It’s Not What You Think

Nick Pearce, Co-Founder and former CEO of iconic streetwear brand and social enterprise, HoMie, and host of new podcast None of Your Business, joins Penny and Angie in this wonderful episode. Nick has experienced OCD for most of his life, with re-occuring themes of contamination and moral scrupulosity OCD. They talk about:

• An amazing Obsession Confession featuring a prop
• The feeling of always having to be and do 'good'
• Feeling like the OCD worsened once he left school
• Contamination and counting OCD- Nick would have to obsessively clean his room, but if someone set foot in his room he felt like he had to start again
• His first experience with a psychiatrist
• Developing a feeling of moral scrupulosity and how this has helped and hindered his life
• Stepping back from full time work so that his wife, Dani, can propel her career forward
• How moving house triggered his OCD
• Getting back on medication and starting therapy again
• Starting his podcast, None of Your Business and how that has helped his feeling of identity and purpose
• The desire to be a better partner and father driving his return to therapy

Iconic Australian broadcaster and storyteller, Brad McEwan, joins Penny and Angie today and it's a ripper!

Brad talks with so much honesty, warmth and humour about:

• Experiencing OCD symptoms since he was a kid but not being diagnosed until only a few years ago
• Being on live TV for years whilst managing debilitating OCD
• The toll compulsions can take on your life and how exhausting and time-consuming they can be
• Experiencing tragedy as a teenager and dealing with trauma and OCD
• Feeling responsible for everyone he loves in his life
• The particular pain of seeing how compulsions can affect other people
• The importance of kindness and being part of the 'OCD club'

Resources:

Listen to Brad talk on this wonderful podcast about depression and asking for help

Check out Brad's latest project YOUniversal Stories

We know that OCD can affect every part of our lives, and unfortunately our careers can often be in the firing line of this difficult disorder.

In this episode, Penny and Angie talk to writer, consultant and mother of two, Cate Gilpin about how OCD has affected her career and how she has finally taken some control back.

We talk with Cate about:

• Being an anxious kid and having obsessions that she wouldn't understand until she was an adult

• Sexual orientation OCD

• Experiencing intense feelings of over-responsibility when working in retail

• Being diagnosed with OCD after having her two kids, and later on with ADHD

• Chronic imposter syndrome and playing it safe in jobs she was over-qualified for

• Facing the terror of starting a new, challenging role

We’re back with Season 4 of It’s Not What You Think! In this episode, Penny and Angie talk to comedian and radio host, Henry Bretz about his experience with OCD. You might know Henry for going viral for his satirical videos pretending to be Karl Stefanovic (OCD makes him soooo angry).

We dive into:

• An amazing 'Obsession Confession' featuring Scooby Doo

• Being diagnosed as a young adult

• Mental compulsions and how debilitating they can be

• Worrying about worry: when Henry was on holidays and feared he might have depression

• The fear of OCD ruining key moments in his life

• What it’s like to have OCD as a comedian

Resources:

The Joy Thief by Penny Moodie

Henry Bretz’s show ‘Karl Stefanovic: Live and Angry’

• What’s next for the podcast
• Why they decided to run an event in Melbourne and what happened when they did
• Whether they think stigma around mental illness, and OCD in particular, has lessened now that more and more people are talking about it
• Their favourite lesson or moment from this season

• What the Bergen 4 Day Treatment (B4DT) method is and how it differs from other methods of treatment
• The origins of the treatment method in Norway
• How Nathan and others in Melbourne were trained by the Norwegian specialists
• Why Nathan and others are so excited about the promising results of the pilot program in Melbourne
• What the four days look like
• Some of the initial results of the program
• What the future of the B4DT looks like in Australia

Tess very generously talks to Penny and Angie about:

• when her hair pulling symptoms began
• her religious upbringing and the intense feelings of shame and perfectionism
• the various treatments she’s tried in order to stop pulling out her eyelashes
• accepting how life pans out (regardless of the condition)
• what she wishes people knew about trich
• what she'll do if her kids show signs

In this episode Penny and Ange are joined by young emerging performer and theatre-maker, Gryff Connah. He talks to them about how intrusive thoughts and compulsions have woven their way throughout his life and how his dad helped him to identify what was really going on. Together they discuss:

• the early signs of OCD as a young kid
• the obsessive thoughts intensifying during lockdown when Gryff was a teenager
• the validation and relief that came with a diagnosis
• some of the more taboo themes of OCD that are so common but rarely talked about
• the play ‘Flicker’ that Gryff is involved with producing for the Melbourne fringe festival, which delves into the complex themes of OCD

Alison steps in for Angie today and joins Penny in welcoming back Dr Andrea Wallace to discuss EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing).
EMDR is an evidence-backed therapy that uses bilateral stimulation (for example side to side eye movements) alongside the recollection of memories to help the brain reprocess memories of events or feelings.

Penny and Alison discuss:

• How the body/mind is wired to heal itself
• What EMDR is and how it started
• How and why it can be useful to help treat people with OCD
• What EMDR sessions might look like
• How it’s been helpful for Penny
• How it can help people who might be resistant to trying ERP

Leading Australian TV producer, Chris Walker talks to Penny and Angie about the devastating intersection of OCD and childhood trauma.
When Chris was a young kid he witnessed a devastating event which left him and his family reeling. A few years later, Chris experienced OCD symptoms which started to take over his life.

