Excoriation (also known as dermatillomania) is a disorder that causes people to repetitively touch, rub, scratch, pick at, or dig into their skin in ways that result in physical damage — like skin disfigurement, discoloration, bleeding, or scarring. Effective treatment often involves professional help, but there are tricks some people have found helpful — physically, emotionally, or otherwise — for dealing with skin-picking. Click here to learn these tricks.

Since 1993, the Annual OCD Conference has been the only national meeting focused solely on obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and related disorders. The unique event allows people with OCD and their loved ones to learn about the latest OCD treatment and information alongside the mental health professionals who care for them.

The Conference features more than 100 presentations, workshops, and seminars as well as nearly two-dozen support groups and various evening events. Our presenters include some of the most experienced and knowledgeable clinicians and researchers in the field, as well as people with OCD and family members sharing their stories about life with OCD. Registration is now open for the 24th Annual OCD Conference being held in San Francisco, CA on July 7-9, 2017. Visit www.ocd2017.org for more information.

24th Annual OCD Conference
July 7-9, 2017
San Francisco Marriott Marquis
San Francisco, CA
www.ocd2017.org

Mental illness doesn't discriminate -- and everyone deserves access to effective treatment for OCD and related disorders. As part of its diversity initiative, The International OCD Foundation needs the participation of the greater OCD community to help spread the word. Here is how:

1) The International OCD Foundation (IOCDF) would like to make a video accessible to everyone, so they are seeking participants who speak a language in addition to English to participate. If you speak a non-English language, please make a video of yourself saying the phrase “Effective treatment for everyone” in your chosen language.
2) Once recorded, please upload your video to YouTube or Vimeo, and include how the phrase would be written in your chosen language.
3) Contact The International OCD Foundation by sharing your video on Facebook or Twitter using the #IOCDF4ALL, or by messaging them on Facebook or emailing them at info@IOCDF.org to share the link to your video and let us know that you have participated.

They will edit all of these videos together and if yours is chosen, you will see this video on its website, social media and at the Annual OCD Conference. For more info, go to https://www.facebook.com/IOCDF/.

The Yale School of Medicine is currently looking for participants that suffer from OCD to take part in a study that tries to teach subjects to regulate brain activation to control their reaction to OCD provocative stimuli. For more information, go to http://ocd.yale.edu/research/treatment.aspx.

Do you have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)? Are you in a romantic relationship? AND/OR Do you have a child aged 6-17?

If this is the case, you may be eligible to participate in a study exploring familial relationships in adults with OCD. As a result of the study, we hope to better understand the impacts of OCD on family life, and to shed light on specific familial issues relative to OCD.

Participation in the study includes a 15- to 30- minute interview, which may be conducted in person or through Skype. You will also be asked to complete a series of online questionnaires about your thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and your romantic and/or parent-child relationships. The whole procedure should take between 35 and 90 minutes.

To be eligible for this study, you must be 18 or over, have a primary diagnosis of OCD, and either (a) be in a romantic relationship or have been in a relationship in the last six months, (b) have at least one child aged between 6 and 17 years old with whom you have regular contact, or (c) both.

This study is being conducted by Dr. Eric Storch, Ph.D. at the Rothman Center for Pediatric Neuropsychiatry, USF (University of South Florida) For further information please contact the study coordinator, Dr. Valerie L.B. Ariza at valerielabui@health.usf.edu or (727) 898-7451.

The International OCD Foundation (IOCDF) works hard to raise public awareness about OCD and related disorders and our programs. Visit the links below for some of the many news stories featuring the IOCDF and its affiliates. Visit the IOCDF blog for all the latest news.

• Chicago Tribune (October 21, 2016) — The challenges of dating with OCD
• Metro Boston (October 17, 2016) — Foundation marks 30 years of building awareness of OCD
• Washington Post (October 11, 2016) — What obsessive-compulsive disorder does to a young mind when it grows unchecked
• NECN’s The Take (October 10, 2016) — Raising OCD Awareness
• The Atlantic (September 29, 2016) — Hoarding in the Time of Marie Kondo
• Mashable (September 12, 2016) — The scary, intrusive thoughts you can only confess to a search engine
• AMI Newswire (September 9, 2016) — New partnership may help treat obsessive compulsive disorder
• WGN TV (July 29, 2016) — OCD sufferers fight anxiety with improv comedy
• Psychology Today (July 27, 2016) — The International OCD Conference: A Focus on Compassion

OCD-UK provides a month-by-month list of the latest and archived news stories published on its website. OCD-UK is dedicated to improving the mental health and well-being of almost one million people in the United Kingdom whose lives are affected by Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Click here to go to the website.

