Podcast/Blog

335 PMS and Anxiety

PMS + Anxiety + PMDD | Ep 335

Welcome back, everyone. I am so happy to do the final episode of our Sexual Health and Anxiety Series. It has been so rewarding. Not only has it been so rewarding, I actually have learned more in these last five weeks than I have learned in a long time. I have found that this series has opened me up to really understanding the depth of the struggles that happen for people with anxiety and how it does impact our sexual health, our reproductive health, our overall well-being. I just have so much gratitude for everyone who came on as guests and for you guys, how amazing you’ve been at giving me feedback on what was helpful, how it was helpful, what you learn, and so forth. 

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False Memory OCD: How do I know what’s real?

False Memory OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) is a subtype of OCD that involves recurrent, persistent, and intrusive thoughts or doubts about past events or experiences. 

These thoughts or doubts are often accompanied by strong feelings of guilt, shame, and anxiety about the experience, even when the person with OCD cannot be sure that the thoughts are rational or true.

In False Memory OCD, a person may obsess over a memory or a thought that they believe is a true event from their past, but in reality, the memory is false or distorted. 

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What is Sexual Orientation OCD (SO-OCD)? Everything You Need To Know

Sexual orientation OCD (SO-OCD) is an OCD subtype that is characterized by immense fears about an individual’s sexual orientation.

This subtype was originally referred to as HOCD (homosexual OCD), but SO-OCD affects people of all sexual orientations. HOCD is now only used to describe those who very specifically struggle with homosexual obsessions.

Those with SO-OCD are plagued with highly distressing intrusive thoughts and urges that make them doubt their true sexual orientation.

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333 Sexual Intrusive Thoughts

Sexual Intrusive Thoughts | Ep.333

Welcome. This is Week 4 of the Sexual Health and Anxiety Series. I have loved your feedback about this so far. I have loved hearing what is right for you, what is not right for you, getting your perspective on what can be so helpful. A lot of people are saying that they really are grateful that we are covering sexual health and anxiety because it’s a topic that we really don’t talk enough about. I think there’s so much shame in it, and I think that that’s something we hopefully can break through today by bringing it into the sunlight and bringing it out into the open and just talking about it as it is, which is just all good and all neutral, and we don’t need to judge.

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Suicidal OCD: A Complete Guide

Suicidal obsessive-compulsive disorder is categorized by the terrifying and unwanted fears about killing oneself.

Closely linked to Harm OCD, this subtype is sometimes called harm OCD with suicidal obsessions.  Although the fears of potentially harming oneself feel very real, suicidal OCD is actually driven by the desire to protect oneself from harm.

Those with this subtype are no more likely to die by suicide than any other OCD subtype.

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332 Sexual Side Effects of Anxiety Medication

Sexual Side Effects of Anxiety Medication (& Antidepressants) | Ep. 332

Hello and welcome back everybody. We are on Week 3 of the Sexual Health and Anxiety Series. At first, we talked with the amazing Lauren Fogel Mersy about sexual anxiety or sexual performance anxiety. And then last week, I went into depth about really understanding arousal and anxiety, how certain things will increase arousal, certain things will decrease it, and teaching you how to get to know what is what so that you can have a rich, intimate, fulfilling life. 

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331 Anxiety and Arousal

Anxiety and Arousal | Ep. 331

Welcome back, everybody. We are on Episode 2 of the Sexual Health and Anxiety Series. Today, I will be the main host and main speaker for the episode, talking about arousal and anxiety. This is a topic that goes widely misunderstood, particularly in the OCD and anxiety field where people are having arousal that they can’t make sense of. It’s also very true of people with PTSD. They’re having arousal that makes no sense to them, that confuses them, that increases anxiety, increases shame, increases guilt, and from there, it all becomes like a huge mess to them. It becomes incredibly painful, and it’s just so messy they can’t make sense of it. 

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What is Harm OCD? A Definitive Guide 

Harm OCD is a subtype of OCD that focuses on obsessions surrounding harm to self and/or harm to others.

For people with OCD, harm thoughts evoke excessive feelings of shame due to the violent nature of the intrusive thoughts and the misunderstanding of OCD.  It is important that you understand that there is nothing to be ashamed of. 

Harm obsessions can be all-consuming fears about our own safety or the safety of the people that the sufferer loves most.

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330 Sexual Anxiety With Lauren Fogel Mersy

Sexual Anxiety (with Dr Lauren Fogel Mersy) | Ep. 330

You guys, I am literally giggling with excitement over what we are about to do together. 

Last year, we did a series, the first series on Your Anxiety Toolkit where we talked about mental compulsions. It was a six-part series. We had some of the best therapists and best doctors in the world talking about mental compulsions. It was such a hit. So many people got so much benefit out of it. I loved it so much, and I thought that was fun, let’s get back to regular programming. But for the entire of last year after that series, it kept bugging me that I needed to do a series on sexual health and anxiety. It seems like we’re not talking about it enough. It seems like everyone has questions, even people on social media. The algorithm actually works against those who are trying to educate people around sex and sexual side effects and arousal and how anxiety impacts it. And so here I am. No one can stop us. Let’s do it. 

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