The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD: A Guide to Overcoming Obsessions and Compulsions Using Mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

by Jon Hershfield

If you have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), you might have an irrational fear of being contaminated by germs, or obsessively double-check things. You may even feel like a prisoner, trapped with your intrusive thoughts. Despite the fact that OCD can have a devastating impact on a person’s life, getting real help can be a challenge. If you have tried medications without success, it might be time to explore further treatment options. You should know that mindfulness-based approaches have been proven-effective in treating OCD and anxiety disorders. They involve developing an awareness and acceptance of the unwanted thoughts, feelings, and urges that are at the heart of OCD. Combining mindfulness practices with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD offers practical and accessible tools for managing the unwanted thoughts and compulsive urges that are associated with OCD. With this workbook, you will develop present-moment awareness, learn to challenge your own distorted thinking, and stop treating thoughts as threats and feelings as facts.

Genres: Psychology, Self Help, Mental Health, Nonfiction, Mental Illness, Counselling, Education

238 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2013

About the author

Jon Hershfield, MFT, is the director of The Center for OCD and Anxiety at Sheppard Pratt in Towson, MD. He specializes in the mindfulness-based and cognitive behavioral treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Hershfield is coauthor of the books Everyday Mindfulness For OCD and The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD and is the author of When a Family Member Has OCD, Overcoming Harm OCD, and The OCD Workbook for Teens.

Reviews

[Devon · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you have had OCD, it's extremely difficult to pick out what part of your thoughts are "you" and what is the OCD. It all collapses together: You are the OCD; in fact, the OCD was never a separate entity. But, in attempting to battle that misconception, it's difficult to try and imagine thinking any other way. It's hard to take the chance and not cave in to what the OCD wants. I had read before that mindfulness is a powerful tool against depression, and anxiety, but I'd never thought it could help with OCD. I'm glad I had a chance to learn how wrong I was.

The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD is a relatively short workbook, with questions and exercises interspersed amongst the text. One of the lovely things about it is the way the authors approach their subject with compassion, understanding, and even a little bit of humour. They urge you to not give in to the OCD, to work past it, and not let it control you - but at the same time acknowledge how hard it is, how painful it is. There are many points in the book where you are encouraged to take a break, take a step back, or not do an exercise if you're not ready. It is one of the gentlest and compassionate workbooks I've read, and also one of the best for describing how OCD works, how it feels, why those who have it feel they can't not do their compulsions to relieve their obsessions.

The first section of the workbook covers what OCD is and how it works, what cognitive and behavioural therapies are and how they work against obsessions (cognitive) and compulsions (behavioural), and what mindfulness is and how it can help. I was already familiar with these topics before reading, but I thought the way the authors covered them here was very well done. The second half of the book is divided into chapters devoted to a different type of OCD. Within these chapters are descriptions of the type of OCD and a number of different exercises - all grounded in mindfulness and CBT - for dealing with that specific type of OCD. I read through the whole book, even though I do not have every type, just to see how the authors carried out tailoring each chapter to a different OCD type. Much of the information is the same in each chapter regarding how to use mindfulness and CBT strategies, but each chapter came at it slightly differently. I not only discovered a couple thinking patterns for types I didn't know I had, as I read, but that the differences between the chapters, and the repetition, really hammered the authors' points home for me.

I would recommend this book for anyone who has OCD - or even friends and family of individuals with OCD, as they might gain insight to the disorder and understand how they can help (especially against reassurance-seeking!). I feel, after reading this book, I have a number of different tools to use against my OCD and a good understanding of how to use them. And I am working to use them more each day.

[april · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have bookshelves of books on anxiety and OCD and this new book is easily the best one I've come across. While there are many other good books, I would often have to adapt their text a bit before sharing their content with clients. With Hershfield and Corboy's workbook, I feel no need to do that at all. It's good as is and expertly combines CBT, ERP, and ACT/Mindfulness to explain why OCD is happening and what to do about it. I seriously can't recommend this book highly enough!