The OCD Center of Los Angeles has just published its most recent blog article, "Doubt, Denial and OCD". This article looks at "The Denial Obsession", in which OCD sufferers obsess that they do not really have OCD, and are merely "in denial".

To read the article, click here.

The Anxiety Disorders Center at Hartford Hospital/Institute of Living is conducting a study investigating changes in brain functioning after treatment in people with Hoarding Disorder. This study is open to adults ages 20 – 60 years old that meet criteria for hoarding disorder as well as other general study criteria.

If you would like more information about this study, click here.

To determine initial eligibility for the study, you will need to complete a 20 minute phone screen with a research assistant, where you will be asked questions about your mental and physical health.

This is a new OCD support group for family and friends of OCD sufferers. Here you can gain strength & knowledge through peer support. The group meets at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 59 Main Street, Cheshire, CT on the last Tuesday of every month, 7:00 to 8:30 pm.

For more information, contact Susan Schuster @ 860-575-9593 or susanschuster@yahoo.com. Click here for a flyer with details and directions.

Our support group's co-moderator, Dr. Christina Taylor, announces the release of her new book, "OCD: A Workbook for Clinicians, Children and Teens; Actions to Beat, Control & Defeat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder". This book is a user-friendly, creative and interactive book to help children and teens take control of OCD. With specific chapters for each type of OCD, children and teens will learn cognitive behavioral strategies to overcome their obsessions and compulsions. The book contains:

• Step-by-step worksheets and exercises to break free of OCD.
• Strategies for contamination, checking, worrisome thoughts, perfectionism, hoarding and religious obsessions and compulsions.
• Relaxation and thinking skills to manage anxiety.
• Use Actions, to Beat, Control and Defeat -- the ABCDs of OCD to effectively conquer symptoms.

The book is available on Amazon.com and Pesi.com.

The Anxiety & Phobia Treatment Center at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, NY plans to offer a six-week workshop for people suffering with OCD. According to the National Institute for Health, approximately 2.2 million adult Americans have some form of OCD. Their approach will be a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy one that includes exposure experiences and ritual prevention. The workshop will consist of weekly group sessions and individual sessions with one of their anxiety specialists. Please click here to go to their website for more information.

Written for OCD Awareness Week as part of a collaboration between The Mighty and the IOCDF, people with OCD seize the opportunity to share what OCD is really like, outside of often negative or inaccurate portrayals of OCD that tend to dominate news cycles. To read the article, click here.

A study of mental illness literary by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) in Singapore found that nine out of ten respondents believe that those with a mental disorder "could get better if they wanted to," while half also saw mental illness as a sign of "personal weakness." Researchers say this stigmatizing mindset often prevents people from seeking treatment. To read the article, click here.

Rose Bretécher, author of a new memoir about her experiences with pure OCD, explains how her new boyfriend's accidental discovery of her therapy homework actually revealed the surprisingly positive (and therapeutic!) sides of embarrassment. To read the article, click here.

Even for people with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), cognitive-behavioral therapy outperforms anti-psychotic medication in some hard-to-treat patients, finds a recent study by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. To read the article, click here.

Darin Dougherty, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and the OCD Institute at McLean Hospital is featured in a recent MIT Technology Review article for his work treating OCD with electric stimulation. To read the article, click here.

• Notes from the conference.
• Family Treatment for OCD.
• What Determines the Content of OCD? The Changing Nature of OCD.
• Whose House is this Anyway? What to do when OCD takes over your home.
• The Pursuit of Imperfection.

The Intensive Program for OCD at Bradley Hospital in East Providence, RI provides treatment to children and adolescents, ages 5 to 18, who experience significant impairment in their daily lives due to OCD and obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders. The program is one of many renowned programs and services that bring families from across the country to Bradley Hospital, the nation's first psychiatric hospital devoted exclusively to children and adolescents. For more information, you can contact Amy Cousineau, LICSW (Clinical Social Worker) at 401-432-1516 or ACousineau@lifespan.org.

