Something to read slowly
Articles
Pieces written from the therapy room to help us understand what we go through, and my scientific publications on OCD.
From the blog
- All · 83
- OCD and obsessions
- Anxiety and stress
- Emotions and wellbeing
- Relationships and family
- Trauma and dissociation
- Personality
- Asperger’s and neurodiversity
- Mind, brain and medication
- Going to therapy
OCD and obsessions 16 articles
OCD and obsessions"I bet goats don't get OCD!"
A patient's remark opens the door to metacognition and the mental self: why we give OCD obsessions their power, and why we are not our thoughts.
OCD and obsessionsÁlex
Álex had lived with mental contamination OCD since childhood. Now in his fifties, he explains how Inference-Based CBT (I-CBT) changed his life.
OCD and obsessionsEating disorders and the feared self
The feared self, a key idea in OCD, may also explain eating disorders: rather than chasing thinness, people may be running from an overweight self.
OCD and obsessionsHow Are My Obsessions Related to My Identity? Findings from My Doctoral Thesis
Why do some intrusive thoughts become obsessions and others don't? Findings from my thesis on the feared self and identity in OCD.
OCD and obsessionsInterview on Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT) for OCD (video)
A video interview (in Spanish) on the inference-based model of OCD and I-CBT: its core principles and concepts, explained as simply as possible.
OCD and obsessionsLidia
Lidia went through two episodes of OCD with intrusive sexual thoughts about children. Her first-person story shows that you can get your life back.
OCD and obsessionsNot all fears are the same: OCD
Rational fear follows the context; fear in OCD comes from the imagination and won't drop even when nothing justifies it. Why comparing them is unfair.
OCD and obsessionsParadoxical Intention vs. Thought Stopping
Postponing rumination or trying to suppress it: why paradoxical intention can help with OCD and anxiety, while thought stopping simply doesn't work.
OCD and obsessionsStigma, the self and OCD
Why do so many people with OCD fear becoming liars or selfish? Stigma pushes them into hiding, and hiding keeps them from asking for help in time.
OCD and obsessionsThe trains at my station
Your mind is a station and your thoughts are trains. A metaphor to understand why forcing OCD obsessions to leave only makes them stay longer.
OCD and obsessionsTypes of mental contamination in OCD
Mental contamination OCD takes four forms: physical or psychological violation, self-contamination, visual contamination and morphing. Here's each one.
OCD and obsessionsValidating the Fear of Self Questionnaire in a Spanish population (first research findings)
The first paper from my PhD: we validated the Spanish Fear of Self Questionnaire and found the feared self is linked to OCD symptoms.
OCD and obsessionsWhat If the Patient Doesn't Want Help? What Can the Family Do?
When someone with OCD refuses to engage in their recovery, the whole family suffers. A real case and the steps that can be taken to protect them.
OCD and obsessionsWhy a Well-Built Exposure Hierarchy Matters
In exposure and response prevention for OCD, it all starts with a good hierarchy of compulsions. What it is, how to build one and why to go step by step.
OCD and obsessionsWhy context matters in OCD (findings from my PhD thesis)
Do OCD obsessions arise in different contexts from ordinary doubts? Findings from my PhD on the role of context, and what they mean for therapy.
OCD and obsessionsWhy does my obsession feel so real?
The OCD story is the inner narrative that makes an obsession believable. What it is, how to spot it and how I-CBT works with it in therapy.
Anxiety and stress 5 articles
Anxiety and stress"I've got everything under control"
Needing everything under control leads to frustration and anxiety. Who tends to do it, how it links to uncertainty, and how it's tackled in therapy.
Anxiety and stressAm I a bad person for being afraid?
Acting out of cowardice isn't the same as acting out of malice. How we work in therapy with the guilt of people who believe fear makes them a bad person.
Anxiety and stressDisconnect to Connect: The Fear of Being Alone with Ourselves
Ten minutes a day alone with your mind, no phone, no distractions. A simple exercise that many people dread, and a key step towards truly knowing yourself.
Anxiety and stressHow to Treat Procrastination
"I'll do it tomorrow": why we procrastinate, when it becomes a problem and the strategies we use in therapy to stop putting everything off.
Anxiety and stressWhen whispers turn into screams
Anxiety isn't dangerous, but if you ignore your body its whispers turn into screams. How to reach the root of the problem instead of chasing the symptoms.