[Briar's Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a useful tool for those seeking some help with their OCD. It has some useful tips collected in one resource. While it won't fix all of the problems and doesn't substitute a real therapist or doctor, it can be a useful tool to help manage. I like all of the ideas included in this book. It will be helpful to many people.

Three out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and New Harbringer Publications for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I received this book I had 2 different thoughts. The first was that I wanted to actually work thru the workbook, not just read it and comment on it. The second thought was that I figured I'd have to look back at my past to see how this book could or would have helped me with my OCD journey had I had it earlier in my battle. So I worked thru the exercises. Some of them I found I was answering them with past thoughts, like I figured I would. I don't have H-OCD anymore, although I did during my university years. I didn't know then what it was. I had been taught that bad thoughts were sins, so I just felt guilty and tried to keep them out of my mind, or at least way in the back where I could function normally and do my school work. (The workbook talks about using guilt as a ritual in its section on Scrupulosity OCD).

But then I remembered that I still have a few OCD rituals I do because I haven't yet get managed to eradicate them. They have too many of what I think are 'real' not 'OCD' thoughts. Garbage cans and bags are (sometimes) dirty, right? Laundry is 'dirty' right, especially if I put in towels I used to wipe my hands dry after doing a ritual- they could have any left-over contamination on them. The black marks inside books have to be something disgusting, even if they're not old dried up mouse droppings. Hence, one must wash after touching them- and in the case of garbage or laundry change clothes in case they got contaminated too. So I realized that for at least some of the exercises (the Contamination OCD ones) I could answer with current problems and see how the book helps me. (See http://myjourneythruocd.blogspot.ca/2... for how I used what I learned from this workbook to help me overcome 1 of my remaining contamination fears.)

The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD is divided into 3 parts. The first discusses the OCD mind and that people with OCD pay attention to thoughts that others either ignore or don't even register that they have. The authors assert that feelings and sensations are just that. Feelings aren't facts and thoughts don't need to be acted upon no matter how intense they are.
They describe my daily life for years:
'If you live with OCD it's likely that you often wake up feeling guilty and spend your day investigating yourself and trying to find a way of appropriately sentencing yourself for the crime. Or maybe you just feel that something is off.'( pg. 11)

People can suffer from different thought distortions. They include: Black & White or All or Nothing Thinking, Catastrophizing or Jumping to Conclusions, Magnifying, Discounting the Positive, Emotional Reasoning, Tunnel Vision, Shoulding or Perfectionism, Comparing, Mind Reading, Hyper-responsibility, Magical Thinking. OCD uses these thought distortions to get you to do rituals. It's challenging these types of thoughts that give us the courage to do the next part of Cognitive Therapy- ERP or sitting with the thought and feeling the discomfort instead of performing a ritual.

They demonstrate how thought records are done- the same as I do, except that they don't rate the mood at the beginning of the exercise and your mood at the end, to see whether your anxiety has decreased. See here: http://myjourneythruocd.blogspot.ca/2... or http://myjourneythruocd.blogspot.ca/2... for a thought record sample.

The authors talk about how meditating on your breath helps you strengthen your ability to come back to the present moment rather than being lost in an obsessive thought.
Chapter 3 discusses what people can and can't control and how it's behavior that changes the intensity of the obsessive thoughts. While people with OCD try and try (usu. unsuccessfully) to control their thoughts so everything will go well without having to do rituals, Hershfield & Corboy say that it's behavior that can be controlled. Thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations come and go. While we can control our emotions some of the time, we only have 100% control of our behaviors. When the behavior is changed through Exposure-Response Prevention therapy, ( i.e. you don't do the ritual, but just sit with the dread and emotions until they dissipate), " then your mind has to admit that compulsions are a choice. If that's true, it must mean that the obsessions are not as automatically important as previously assumed. If that's true, then they may not be worth any response..." (p45) Instead of sitting with your obsessive thoughts, sit with that one for a while!

