teach your brain it doesn’t need to perform compulsions and/or rituals.

#mentalhealth #mentalhealthrecovery #anxiety #cognitivebehavioraltherapy #ocdproblems #therapy #psychotherapy #wellness #ocd #mentalhealthsupport #erp #intrusivethoughts #therapist #counseling #selfcare #selflove #liveyourbestlife #anxietyrecovery #mentalhealthawareness #soultality #empower #thoughtsarejustthoughts #moderntherapist #liveintentionally #mindfulness #selfcompassion #gratitude

Habituation to a feared stimulus doesn’t always need to occur as long as there is learning involved. I attended a talk on Inhibitory Learning and ERP at the IOCDF conference where the element of “surprise” was talked about at length. It is equally, if not more, important to learn through experience that the anticipated outcome is not as likely as you thought, not as awful as you thought and also that anxiety and uncertainty are safe and tolerable.⠀
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#mentalhealth #mentalhealthrecovery #anxiety #cognitivebehavioraltherapy #ocdproblems #therapy #psychotherapy #wellness #ocd #mentalhealthsupport #erp #intrusivethoughts #therapist #counseling #selfcare #selflove #liveyourbestlife #anxietyrecovery #mentalhealthawareness #soultality #empower #thoughtsarejustthoughts #moderntherapist #cbt #mindfulness #selfcompassion #inspiration #gratitude

One of my goals for this conference was to learn more about inhibitory learning as it relates to exposure and response prevention. Some clients tell me they worry they are “doing it wrong” if their anxiety doesn’t go down during exposure. Thus, the biggest takeaway here is realizing that habituation isn’t always necessary and rather, focus on learning and violating negative expectancies! .
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#mentalhealth #mentalhealthrecovery #anxiety #cognitivebehavioraltherapy #ocdproblems #therapy #psychotherapy #wellness #ocd #mentalhealthsupport #erp #intrusivethoughts #therapist #counseling #selfcare #selflove #liveyourbestlife #anxietyrecovery #mentalhealthawareness #soultality #empower #thoughtsarejustthoughts #moderntherapist #liveintentionally #mindfulness #selfcompassion #inspiration #gratitude #ocdcon

#mentalhealth #mentalhealthrecovery #anxiety #cognitivebehavioraltherapy #ocdproblems #therapy #psychotherapy #wellness #mentalfitness #ocd #mentalhealthsupport #erp #intrusivethoughts #therapist #counseling #selfcare #selflove #liveyourbestlife #anxietyrecovery #mentalhealthawareness #soultality #empower #thoughtsarejustthoughts #moderntherapist #liveintentionally #bossladymindset #mindfulness #selfcompassion #inspiration #gratitude

Spring is in full bloom and so is Soultality for Psychotherapy, LLC! We are looking for a part time clinician to join our team in Cambridge dedicated to helping those struggling with OCD and anxiety disorders! We want someone who isn’t afraid to go outside the box, get creative once in a while and help our incredible clients face their fears! Please PM me for details!⠀
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#mentalhealth #mentalhealthrecovery #anxiety #cognitivebehavioraltherapy #ocdproblems #therapy #psychotherapy #wellness #mentalfitness #ocd #mentalhealthsupport #erp #intrusivethoughts #therapist #counseling #selfcare #selflove #liveyourbestlife #anxietyrecovery #mentalhealthawareness #soultality #empower #thoughtsarejustthoughts #moderntherapist #liveintentionally #bossladymindset #mindfulness #selfcompassion #inspiration #gratitude