3 Reasons You’re Having Anxiety Dreams
It was another one of those nights. You dreamt you were going back to school,...
Science: Research & Theory
Conscious Resilience: A Key to Release From Overcontrol
Do you ever feel physically and mentally exhausted from trying to make things go a...
Want To Be Certain? Don’t Be So Sure
News Flash: After decades of getting people to trust their gut, build confidence in themselves,...
Being Frugal: Good Self-Care or Too Emotionally Expensive?
Being frugal can either enhance or undermine our well-being. Depending on why we do it...
Can Someone With OCPD Change?
I recently finished therapeutic work with a man whom I’ll call Fred. His story addresses...
The Origins of OCPD: Genes, Environment, and the Two Other Factors Most People Don’t Consider
Many people wonder how they became controlling, driven, and perfectionistic. Or, to use the clinical...
The Need to Control: A Compulsive Recipe for Poor Health
The doomed attempt to fix, perfect, and control puts your body on constant high alert. It feels like, “This is an emergency! A threat to my well-being!” Your death grip on the way you think things should be not only keeps your muscles tense much of the time, it also leads you to produce lots of the stress hormone cortisol. The compulsive disposition—fixing, perfecting and controlling–can be healthy and productive when used consciously. But if you’re too often at odds with the way things actually are, it can also lead to chronic stress. You communicate unwittingly to your body that there is danger ahead if things don’t go as you think they should go.
Seven Ways to Achieve More Flexibility in Your Relationships
Compulsives and perfectionists often feel responsible for making sure that things don’t go wrong. We’re naturally more meticulous, future-oriented, and risk averse. And all of those tendencies serve a very important function in relationships. But we need to be smart about how we use these tendencies. Without flexibility, they hurt more than help.
Understanding the Four Types of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality to Achieve Balance
[Available in audio format at Google Podcasts and Apple, and Spotify.] As I’ve gotten to...
Psychological Research to Help You Stay Calm During COVID-19
The pandemic presents particular psychological challenges for people who are compulsive, Type A, and driven....
The Healthy Compulsive book is now available in paperback in addition to hardcover and e-book format:
Healthy Compulsive Book
If you’d like to use your time in psychotherapy more effectively, check out my book on therapy.