Then comes the work of listing compulsions that you do or situations you avoid so you don't have to do a ritual, then begin exposing yourself to these one at a time without doing the corresponding ritual. For thought -OCD's or harm OCD, the authors teach a method of imagining that you have acted upon the horrible thought . Then you practice sitting with the emotions and feelings. Over and over until your mind gets bored with the thought and " OCD ...finally falls from exhaustion. You may be sore and mentally bloodied but are the one remains standing in the end. This is because of the reality behind mindfulness: thoughts cannot kill you" (p.53)

A quote I found very interesting probably because my daughter usually does this to deal with her OCD is found on page 60 as follows: " When you avoid something, you aren't returning a message of safety; you are returning a message of narrowly escaped danger."
Part Two of the book goes into detail about many different types of OCD -even some that are not mentioned very often, or that are usually slipped in under another heading. Their list is as follows: Contamination, Responsibility/Checking, 'Just Right', Harm, Sexual Orientation, Pedophile, Relationship, Scrupulosity and Hyperawareness OCD. Each chapter includes examples, how to use mindfulness and acceptance and thought records to focus on the thoughts and then use Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP) to overcome them.
The last part of this workbook is about how you deal with the OCD diagnosis- advantages and disadvantages of sharing your diagnosis, explaining OCD to others, how to deal with OCD flare -ups and stressors (including hormones) after you have 'finished' your therapy program.
They give on-line and book resources to follow up with. However while giving the American and the British OCD Foundation websites, they omit Canada's which is: http://canadianocdnetwork.com/. And while they give discussion boards for OCD, they have neglected the blogging world where people with OCD share their journey and struggles living with and overcoming OCD. Just search blogger & OCD. My blog is http://myjourneythruocd.blogspot.ca/2... Reading others' blogs about OCD was very helpful to me as I didn't feel alone anymore. Personally I found the forum sites I visited 5 years ago very negative and whining, while the bloggers were upbeat and often funny- unless it was a bad day. Hopefully the forums have become more positive and focused on healing too.

A final quote: '
Mindfulness is about seeing that [OCD] pain land on your satellite and accepting it with open arms. Let it wash over you. Let it be rain that slips across you and down a gutter, instead of snow that builds and builds until you are crushed and buried. Let your fear of resisting compulsions be replaced by a curiosity with what's on the other side.' (pg.77)

An excellent workbook that deals directly with OCD.

Disclosure note: I received this copy free from Harbinger Press to do a book review on it.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

best book I’ve read this year 🤩 ocd who?????

[Wendy Mueller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have OCD, and I found this book to be a fascinating, easy-to-read resource to help me better understand how to recognize my OCD thoughts and learn how to resist my compulsions. The book teaches you how to be "mindful," so that you can see things as they actually are instead of only what you fear they could be. The book teaches you how acceptance of your thoughts and feelings can strengthen your ability to resist your OCD compulsions.

The book has separate chapters relating to a wide variety of OCD types, including things like contamination, checking, harm thoughts, sexual orientation OCD, relationship OCD, and scrupulosity (among others). Each chapter helps you learn how to identify and resist the different types of compulsions.

I like that the book uses humor, which makes it more fun to read than your average "dry" self-help book. I also like that it discusses different types of meditation practices to help learn mindfulness. There are even chapters near the end about how to share your OCD experiences with others and how to get help for your OCD, including online resources.

This is a really excellent book for helping people with OCD to learn how to be in the present moment and learn how to challenge your own distorted OCD thinking. I would highly recommend this book to anyone struggling to overcome their OCD.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

tl;dr: Contains three good methods to deal with OCD: mindfullness
meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and exposure with
response prevention. Book does good job of explaining OCD, including
classes of OCD with tailored help approaches for each type. Also
talks about a number of factors that can aggravate OCD. I STRONGLY
recommend this book to people with OCD and those that want to
understand/help those with OCD.


There is a lot to like about this book. First, the book does an
excellent job explaining what OCD is, and why it effects people the
way it does. It talks about how everyone has a number of random
thoughts that pop into their head and most people just don't pay
attention to the odd/unlikely ones. OCD people tend to notice them
and actually give them weight; i.e. if one had this thought, it must
mean something and be important. They have to DO something about it.
Depending on what type(s) of OCD you have, most such thoughts you will
ignore if they don't fall within your "obsessions" (things that you worry
about). The compulsive part are the actions/rituals they undertake
to try to handle the "problem/worry."

