Chelsea Lowe - The Everything Health Guide to OCD: Professional advice on handling anxiety, understanding treatment options, and finding the support you need

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HEALTH GUIDE TO OCD

Dear Reader,

When it comes to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), you might say I wrote the book! My symptoms began when I was twenty, but it wasn't until I was well into my thirties that I discovered I had OCD. OCD? Didn't that mean you couldn't stop counting ceiling tiles or cleaning your house? That wasn't me. I worried about things that could really happen. (And, I was pretty sure, would!) And I suffered from anxiety and isolation.

We know so much more now. If you have OCD, chances are it'll be recognized and treated much faster than mine was. The more you learn about OCD, the weaker it becomes (especially when you also have effective weapons).

I can't say that fighting OCD is easy. Or even that I've utterly vanquished it. It's a process. But knowledge really is power.

The online community I found truly lit up the darkness. I did cognitive behavior therapy; I read. It may sound syrupy, but almost ever y book I read about OCD made me feel as if its author was extending a hand to pull me from the well. I hope to do that for you. If you have OCD, you'll need help, information and, ideally, support and luck. I wish you all of those.

Professional advice on handling anxiety, understanding treatment options, and finding the support you need

Chelsea Lowe

Technical Review by Judith Lytel, Psy.D.

Avon, Massachusetts

Copyright 2007 of F+W Publications, Inc.

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ISBN 10: 1-59869-435-9

ISBN: 13: 978-1-59869-435-2

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All the examples and dialogues used in this book are fictional and have been created by the author to illustrate medical situations.