"40 BAGS IN 40 DAYS" is a Facebook page where you can face a challenge designed to help you get the clutter out of your home. You can have a bag, less than a bag, or more than one bag a day. Furniture or big items count, as well as boxes. Heck it all counts. :) The overall goal is to tackle your home a spot at a time, GET RID OF STUFF, pace yourself, and be detached. Good luck!

OCD is not curable, but it is manageable. The purpose of this personal story is to document one human’s struggle with a very real, and surprisingly common, mental health condition. To read this story, click here to go to NAMI's website.

We are very happy to announce the launch of a new message board. Due to comments that our last message board was confusing and not very easy to use, we researched other message boards and found QuickTopic. QuickTopic provides a super-easy single-topic web forum. You can start a topic in seconds and can easily create and manage discussions using your web browser. Your participants can join in even more easily. All you need to do is click "Post a new message", enter your name (you don't need to enter your real name, just create a user name), type in your message and click "Submit message". Click here to go to the message board.

Researchers at Butler Hospital and Alpert Medical School of Brown University are seeking adults (18 or older) to participate in an online study evaluating a mobile smartphone app as a self-help treatment for OCD. Each participant will receive free access to the mobile app and be asked to complete four online surveys over 12 weeks. If you are interested in learning more or to find out if you are eligible, call 401-455-6541. Click here to download a flyer containing all the information.

The TLC Foundation is currently seeking volunteers to participate in research studies regarding BFRBs, or Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors, that include trichotillomania, skin picking disorder, chronic nail biting, cheek biting and similar behaviors. By participating in BFRB research, you will help researchers develop better ways to diagnose and treat BFRB disorders. There are several internet-based surveys and regional participation opportunities that need your help! Click here to go to TLC’s website for full details.

We are pleased to announce that our support group has partnered with OCD Connecticut to form an affiliate of the International Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Foundation. We are affiliated and incorporated as OCD Connecticut or OCD CT and we are excited to join the IOCDF to expand their outreach. Our mission as an affiliate is to serve adults, children, and families in Connecticut living with obsessive-compulsive disorder by promoting early intervention and expanding awareness, treatment and research. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a disorder of the brain and behavior. OCD causes severe anxiety in those affected. OCD involves both obsessions and compulsions that take a lot of time and get in the way of important activities the person values.

Please visit OCD Connecticut's website at www.ocdct.org and like them on Facebook so we can spread awareness of our affiliate. Contacting OCD CT is easy - their phone number is (860) 415-6233 and their email address is CT.ocdf@gmail.com. Please check both our websites for upcoming events.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced on March 10, 2014 that they will not go forward with restrictions to anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medications in the Medicare Part D program. This decision by CMS shows what can be accomplished through grassroots advocacy! In its announcement, CMS said that it will not seek any further changes to the six protected classes of medications including mental health medications in the Medicare Part D program without first receiving additional stakeholder input. View NAMI's press release. Support the cause!

We have made a couple of great changes to our website. First, we have added an up-to-date news feed from the IOCDF section (click here). Secondly, we have created a "News Archive" page to store old news items. We hope that these changes will give you a more pleasurable browsing experience on our site.

Clutter Cleaner is a company that has been cleaning hoarded homes and estates for over 10 years. The company's founder, Matt Paxton, is America’s number one expert on extreme cleaning and hoarding situations and is the author of "The Secret Lives of Hoarders". They have opened an office servicing all of the Connecticut area. Visit their website at www.cluttercleaner.com to learn more about their methods and how they work with hoarders and their families.

On November 8, 2013, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S Department of Treasury, issued the final rule to implement The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). This law requires group health plans and health insurance to ensure that financial requirements such as co-pays, deductibles and treatment limitations applicable to mental health or substance use disorder benefits are equal to all medical/surgical benefits, in addition to ensuring equal treatment for residential and outpatient behavioral health care.

New technologies have paved the way for a wide variety of mobile treatment options for OCD, including smartphone-based applications (aka "apps"), and internet and computer-based software programs. These apps and programs have the advantage of being widely accessible and, in some cases, can provide lower cost alternatives to tradtional therapy. For more information, click here to view the OCD Newsletter article that attempts to provide a basic overview of these programs. For a list of smartphone apps, click here.

Every time you do an exposure that makes you anxious, you are taking a step forward to conquering your OCD.

As we are currently working on forming an IOCF affiliate for Connecticut, we strongly encourage our support group members to support the IOCF by becoming members of the IOCF. Membership benefits include quarterly newsletters and reduced rates at the annual IOCF conference. To become a member of the IOCF, click here.