The authors explain how doing the compulsions actually make things
worse, not better, using pavlovian conditioning. Basically, the
"obsession" makes the person uncomfortable (say they are afraid they
forgot to turn the stove off at night), so they do the compulsion (say
they go and check the stove again a number of times) which relieves
the discomfort for a while. When it comes back, the fact the
compulsion made them feel better last time, makes them want to do so
again, reinforcing that doing the compulsion is "good." As the
compulsion becomes less effective overtime, the person is compelled to
do "bigger" compulsions to get their "reward." Of course, the more
one does compulsions because of the thoughts that cause the
discomfort, the more attention you pay to them and the message to your
brain is that these thoughts are "important" and that the brain
should pay more attention, and the cycle reinforces itself!

A key point the book makes is that people doing compulsions are
seeking certainty that they will address or prevent the "concern" that
they are obsessing about. For example, if a person touches something
they think might be "unclean" they might wash their hands
excessively trying to be certain their hands are clean. The problem
is, we can never be 100% certain about anything so the OCD has set an
impossible task. The OCD then works to make one less sure the more they do
compulsions, requiring the compulsions to become more involved
over time. A key concept in reducing OCD is learning to accept
uncertainty.

The book suggests three ways to deal with OCD: mindfullness
meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and exposure with
response prevention (ERP).

mindfullness meditation: this is a simple form of meditation where you
might simply sit with your eyes closed, and focus on your
breathing. If a thought pops into your mind, just recognize it
("thought") but do not follow it or concentrate on it, but gently
redirect your attention back to your breathing. This is useful for
OCD since when an obsession related thought pops in to one's head,
instead of paying attention to it and doing compulsions, the idea is
to use meditation to recognize it as just another thought, and then
go back to what they were doing. The ability to do this is a skill,
and doing meditation is a way to develop and strengthen this skill.

CBT: the idea here is that we don't experience the world directly, but
through a mental filter that "interprets" the world and attaches
meaning. For example, if someone cuts us off in traffic we don't just
not the fact but we might think the person was a jerk, or "that's the
100th time" that's happened." The problem is that we often attach
meaning that are either guesses, biases, or exaggerations. These are
referred to by CBT as "cognitive distortions" and typically lists
several common ones that people tend to do. The idea being that we
learn to recognize when we are doing a distortion and correct
ourselves with a more accurate assessment. This book gives several of
the more common ones, but goes on to explain how they particularly
relate to OCD. In the later chapters on types of OCD, they discuss
distortions that are common for that type, and suggests ways to
counter them.

Some relevant distortions are all or nothing thinking (i.e. a person is
either "dirty" or clean, and can't be somewhere in between),
catastrophizing (i.e. I touched something unclean and I will become ill
unless I wash immediately), emotional reasoning (i.e. because the thought
popped in to my head, it must be important), mind reading (you see
someone do or say something and you assume you know why they did it),
to mention a few. They are explained well, with OCD related examples.

The idea with CBT is that when an obsession related thought pops in to
one's head, OCD tries to distort it and drive you to compulsions. By
applying CBT, one can put the thought into a more rational view, and
reduce one's desire to counter with a compulsion.

ERP: As discussed above, doing compulsions reinforces the desire to
do compulsions as well as the "importance" of the obsessions. The
books approach cumulates in using meditation, CBT, and ERP to
experience the obsession related thoughts and not do the
compulsions. They start off with reducing them, with the aim to
eventually eliminate them. With things such as hand washing that one
normally does, eliminate means reducing down to a "normal" (the
amount a "regular" person would do) level.

The idea is to experience the thought, endure the discomfort, but without
doing the compulsions; that over time this will break the feedback
loop, and the obsession and the compulsions will become less strong
over time. The book describes several ways to do this exposure in a
graduated way, including methods where exposure would not be safe to
physically do (i.e. creating scenarios in your head where you would
encounter things that you obsessive about and "experience" how that
makes you feel without being in the actual situation).