Emotions and wellbeing 16 articles
Emotions and wellbeingA case of dysthymia
Pablo came to therapy for a hand tremor, but there was more: a quiet, chronic sadness. How dysthymia is spotted and treated, step by step.
Emotions and wellbeingAnd the world stood still
Written in the first days of the COVID-19 lockdown: fear, uncertainty, collective panic and the solidarity that emerged when the world came to a halt.
Emotions and wellbeingAre we designed to be unhappy? It seems so
Hedonic adaptation, optimism bias and constant dissatisfaction: why happiness has an expiry date and what you can do to live more in the here and now.
Emotions and wellbeingBody image and social media
Comparing yourself with edited Instagram bodies fuels eating disorders. How body image distortion and social media are worked on in therapy.
Emotions and wellbeingGuilt
Healthy guilt pushes us to make amends; irrational guilt becomes a useless burden that keeps us stuck. When it happens and how therapy works with it.
Emotions and wellbeingHope
Why do we welcome the New Year with joy when we have no idea what it will bring? Hope as a driving force in life and a clever strategy of the mind.
Emotions and wellbeingHow do I help a child through grief?
How to explain a death to a child and support them through grief: simple guidelines on honesty, funerals, emotions, guilt and affection.
Emotions and wellbeingKintsugi
A ficus that survived a parasite and the Japanese art of mending with gold: why, after overcoming a problem, you're not the same but stronger.
Emotions and wellbeingMyths about emotions
There are no right or wrong emotions, and they don't come out of nowhere. Six mistaken beliefs about emotions that make us feel worse than we need to.
Emotions and wellbeingMyths about happiness
Knowing what happiness is doesn't bring us closer to it. We look at the main myths about happiness and two factors that make it harder to achieve.
Emotions and wellbeingThe art of letting go
Why is it so hard to walk away from jobs, relationships or ideas that hurt us? The two stages of letting go: making the decision and sticking to it.
Emotions and wellbeingThe butterfly's lesson
Like a butterfly that must struggle out of its cocoon, everyone has their own pace of change. Why forcing it, in life or in therapy, rarely works.
Emotions and wellbeingWhat Is It About Holidays?
Breaking the routine, switching off, time for yourself and a fresh perspective: why holidays are such a powerful psychological boost and why we need them.
Emotions and wellbeingWhen Do We First Become Capable of Feeling Jealous?
Can babies feel jealous? Some studies say yes, from around 6 months. What jealousy is, how a baby shows it and what purpose it serves.
Emotions and wellbeingWhy Do We Lie, and What For?
Lying isn't always selfish or harmful: self-deception, white lies, social desirability... The functions that lying serves for human beings.
Emotions and wellbeingWhy we need things to look forward to
Enthusiasm moves mountains. Why we need small, everyday things to look forward to, and what happens when we lose the ability to get excited about life.
Relationships and family 7 articles
Relationships and familyDo we really know how to communicate?
We talk a lot, listen little and stay silent for fear of rejection. Why we communicate worse than we think, and how to start changing it.
Relationships and familyHannes's Decision
Hannes had to choose between his marriage and the woman he loved. A real case about how fear and the need for security weigh on the decisions we make.
Relationships and familyHow a Broken Heart Heals
After a break-up, some habits keep reopening the wound: staying in touch, blaming everything on them or on yourself, isolating. How to let your heart heal.
Relationships and familyLearn about yourself through the bonds you create
Your relationships can act as a mirror: how to move from judge to observer to understand your reactions and build healthier bonds with partners and family.
Relationships and familyMatters of the heart
Idealised love and the soulmate myth lie behind many broken hearts and relationship OCD. Why these beliefs hurt us and how therapy can help.
Relationships and familyThe biochemistry of love
What happens in the brain when we fall in love: serotonin, oxytocin, the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex, and why being in love has a use-by date.
Relationships and familyWhen couples therapy is doomed to fail
When will couples therapy not work, and when is there a real chance? The broken vase metaphor: the pieces, the glue and the hands that mend it.
Trauma and dissociation 7 articles
Trauma and dissociationA closer look at dissociative identity disorder
What vertical dissociation is, how childhood trauma and disorganised attachment fragment identity, and the most common symptoms of DID.
Trauma and dissociationAttachment styles and their link to trauma
Secure, avoidant, anxious and disorganised attachment: how they differ and why disorganised attachment raises the risk of trauma.
