What do OCD, anxiety disorders, and mental health have in common? Our guest this week helps walk us through how living with OCD can affect the way we participate in daily activities, how we view our relationships, and what steps we need to take in order to improve our way of life.

In this week’s episode, we are talking with Dr. Elizabeth McIngvale, PhD, the director of the McLean OCD Institute at Houston, where she maintains an active clinical, research, and leadership role. With her focus on OCD, anxiety disorders, mental health stigma and access to mental health care, Dr. Elizabeth McIngvale is dedicated to giving a voice to the voiceless and is grateful for a career which allows her to improve the lives of those living with a mental illness every day. We discuss how we can continue to grow despite anxiety disorders and what we can learn about our mental health.

Join us this week as we normalize the stigma around OCD, understand how to work with our OCD tendencies, and how to find meaning and purpose in our personal journey to better serve those around us.

Topics Discussed

• Why pills don’t help with long term response treatment
• The underlying anxieties on a deeper core level
• Normalizing the stigma around OCD
• The benefits with exposure therapy with response prevention
• How OCD affects the relationships around us
• The difference between a lapse and a relapse
• How to care for loved ones with OCD
• Turning pain into purpose as a tool to help others

Connect with Elizabeth McIngvale, PhD online

• Peace of Mind Foundation, Inc https://peaceofmind.com
• OCD Challenge https://www.ocdchallenge.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethmcingvale/

Additional Resources

• International OCD Foundation https://iocdf.org
• McLean OCD Institute Houston https://www.linkedin.com/company/mcleanocdhouston/

Connect with Positive Recovery MD Podcast

• Website: https://www.positiverecoverymd.com
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/577870242872032
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4JcDF1gjlYch4V4iBbCgZg

Connect with Positive Recovery Centers online

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/positiverecoverycenters/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PositiveRecoveryCenters/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/positiverecoverycenters/

Contact Positive Recovery CentersIf you or someone you know needs help, visit the website or call the number below to schedule a free assessment. We are here to help.

• Call: 877-476-2743
• Website: https://positiverecovery.com
• Services: https://positiverecovery.com/services/
• FAQ: https://positiverecovery.com/faq/

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About Positive Recovery MD Podcast

The Positive Recovery MD podcast is hosted by Dr. Jason Powers, Addiction Medicine Specialist and creator of Positive Recovery.

This podcast will not only inspire and motivate its listeners, it will provide the tools and foundation needed to thrive and flourish on their addiction recovery journey. Each week the Positive Recovery MD podcast community will come together to have authentic conversations around addiction, recovery and what matters – growth & progress, not perfection, all while developing positive habits for your life.

To join the community, visit https://www.positiverecoverymd.com to sign up to receive the daily Positive Intervention that we’ll review, as well as gain access to EXCLUSIVE Positive Recovery content available only to Positive Recovery MD listeners.

About Positive Recovery CentersPositive Recovery Centers is a strengths-based addiction treatment program with locations across Texas. We offer a full continuum of care, from medical detox to sober living all supported by an ever-growing alumni community network.

Our evidence-based curriculum blends the best of the old with the new, all supporting our mission: that Recovery is best pursued when meaningful, intentional positive habits are formed through empowerment and resilience instead of negativity and shame.

What is Positive Recovery?
Empathy and compassion drive our mission. Positive Recovery uses strengths as a pathway to help others flourish in recovery, at work, and at home. This is our core purpose, our “why.” We creatively apply science in order to improve outcomes. Positive Recovery is not wishful thinking, it is not a magic pill, and it is not self-help.

Positive Recovery is an evidence-based addiction curriculum that links the best of the old with the new, integrating existing effective approaches to treatment with interventions that enhance well-being by cultivating its components: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement.

Quotes:

Dr. Jason Powers, MD

• “There’s no skill in a pill. Pills can work but at best, they are an adjunct”
• “If I could bottle time, then I wouldn’t have much work to do. With the right therapy, it takes time, it takes baby steps.”
• “There is this urge to try to control things. Uncertainty of life is one of the driving forces.”

Julie DeNofa

• “OCD seems to manifest around areas that are closest or most important to you.”
• “Helping someone every day is something that I feel fortunate to be able to do whether it’s on the employee side or on the client side.”

Dr. Elizabeth McIngvale, PhD

• “It’s not about who you are or what degrees that you have behind your name. It’s about who you help.”
• “Anytime we think about what we’re in treatment for when it’s anxiety based, there is usually an underlying core fear or concern.”
• “Exposure therapy shouldn’t be dangerous or risky. Exposure therapy shouldn’t be putting people in harm's way. It should be things anyone would be willing to do.”
• “OCD is not an adjective. OCD is not helpful and doesn’t help you be more organized or more clean. It’s destructive and disabling.”
• “Everybody has weird or bizarre interests of thought. The difference though, is how we respond to them.”