In this very raw and honest episode, Chris talks so generously about:

• The role religion and moral scrupulosity played in his OCD
• The exhaustion of dealing with OCD at school when it’s so often invisible/hidden
• The continuing misunderstanding around OCD and mental illness in general
• Getting treatment for PTSD and ocd and how ERP therapy helped his compulsions
• Seeing OCD symptoms in one of his children and his optimism for early intervention.

Season 3 is here! We're kicking things off with a relaxed catch-up between the girls- chatting about Angie's recent ADHD diagnosis, Penny's honest account of an OCD relapse and Alison's mental gymnastics in the holidays. We also give you a little taste of the incredible guests we have lined up for the season ahead.

OCD can take so much from people, and a devastating effect of this illness is that it can complicate friendships. In this last episode of season 2, Alison Cosker joins Penny and Ange again to talk about how and why this is the case.

They touch on:

- How hard it can be to tell friends about an OCD diagnosis
- The strain a mental illness, with no end-date can put on friendships
- The boundaries that people with mental illness often have to put in place to look after themselves, and how this can be misconstrued
- How friends can get entangled in the reassurance web
- Trying to take the ego out of friendship where possible

They end by giving tips for trying to maintain precious friendships; from the point of views of the person with and without OCD

Did you know that Tourette Syndrome (TS) and OCD frequently co-occur? Penny and Angie talk to Jason McCurry who has TS and OCD. Jason talks so generously about:

• What perinatal OCD is
• How the brain fundamentally changes during matrescence
• Who gets perinatal OCD and why
• Some of the common ( and extremely difficult obsessions that come up with perinatal OCD)
• The ‘professionalisation of parenthood’
• The loneliness of experiencing perinatal OCD
• Why it’s so commonly misdiagnosed/missed altogether
• Medication throughout the perinatal period

This week Penny and Ange welcome their dear friend and unofficial producer, Alison Cosker, into the studio for a conversation about multiple diagnoses, doubting the doubt, and how grief can be impacted by OCD (and vice versa).

• How acting became a safe haven from the exhaustion of OCD
• The trepidation of talking so openly about mental illness as someone with a public profile
• How cathartic it is to hear other people talk about their ocd experiences
• The co morbidity of OCD and ADHD
• Feeling like a fraud when the ocd flares up
• How privilege plays into recovery

We’re back for Season 2! In this return episode, Angie and Penny chat about :

• what they got up to over their holidays
• why OCD can get so much worse when the pressure is on to have a good time
• the complexities of ‘coming out’ with OCD.
• Angie reveals how difficult it can be to talk about false memory OCD

Freedom From Obsessive Compulsive Disorder by Jonathan Grayson

In the season finale of Season 1, we're joined once again by clinical psychologist Andrea Wallace for a powerful discussion on the role of self-compassion in healing shame, especially for people living with OCD.

Andrea breaks down why shame and OCD so often go hand in hand, and how cultivating self-kindness can be a transformative part of the recovery process. We also explore:
• Why shame frequently accompanies OCD
• What to do when withholding joy becomes a compulsion
• How to help children release shame
• A simple, guided self-compassion exercise you can try at home

Whether you're living with OCD, supporting someone who is, or simply curious about the link between self-compassion, shame, and mental health, this episode is for you.

Yes, we have the same psychologist, and to us, she is an OCD wizard. In this special two-part episode, Dr Andrea Wallace shares some of her wisdom around what it REALLY feels like to have OCD, busts some common OCD myths and talks a bit about her own imposter syndrome (apparently even the wizards gets it).

This week Penny and Angie are joined by pediatrican Dr Annie Moulden and clinical psychologist Lauren Wetheimer. They dive into topics including who can diagnose a child with OCD and how this process unfolds, how and why parents play such a big and important role in OCD recovery, the advantages of early diagnosis and the role of medication.

Finding a psychologist in Australia:

OCD Bounce Directory

Seeing a provisional psychologist:

UTS

Bond university

Swinburne University

Online therapy options:

OCD? Not Me!

Books about OCD in kids for adults:

Talking Back to OCD by John S. March

Breaking Free of Child Anxiety and OCD by Eli R. Lebowitz

Books about OCD for kids:

Nobody’s Perfect by Ellen Burns

What to do when your brain gets stuck by Dawn Huebner

Hugh Van Cuylenburg has lived and loved someone with OCD for over 10 years. And that person happens to be co-host Penny Moodie. Penny and Angie talk to Hugh about why he thinks he’s still not great at always knowing what to do, why humour helps and why sometimes your instincts to help can fuel the OCD. They end the episode by offering their top tips on how to support someone you love who has this complex disorder.

Our top 6 tips:

1. Learn as much as you can about OCD

2. Practice patience

3. Try to foster a loving and non-judgemental environment

4. Expect relapses

5. Try to see your loved one's psychologist together

6. Try to plan ahead and agree what you will do together when the OCD flares up

The Man Who Couldn't Stop by David Adam

Othership app

Penny and Angie speak to Clinical Psychologist and Director of Melbourne Psychology and Counselling, Dr Claire Ahern about the often-bumpy road to getting an OCD diagnosis. They also pick Claire's brain about what to look for in a therapist, the question to ask someone who you suspect might have OCD and the differences between anxiety and OCD.

OCD Bounce

Mental Health Online

MindSpot

This Way Up

OCD? Not Me!

Claire Ahern's Website: OCD Online