Debra Theobald McClendon: Scrupulosity—Obsessive-Compulsive Anxiety You May Mistake as Faith Crisis

All In

DB Podcasts

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2020

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You may have never heard of scrupulosity, but it is possible it has hijacked the religious experience of you or someone you love. In her September 2019 Ensign article, Dr. Debra Theobald McClendon wrote, “Scrupulosity masquerades as a desirable, higher standard of righteousness and personal worthiness—but it’s not!” So, what is scrupulosity? How does it manifest itself? How is it treated? Dr. McClendon helps us answer all of these questions and more on this week’s episode.

"If it is a spiritual prompting, and you go through the things you need to repent, including a confession to an ecclesiastical leader if necessary, you will feel better. If it is driven by toxic anxiety, you will not feel better, because it's an anxiety issue. It's not a moral issue or a spiritual sensitivity issue."

Show Notes

3:11- What is Scrupulosity?
8:34- How Does It Manifests Itself?
12:39- Confession
16:18- Therapy and Treatment
23:41- Correcting Sin While Not Giving Into Obsessions
26:18- Triggers
31:44- Godly Sorrow?
34:02- How to Help Others Who May Be Struggling
38:48- Too Late?
41:35- Repentance is Not a Checklist
43:31- The Atonement
45:16- What Does It Mean to be “All In” the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Find the full episode transcript at ldsliving.com/allin.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Screwpulosity. It's a word I had never heard until last fall when I heard it
0:06.5	described in a podcast by two people who had suffered from it. The podcast spoke
0:12.7	to my soul. I felt that screwpulosity was something that I had maybe struggled
0:18.4	with and I also felt it had impacted the lives of people I love and care
0:23.5	about. It is my hope that the information you're about to hear in the
0:27.9	following conversation will help you or someone you love in the same way that
0:32.7	it has helped me. In the September 2019, digital only version of the
0:39.0	enzyme Dr. Deborah Theabald-McClendon opened her article with the following
0:44.0	questions. Do you constantly obsess about living the gospel the quote-unquote
0:50.3	right way? Do you feel an urgency to repent for the same mistake or sin over and
0:56.9	because you doubt whether you have repented quote-unquote properly? Do you
1:01.9	feel perpetually guilty? If so, you might be struggling with a form of obsessive
1:07.7	compulsive disorder known as screwpulosity. Dr. Deborah Theabald-McClendon is a
1:15.4	licensed psychologist in the state of Utah. She is a clinical psychologist with
1:20.8	training and marriage and family therapy. She focuses her practice on helping those with
1:26.8	religious OCD, screwpulosity. Dr. McClendon has published articles on anxiety and obsessive
1:34.1	compulsive disorder screwpulosity in the enzyme. She has co-authored book chapters and articles
1:40.8	on outcome assessment and group therapy in the academic community. She and her husband,
1:46.4	Richard J. McClendon, have published the book Commitment to the Covenant,
1:50.4	Strengthening the Me, We, and The of Marriage. Dr. McClendon has previously taught as an adjunct
1:57.2	faculty member at both Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University.
2:07.1	This is All-In, an LDS living podcast where we ask the question, what does it really mean to be
	...

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