News

On Saturday October 14th, 2017, as International OCD Awareness Week comes to a close, OCD and related disorders community members from around the US — and across the globe — will gather together in Washington D.C. for the inaugural OCD Capital Walk. The event will aim to:

• Increase the public’s awareness about OCD and its impact on all those affected.
• Provide information on available resources for OCD and related disorders.
• Help individuals learn to advocate — not only for the OCD community in their local and larger governments, but also for themselves, as they seek out treatment and additional support in their communities.

Please join us as we walk in our nation’s capital to ensure that all those living with OCD and related disorders have the opportunity to lead full and productive lives. For more information, visit www.givegab.com/campaigns/ocdcapital-walk, email info@iocdf.org or call (617) 973-5801.

We are happy to announce that we now have an AmazonSmile account. Whenever you shop on AmazonSmile, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to OCD Connecticut. AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same prices, same service. Click here to shop at our AmazonSmile site.

In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers have found signs of inflammation within the neurocircuitry associated with adult obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The findings were reported June 21, 2017 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Until now, only a small percentage of OCD cases have been linked to inflammation, occurring in a part of the brain called the basal ganglia — potentially as the result of childhood infection. The Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada now uses recent advances in positron emission tomography or PET scanning to identify inflammation in multiple parts of the brain involved in OCD. Click here to read the full article.

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.

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) Needs Your Help!

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 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.

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.

• 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

Christina J. Taylor, Ph.D. and a member of the Fairfield County OCD Support Group, spoke at the “Living With OCD” event, sponsored by OCD Connecticut, at the Yale Child Study Center on October 15, 2016.

This annual day-long program is an educational and supportive forum for members of the community about OCD, its symptoms, its effects on families, and current evidence-based treatments. Dr. Taylor spoke about her recently published book, OCD: A Workbook for Clinicians, Children and Teens – Actions to Beat, Control & Defeat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Held during OCD Awareness Week, this event featured Taylor and a panel of people living with OCD.

Dr. Taylor is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Sacred Heart University and has a private practice in Fairfield, CT.

To learn more about OCD Awareness Week, go to the IOCDF website at iocdf.org/programs/ocdweek.