Trauma and dissociationDissociative disorders
What dissociation is, what defines a dissociative disorder according to the DSM-5, and the main types: DID, dissociative amnesia and depersonalisation.
Trauma and dissociationWhat Is Traumatic Paralysis (Psychic Sideration)? Part 1
Why some victims of assault freeze: what psychic sideration is, how it differs from dissociation and what happens in the brain during trauma.
Trauma and dissociationWhat Is Traumatic Paralysis (Psychic Sideration)? Part 2
Psychic sideration and dissociation after trauma: what happens in perpetrator and victim, and why the worse the trauma, the less victims are believed.
Trauma and dissociationSymptoms of dissociative identity disorder (part 1)
Dissociative amnesia, micro-fugues, identity fragmentation and disconnection: the first groups of symptoms of dissociative identity disorder (DID).
Trauma and dissociationSymptoms of dissociative identity disorder (part 2)
Part two on the symptoms of DID: bodily symptoms, intrusions and voices, emotional regulation, mentalisation and the beliefs of each identity.
Personality 5 articles
PersonalityEmotional dependence in borderline personality disorder
A partner at any cost, the carer role, the spotlight: how people with BPD try to fill their emotional emptiness, and how therapy addresses it.
PersonalityExtreme psychopaths
What the FBI learned by interviewing the most twisted criminals: key lessons from Mindhunter on the extreme psychopath and the role childhood plays.
PersonalityHow is borderline personality disorder treated?
How dialectical behaviour therapy works with BPD: validation and change, the DBT diary card, chain analysis and reducing high-risk behaviours.
PersonalityThe integrated psychopath
Far from the film stereotype, the integrated psychopath is charming, manipulative and shows little emotional empathy. How they love, and can they change?
PersonalityWhy do people with borderline personality disorder act the way they do?
The five areas of dysregulation behind behaviour in BPD: emotional, interpersonal, behavioural and cognitive dysregulation, and identity disturbance.
Asperger’s and neurodiversity 5 articles
Asperger’s and neurodiversityCassandra Affective Deprivation Disorder
What Cassandra Affective Deprivation Disorder is, why the neurotypical partner of someone with Asperger's suffers it, and where the name comes from.
Asperger’s and neurodiversityHighly sensitive people (HSP)
High sensitivity isn't a disorder but a trait. What defines highly sensitive people, how to spot the trait in children and what not to confuse it with.
Asperger’s and neurodiversityMy partner has Asperger's syndrome
Why is it so hard for a partner with Asperger's syndrome to open up emotionally? Communication, criticism and 'emotional deafness' in couples.
Asperger’s and neurodiversityThe emotional rollercoaster of Asperger's
Outbursts of anger that seem to come from nowhere, or walls of silence: why adults with Asperger's syndrome react this way, and how a diagnosis helps.
Asperger’s and neurodiversityWhen Anna met Ben: a neurotypical woman falls for a man with Asperger's
Anna fell for Ben: brilliant, blunt and different. A real case of Asperger's syndrome in a relationship, and why understanding the diagnosis matters.
Mind, brain and medication 14 articles
Mind, brain and medication"Living without memories": a case of anterograde amnesia
A documentary about a man who can't form new memories after a car crash: what anterograde amnesia is and which strategies help people live with it.
Mind, brain and medicationAmygdala, cortex, heart: are we still evolving?
From the limbic system to the cerebral cortex, and perhaps the heart: how our mind has evolved, and why the amygdala wins battles but not the war.
Mind, brain and medicationAre Antidepressants as Safe as They Say?
A summary of a scientific paper that questions how effective and safe antidepressants really are, and how serotonin relates to depression.
Mind, brain and medicationCognitive dissonance: why we like to fool ourselves
What cognitive dissonance is, why we fool ourselves to feel at peace, and how this same mechanism keeps problems like OCD or pathological jealousy going.
Mind, brain and medicationDragons in the clouds
We see dragons in the clouds because the mind hunts for patterns. Heuristics and biases explain why it pays not to believe everything you think.
Mind, brain and medicationHRV: what it means and how it affects our emotional world
What heart rate variability (HRV) is and what research says about its links with emotions, emotional regulation, cognition and rumination.
Mind, brain and medicationLead, Don't Impose: Get to Know and Accept How Your Mind Works
You are not your thoughts. Understanding how your mind works and accepting its limits is the first step to getting along with it: lead it, don't rule it.