The book also makes the point that avoidance of what you are worried
about reinforces the worry. When you avoid the thing, your mind
doesn't say "you are safe," it says you just avoided something
"dangerous." This reinforces the worry, making things worse
(increases your discomfort in the future). They offer other
strategies instead.

The second part of the book discusses ten different types of OCD (many
quite general that encompass a number of related subtypes) such as
contamination, checking, just right, and harm OCD. They first
describe the type and then give some example fears and compulsions
that are often associated with the type. The idea is that if you
realize you are doing something because of OCD, you have a better
chance of doing something about the behavior. They then talk about
how to use meditation, CBT, and ERP for that specific type.

The one type of OCD that surprised me the most was "relationship OCD"
(ROCD). As OCD demands "certainty," it's easy to see how it would sow
a great deal of doubt in a person about their relationship; that it would
cause them to question things and demand that one answer questions that
they have no chance of answering correctly with the information
available.

It's also easy to see how cognitive distortions can play havoc as
well. For example, "all or nothing" or "mind reading". Mind reading is
particularly problematic as it means we assume we know why the other
person did what they did. However, people are very complex, and we
are shaped a lot by our experiences. It is very likely the reason
they did things was a function of their past that you don't know about.
At best, you might be partly right. That's ok. Problems start when a
person assumes they must be correct, doesn't check that they are, and
takes action based on their assumptions.

[David Selsby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absslutely spactacular book. One of the, if not the, best book I've ever read on OCD. OCD is a mental health disorder. The degree to which a book about OCD is great is the degree to which the author(s) A) understand OCD and how it works in all its insidious nooks and crannies and manifestations and shape-shifting toxicity; this understanding includes coming up with metaphors, similes, analogies, schemas, models and heuristics to grapple with OCD; B) How well the author(s) have developed techniques, and again, developed metaphors et al. to combat and master OCD; and C) most important, the deftness by which the author(s) can take all that knowledge they have gained about how OCD works and how they've developed mastery of it and teach that material to someone else, who may know a little, a lot, or nothing about OCD. Hershfield and Corboy do all three of these things masterfully.

Of course, it's tricky for someone with OCD to read books about OCD because a common experience for OCDers (to use Ian Osborn's artless term) is that they are prone to obsessing about whether what they are learning is correct; whether they are doing things correctly, or spending long enough on it, or forgetting important things, etc., etc. In other words, the process of developing mastery over OCD is a minefield of possible obsessive thoughts about to what degree one is and how well one is developing his or her mastery. Because Hershfield and Corboy have such an intimate understanding of OCD (Hershfield suffers himself; I can't remember if Corboy does), they take this conundrum into account and periodically check in the with the reader and coach the reader about the right orientation he or she should have when reading a book about OCD and trying to put into practice the lessons. Again, brilliant stuff.

OCD recovery, like normal "recovery" (booze, drugs, etc) is getting into action, not just reading. I'm as guilty as anyone of reading to my heart's content, but until your're in the trenches doing exposures, sitting with the distress and pain, progress with not really be made. As Robert Frost said, "The only way out is through." This is a fantastic book with which to get into action.

[Khalil · Rating 4 out of 5]

très bon manuel d'aide-personnelle aux personnes souffrants de TOC . Je le trouve assez complet dans les thématiques obsessionnelles abordées à qui il consacre pour chacune une approche thérapeutique personnalisée.
néanmoins, et curieusement, je suis moins convaincu de son approche cognitive générale de la maladie . je m'attendais à un travail et une approche aussi maitrisée et logique que celle de l'excellent livre "Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts : a CBT-Based Guide to Getting Over Frightening, Obsessive, or Disturbing Thoughts". qui pourrait d'ailleurs constitué un bon complement au travail de Mr Jon Hershfield.

[Mandy Emery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely could see myself implementing some of these techniques in my practice!

[Jessica Bergeron · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has been clinically diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, I found this book to be shockingly helpful. It is insightful, educational, strictly factual, practical, and encouraging. The more I read through these chapters, the more I felt seen and understood. I began to realize that I’m not crazy, and that the daily battles of my mind are much more common than I ever thought or imagined. Reading this also provides useful and practical tools and strategies that you can put into place right away to help gain control over your disorder. I can’t recommend this book more.

