OCD Related Content

Maria Fraire, PhD , has known she wanted to be a therapist since she was eight years old. “People told me, ‘Oh, you’ll change,’ but honestly, I’m a bit tenacious,” said the incoming program director of McLean’s Child and Adolescent OCD Institute (OCDI Jr.). Fraire has been particularly interested in...

Last month, in honor of World Mental Health Day on October 10, Sean Shinnock, a volunteer in McLean’s Deconstructing Stigma campaign, was invited to speak to employees of The Boston Foundation about mental health and the importance of getting help. Sean shared his story of living with severe OCD...

Twenty years ago, McLean Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital launched the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Institute (OCDI)—an innovative and first-of-its-kind intensive treatment program for individuals living with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Since first opening its doors on the...

At 22, Robin did the hardest thing she had ever done in her life: she confronted her fears. Her fear of God, her fear of unintentionally causing others harm, and her fear of germs—all caused by obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)—had robbed her of her teen years and she wasn’t going to let the...

For 14-year-old Qun Li Fan, who lives with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), freedom has a meaning all its own. The freedom to participate in everyday activities—such as going to school, playing her violin, or even sleeping in her own bed—was taken away by this disorder. Fan has a type of OCD...

Katie Wilson is a former patient at McLean’s OCD Institute. I am six months pregnant and I am sleeping on a small patch of the living room floor, because every bed, sofa, or other surface in my home feels contaminated to me. Not safe. I am a trained and registered nurse, with a fear of blood that...

Adira Weixlmann is a former patient at McLean’s OCD Institute (OCDI) Life transitions can be an intense combination of positive and negative. Change creates great excitement and hope for the future, but can also be riddled with intense anxiety and worry about the unknown. As an OCD (obsessive...

A young boy spent eight hours a day on rituals to ensure that his dog was safe, including securing windows and doors and patrolling his home for perceived danger. A teenager’s dread of contracting AIDS cut her off from ordinary experiences like a first kiss. Children and adolescents with obsessive...

Lynette Peck is mother of a former patient at McLean’s OCD Institute . Tomorrow morning I will move my son into his new dorm room. Already today he and I have packed the car, driven 550 miles, eaten at two restaurants, used a number of public restrooms, chatted, laughed, and listened to countless...

Hollywood loves a good medical drama, but for Ethan S. Smith, a successful actor, writer and director, the anguish he experienced due to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) was all too real. Although Smith now successfully manages his OCD, it was just a few years ago that he was in the depths of...

“Okay, Lisa. Go.” That’s Carol Hevia, a behavioral therapist at the OCDI, talking to me in my head, as if I was sitting in her Intrusive Thoughts group. Once again, she’s telling me it’s time to spill my guts. When I was a resident at the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Institute (OCDI) one year ago...

Rachel is a former patient at the OCD Institute. I’m obsessed with “The Real Housewives” and “The Rachel Zoe Project.” And I love to sew. I’ll sit down on a Saturday morning, coffee in hand, and watch a few episodes in a row, sewing by hand or speeding fabric through my machine. Either of these...

Ethan Smith is a former patient of McLean’s OCD Institute . We all have our stories of pain and triumph, and while they may completely differ in symptom and severity, we all share a common bond: obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). While it can be a motivating factor to know there are individuals...