10 Quick Questions about OCD with Nathan Peterson

Therapy in a Nutshell

Therapy in a Nutshell -Emma McAdam

Mental Health, Education, Health & Fitness:mental Health, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 658 Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership In this video I talk with Nathan Peterson, a licensed clinician and OCD specialist about various aspects of OCD. The host asks 10 quick-fire questions, covering topics such as how the neurotypical brain differs from the brain of someone with OCD, whether everyone has a bit of OCD, and the best treatments for the disorder. Peterson explains the role of genetics and life experiences, illustrates the difference between intrusive thoughts and unwanted thoughts, and dives into the cycle of OCD. He talks extensively about exposure and response prevention (ERP) as the gold standard for treatment and discusses medication as a helpful tool for some patients. Peterson also shares strategies for family members to support loved ones with OCD and touches on various subtypes of OCD, concluding with information on his resources and where to find more information. Looking for affordable online counseling? My sponsor, BetterHelp, connects you to a licensed professional from the comfort of your own home. Try it now for 10% off your first month: https://betterhelp.com/therapyinanutshell Learn more in one of my in-depth mental health courses: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com Support my mission on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/therapyinanutshell Sign up for my newsletter: https://www.therapyinanutshell.com Check out my favorite self-help books: https://kit.co/TherapyinaNutshell/best-self-help-books Therapy in a Nutshell and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health. In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger Institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life's direction. And deeper than all of that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ orients my personal worldview and sense of security, peace, hope, and love https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe If you are in crisis, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or your local emergency services. Copyright Therapy in a Nutshell, LLC

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to another episode of the Therapy in a Nutshell podcast. I'm Emma McAdam and I'm a licensed
0:05.3	marriage and family therapist. And this podcast is all about taking the life-changing, but usually
0:11.3	kind of complicated topics of therapy and boiling them down into simple, easy-to-understand concepts that
0:17.9	you can use in your daily life. If you find today's episode as helpful to you,
0:22.6	please pass it on to someone else who could benefit from it as well. Also, these podcasts are
0:27.0	educational and don't replace the advice or direction you may be receiving from a therapist or
0:31.8	other health professionals. Now please enjoy the episode. Hi everyone. Today we have a special guest. It's Nathan Peterson. He's a licensed clinician and OCD specialist, and he is also the guy behind the channel OCD and anxiety on YouTube. So I'm really excited to have him really excited to hear what he has to say. I'm going to ask him 10 quickfire questions about OCD and its treatment, and I'm excited
0:55.8	to learn more about it. So let's jump in and see what Nathan has to say. Okay. Awesome. Well, thank you,
1:02.1	Nathan so much for being here. Really excited to talk OCD with you. Yay. Thank you so much for
1:07.0	having me here. I'd love talking about OCD and anxiety and hope we can get some good
1:12.4	information out. Okay, awesome. Okay, we're going to do quick answers to 10 questions about OCD.
1:19.0	So number one, how is the brain of someone with OCD different from neurotypical brain?
1:24.8	Yeah. Well, someone with OCD, their brain works just a little bit different.
1:30.2	If we want to get kind of the technical term, a lot of times we look at the frontal lobe and
1:36.5	it sends signals back to the basal ganglia, which, you know, all these different terms.
1:40.8	And you know, sometimes people say it's really overactive and it wants to problem solve.
1:46.0	And what's really happening?
1:48.0	Someone explained this to me once is like, it's almost like this filter in the brain that is almost open.
1:53.0	And information that normally we would want to problem solve it, it says, you know, hey, let's problem solve everything. And this thing that you've already problem solved, let's think through it again, think through
2:04.1	it again.
2:05.1	You know, if we've taken kind of down to the simple, simple measure, genetics plays a big part
2:11.9	in it as well.
	...

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