[Wesley Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so empowering and detailed with helpful techniques and exercises. It outlines each type of OCD and meditation exercises for it, along with acceptance tools, exposure scripts, etc. It also discusses OCD as a whole in great detail and provides the knowledge you need to manage it successfully while also being your advocate for self-compassion. Highly recommend for any OCD warriors out there! :)

[Richard Inman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides a lot of great insight into OCD and how mindfulness and CBT can help manage it. My key takeaways were to mindfully stay in the present. That thoughts are thoughts, not threats. Feelings are feelings, not facts. Sensations are sensations, not mandates to act. How to use ERP to expose myself to my biggest compulsion of checking and to sit with the discomfort when I decide to not give in to a compulsion. Great book. Will reference in the future.

[Diana Puckett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastic, a must read for anyone experiencing OCD or interested in learning more about the disorder.
A practical guide written for the everyday consumer. It features many insightful exercises and allows the reader to move at their own pacing. Highly recommend. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this ARC.

[Gruia Novac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great methodical insight.
Although at times it lost me , and the concepts seemed to vague (it might be just my vocabulary and perspective at fault) , there is enough material here to help you with your own mind

[L.A. Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book with a general overview of different OCD issues and how to mindfully practice resisting your compulsions. Helpful with my two OCD issues. It's scary to go it alone (especially if you use the "flooding" technique), so bring this book to your therapist and work on it with them.

[Bethany Rishell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have severe OCD (doctor's words, not mine), and this book helped ALOT. I'd also highly recommend Brain Lock, by Jeffrey M. Schwartz‎ ... in fact I'd choose the latte if I had to choose one, but both were EXTREMELY helpful to me.

[Ashley Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD by Jon Hershfield and Tom Corboy has just been released in its second edition. I was curious what a mindful approach to OCD would look like, but as the subtitle says, this is a mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in combination book; it’s not a pull up a cushion and meditate book.

Sometimes mindfulness books start going into the territory of suggesting that you can meditate an illness away. This book definitely doesn’t do that. It ties acceptance into exposure, and frames compulsions as resistance (to the discomfort of obsessions) rather than acceptance.

The book emphasizes that “thoughts are thoughts, not threats.” Meditation in this context isn’t about trying to empty the mind; it’s about being there with those uncomfortable thoughts and just letting them be rather than trying to do anything about them.

Some CBT basics are covered, like ways to challenge cognitive distortions. Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is emphasized throughout the book as a fundamental of treatment.

The authors explain that if you try to to control the thoughts that are running around in your head, that’s a form of compulsion. Automatic thoughts and feelings simply aren’t under your control. Different forms of mental compulsion are discussed, including rumination, mental rehearsals, rationalizing, and self-criticism. Self-criticism is identified as an area where mindfulness can play a role, as it “represents a confusion over what you can and can’t control.” I thought that was a really interesting way of framing it.

Compulsions are explained as a type of reinforcement; they temporarily reduce distress, but they reinforce to the brain that those thoughts were distressing and intolerable. Choosing not to act on a compulsion is a choice that requires mindfulness, and mindfulness can help in identifying what has led up to the compulsive urge. It also provides feedback to the brain that obsessive thoughts don’t need to be acted on.

The books explains that the fundamental rule of a mindfulness approach to OCD is

“to fully accept that the thoughts going through your head are indeed the thoughts that are going through your head. It means dropping any denial that what you are thinking is anything other than what you are thinking. Compulsions are strategies for resisting the experience you are having, whether it be an experience of thought, emotion, or anything else. So mindfulness is the anticompulsion, the antiresistance.”

The second part of the book included chapters on several specific types of OCD, including contamination, checking, harm, sexual orientation, pedophilia, relationship, scrupulosity (religious/moral), hyperawareness/sensorimotor, and existential. These were quite interesting to read, and the authors offered some really insightful exposure ideas, including for pedophilia-focused OCD. For scrupulosity OCD, they pointed out that “the present of guilt is not evidence of the commission of a crime.” The authors’ tone was very nonjudgmental; they were realistic about the nature of the illness and kept the focus on thoughts being just thoughts.