Mind, brain and medicationLost connections
Johann Hari's book offers a new take on depression: not a broken brain, but seven lost connections with work, other people, nature and the future.
Mind, brain and medicationOur third brain: the heart
The heart has its own neurons and talks to the brain through the vagus nerve. What research says about heart-brain coherence and your emotions.
Mind, brain and medicationPsychiatric drugs: do they really do what we're told they do?
What Robert Whitaker's Anatomy of an Epidemic says about the chemical imbalance theory and the long-term use of antidepressants and antipsychotics.
Mind, brain and medicationSocial media and neuromarketing
Notifications, likes, endless episodes and the fear of missing out: how social media uses neuromarketing and the way your brain works to keep you hooked.
Mind, brain and medicationThe benefits of meditation (lessons from The Mirror of the Brain)
Autopilot, rumination and inner dialogue: what meditation changes in your brain, according to neuroscientist Nazareth Castellanos, explained simply.
Mind, brain and medicationThe mind and the gut microbiota
The bacteria in your gut influence how you think, feel and behave. What we know about the mind-microbiota connection and how to look after it.
Mind, brain and medicationThe principle of synchronisation by resonance: the heart leads... if we help it
What the principle of synchronisation by resonance is, how the heart relates to our emotions and thoughts, and why coherence is something we can train.
Going to therapy 8 articles
Going to therapyActive or passive in your own life?
When a decision scares you, it's tempting to wait for life to make it for you. Four cases that show what it means to be a bystander in your own life.
Going to therapyAm I weak for seeing a psychologist?
"People who see a psychologist are weak." Why admitting a problem and asking for help takes intelligence, humility and courage, not weakness.
Going to therapyAnd What About the Family?
A client's family suffers too, often in silence. Their role in therapy: supporting without carrying the weight of recovery, starting with psychoeducation.
Going to therapyBehavioural chain analysis: what is it for?
Like dominoes: behavioural chain analysis identifies each step that leads to a problem behaviour so it can be stopped earlier. With a real case.
Going to therapyHummus is made with a blender
If the recipe says blender, a juicer won't do. A metaphor about pace in therapy, patient motivation and why you need to come ready to give it your all.
Going to therapyPros and cons of exposure in addiction treatment
Exposure to drug-related cues can help treat an addiction, but it carries risks. We review the main advantages and drawbacks of exposure therapy.
Going to therapyQuestions People Always Ask a Psychologist
Can a psychologist switch off from their cases? Do they go to therapy? Have they cried in a session? I answer the questions I get asked most.
Going to therapyWriting as therapy
Writing puts our thoughts in order, names what we feel and helps us let go. Ten reasons why writing is such a useful therapeutic tool.
Scientific publications
Research on OCD published with the University of Valencia.
- 2022
The relationship between obsessions and the self: Feared and actual self-descriptions in a clinical obsessive–compulsive disorder sample
In 58 patients with OCD, it examined how they see themselves and who they fear becoming: two in three believed their obsessions said something about who they are and brought them closer to the person they don't want to be, far more than with their ordinary intrusive thoughts.
Read the publication - 2021
Is context a crucial factor in distinguishing between intrusions and obsessions in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder?
It interviewed 68 patients with OCD about their most upsetting obsession and intrusive thought: both began in similar contexts, but once the obsession is established, the context in which it appears is what sets it apart from a mere intrusion.
Read the publication - 2020
Spanish version of the Inferential Confusion Questionnaire-Expanded Version: Further support for the role of inferential confusion in obsessive–compulsive symptoms
It adapted into Spanish a questionnaire measuring inferential confusion (trusting what might be over what the senses show) in 342 people from the general population and 66 patients with OCD: it proved reliable and supports the role of this confusion in OCD.
Read the publication - 2020
Contexto, sí mismo y narrativas en el trastorno obsesivo compulsivo: cuando lo que podría ser importa más que lo que es
It compared obsessions and intrusive thoughts in the same people with OCD in terms of their context, their link to how people see themselves and the story they build around them, showing that these factors help explain why a thought turns into an obsession.
Read the publication - 2019
Validation of the Spanish version of the Fear of Self Questionnaire
It validated in Spanish a questionnaire on the fear of being or becoming a dreaded kind of person: it showed excellent reliability, and that fear predicted obsessive symptoms and beliefs, especially unacceptable obsessions.
Read the publication