I must admit, I was slightly dubious going in about a mindfulness for OCD book, but I was very pleasantly surprised. It was more CBT with a twist, and I thought the authors were very skillful at bringing in acceptance and mindfulness in a very practical, focused way. This is a book that can enhance ERP without going off in a different direction. I can see this book being helpful both for people who’ve been recently diagnosis and people who’ve been dealing with this illness for a while. It could also provide some good insights for loved ones of people with OCD. Overall, I thought this book was really well done.



I received a reviewer copy from the publisher through Netgalley.

[Josephine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the combination of ocd and mindfulness. Mindfulness has so many applications, and here's another one. I like the ideas on checking. Say you want to check the door because you aren't sure it's locked or closed (or whatever your checking issue is), and instead of doing that you focus on the moment and breathe and say something like I could check this later or not. Also, noting where you feel the stress. Is it in your forehead or chest or somewhere else? Just really being with it, but not checking to alleviate it. The author explains people without ocd lock the door and think ok that's done, but ocd makes it so that you are questioning everything and feel compelled to check again and again and again, but you can interrupt this cycle by sitting with and exploring the feelings and sensations that come up, instead of just checking again and never getting a resolution to the problem of checking.

It reminds me of a practice called somatic tracking for chronic pain or anxiety. You want observe it neutrally (like an outside observer kind of thing) and describe it in neutral terms (like I'm feeling pain or anxiety now and it's hurting in my head or whatever you are feeling) and then you want to tell yourself that it's ok you can just live with this and it's not going to hurt you and there's nothing to worry about. That somatic tracking works on chronic pain, and I've already been trying it out on things I worry about. I will continue on this path with more information specifically about ocd from this book. Well worth the read for any ocd tendencies.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Kimberly Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD is a valuable resource to use when remediating Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This book combines multiple different psychological methodologies in order to assist individuals with combatting the thoughts and feelings that accompany the diagnosis of OCD. This resource provides exercises, information, and activities that work on mindfulness, acceptance, and cognitive therapy. The book is broken down into three different parts. Part 1 focuses on developing an understanding of mindfulness, cognitive therapy, and behavioral therapy. Some activities and exercises presented in this portion of the book focus on being mindful, challenging your thoughts, and participating in exposure activities. Part 2 of the book focuses on common obsessions held by individuals with OCD. Each chapter in part 2 focuses on a specific obsession/thought/activity and provides tips for dealing with these in a mindful fashion. This book is a valuable resource in that you can just read the chapter of Part 2 that deals with your specific obsessive- compulsive thoughts/actions. Part 3 discusses other details of living with OCD such as what others may observe in regard to your OCD, how stress may exacerbate your OCD thoughts/actions, and resources to gain help. This is an excellent book not only for individuals struggling with OCD, but also, psychological professionals assisting individuals with this diagnosis.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD" is a transformative guide that offers invaluable insights and practical strategies for individuals grappling with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). This workbook stands out as an exceptional resource, catering to those seeking a profound understanding of their OCD triggers, the intricacies of the disorder itself, and, most importantly, effective methods to navigate through its challenges.

What sets this workbook apart is its emphasis on self-reflection. It compels readers to engage in thoughtful contemplation about their reactions and responses, unraveling the why behind their behaviors. This introspective process forms the cornerstone for crafting a personalized and potent OCD rebuttal plan. Through this structured approach, the workbook empowers individuals to reclaim agency over their lives.

Whether you're embarking on the initial steps of your OCD journey or find yourself mired in the midst of it, this book is a must-have companion. Having personally worked through portions of it with my therapist, I can attest to its profound impact. It has been instrumental in shedding light on my triggers and providing clarity on the underlying reasons for my specific reactions. Moreover, it equips readers with healthier, more adaptive ways to respond to their compulsions and obsessions.

[Robert Roopa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Book. Jon is one of my favourite people and he has produced another gem.
What sets this book apart is how it combines scientific evidence with real-world applications. The strategies outlined for managing intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors—particularly through exposure and response prevention (ERP)—are explained in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming. Instead of just focusing on symptoms, the book digs into the emotional and cognitive patterns that fuel OCD, giving you the knowledge to challenge and reframe those thoughts.

I also appreciate how the author emphasizes self-compassion throughout, acknowledging that healing isn’t linear, and there’s no “perfect” way to recover. The tone is encouraging and supportive, which made me feel seen and understood. If you’re struggling with OCD or know someone who is, this book is an invaluable resource. It offers hope, practical advice, and a roadmap for taking control of your life again. Highly recommend!
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[Sarah R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book is a solid workbook for people with OCD who are interested in integrating mindfulness practices with cognitive behavior therapy. The first half of the book discusses general aspects of OCD and how individuals with it think/behave. It introduces the idea of mindfulness and cognitive behavior therapy. The information provided in the first half can be really valuable to anyone living with anxiety whether they have OCD or not.

The second half of the book explores specific types of OCD and provides targeted information and exercises based on that. It includes sample thought records, targeted mindfulness practices, and exposure and response (ERPs) scenarios tailored to the different kinds of OCD.

This is a good book for people who have OCD and for people who don't and want to gain a better understanding of it.

[Jessica Ohara · Rating 5 out of 5]

OCD can be a crazy way looking for eternal reassurance that everything is well how it should be and, normally, I'm very aware that reading something about it, can make me get a brief relief, but not a real help. So, a process as read a book about your disease can become a new path of axiety and self-doubt. When I was reading this workbook, I felt overwhelmed, anxious, relatable, even relieved, but I dind't feel guilt with a possibility of fake reassurance. It's a simple and clear book, real straight, what is great, because there is already so much drama in my head, no more wanted, thanks. I did a first reading, tried absorb as much as possible, but without deep analysis, now I want really do some of the exercises and use it how it is: a workbook.

[KelseyDiane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't read every single page of this because not all of it was relevant to me. The second part of the book goes into specific types of OCD. I read the ones I experience and moved on. However, some of the types I have experienced in the past and I like the idea of having this book as a reference if I start to experience those types again.

I LOVED Part 1 of this book and I think everyone should freaking read it. It really opened my eyes on what compulsions I was doing that I wasn't even aware I was doing it. I also loved how I can categorize cognitive distortions. Calling them distortions makes so much sense to me.
I also loved how this book constantly encourages you to take breaks while you are reading it.

I see myself referring back to this book for a long time.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

This was a compassionately written introduction to beginning the lifelong journey of overcoming obsessions and compulsions in OCD. It has great tips and reminders on how to use mindfulness and other CBT skills to handle obsessive thoughts. I'm also pleased that the authors encouraged readers at the end of the book to also seek help from a therapist licensed to help people with OCD and, as an added bonus, gave tips on how to find and screen for one.

(Full transparency: I did skip the OCD theme chapters that I felt weren't relevant to me.)

[Cristie Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so much more than a workbook. The author is able to explain why OCD tendencies are happening and then provides ways to work through them. It is rare to have a book that not only explains what is occurring in language that is easy to understand and then provide the tools to work through it. This is a great resource for any therapist with clients suffering from OCD or for anyone that has OCD and is looking for some useful tools.

[Analie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked a lot of the material in this book. It helped me understand a friend who has OCD and had great pointers like, "the feeling is what you're avoiding as much as the individual thoughts." The second half of the book addresses specific types of OCD with very practical steps to handle those thoughts. I would have given the book more stars except that the steps they recommend for pedophilia OCD are very concerning.

[Reem Oz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Guide to Overcoming Obsessions and Compulsions Using Mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy" is an indispensable resource for individuals seeking to overcome OCD. The expertise of the authors, the practical exercises, and the integration of mindfulness and CBT techniques make this workbook an invaluable companion in the journey toward managing OCD symptoms and living a more fulfilling life.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed the first half of this book. Awesome primer on OCD that would be helpful for people with OCD and those without. I love meditating so I connected with the mindfulness lessons in this book. I understand why there’s a section on each ‘major’ type of OCD but it’s so much wasted space that I would’ve preferred be spent delving into more general techniques and insights.