Living Beyond OCD Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Patricia E. Zurita Ona, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist specialized in working with children, adolescents, and adults struggling with OCD, anxiety, and emotion regulation problems. Dr. Z is the founder of the East Bay Behavior Therapy Center, a boutique therapy practice, where she runs an intensive outpatient program integrating ACT and Exposure Response Prevention (ERP). She is also a fellow from the Association of Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS), member of the OCD San Francisco Bay Area (affiliate from the International OCD Foundation), and a chair of the committee for the Anxiety and Depression American Association (ADAA). Dr Z gave a TEDX talk titled ‘Stop Playing-It-Safe and Start Living’ at Gunn High School in 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gdXbMoTEZg.

"Dr. Z. has been treating OCD for many years, and passionately too. Her interest in OCD keeps her approach to treating it fresh. Merging the tried and tested, with the new. In her new book, she demonstrates how ERP and ACT can work together to tackle OCD and how readers can make a shift from reactive moves to wise moves. With many exercises to help the reader understand and apply these skills. Thank you Dr. Z. for your dedication and service to the OCD community!"- Stuart Ralph, The OCD Stories"This is a very helpful book for anyone who has been struggling with obsessive-compulsive tendencies––and who is sick and tired of allowing them to hold them back from the life they really want to live. This workbook will help you identify what truly matters to you and start you moving in those directions with determination and kindness toward yourself. Dr. Z uses her extensive clinical experiences, knowledge and skills to offer you many practical examples and exercises that can truly make a difference in your life. Through different chapters, readers will gain an understanding of how obsessions became a problem, learn to watch their mind, recognize ruling-thoughts, clarify values, and take actions towards values-based exercises. Dr. Z wrote this book with a compassionate heart and open mind in a non-technical, clear, concise, and personable style that makes it easy to work with it. I recommend this book wholeheartedly and without any reservations.––Georg H. Eifert, PhD, Chapman University Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Co-Author of Anxiety Happens and the Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety."This is much more than a workbook: it’s an engaging and informative travel guide for the journey to OCD recovery. A passionate expert in OCD, Dr. Z is your wise and caring companion, offering step-by-step guidance for how to make choices that put you, not OCD, in the driver’s seat. Her tips, tools, and insights provide not only a roadmap to recovery, but also a process for enjoying the journey—and your life—along the way."Shala Nicely, LPC author, Is Fred in the Refrigerator? Taming OCD and Reclaiming My Life "Even the best OCD clinicians struggle to provide effective treatment with clients who have strong belief in their obsessions, avoidance of emotions, and wavering motivation. Adults with OCD often present this way and many clinicians refer them out as they feel inadequate to help. This workbook offers a way forward using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as a model for how to provide exposure therapy and get back into your life. Regardless the type or form of OCD a person is dealing with, the intersection of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Exposure Response Prevention applies to all of them and those key skills are highlighted in every chapter in a skillful and accessible manner. Dr. Zurita Ona's vast clinical experience shines through in this excellent workbook. I highly recommend it to any clinician treating clients with OCD!"Nate Gruner, LCSW, Staff Therapist, McLean Hospital OCD Institute"Whether you have OCD or you are a therapist assisting someone grappling with it, this workbook is a MUST HAVE to take your skills to the next level! Filled with knowledge and innovation to shift to wise moves and get back into your life, this workbook is presented in a warm and welcoming way and provides a fresh take on ACT and ERP skills training for OCD. Dr. Z. does her best to create a comprehensive learning context for readers from the beginning to the end of the workbook, by providing them with research-based skills in a non-jargon way, introducing values-based exposure exercises timely, and even preparing readers for the most common obstacles they may experience when facing their fears. I highly recommend this workbook!" M. Joann Wright, PhD, Founder, Supervisor, Presenter and Therapist at ACT One; Peer-Reviewed ACT Trainer, and Fellow of the Association of Contextual Behavioral Sciences. "Dr. Z has written a much-needed workbook for adults suffering with OCD. In this workbook she illustrates how Acceptance and Commitment Therapy along with Exposure Response Prevention can be used to side-step the difficult images, thoughts, and feelings that come with this struggle. Dr. Z has unique skills and expertise in this area and her years of work with anxiety, OCD, rumination and fear-based challenges shine through in this workbook in the exercises, ability to convey how to build values-based exposures, how to unhook from the mind, and how to check what’s really organizing our life. I am sure this workbook will help many people to learn key ACT and ERP skills and go back to do what’s important to them!"Michael Twohig, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Utah State University

• Introduction; PART I Getting to Know Your Mind: A Pattern-Making Machine; 1 Obsessions Are the Norm!; 2 If Obsessions Are Normal, What About OCD?; 3 What Keeps OCD Going?; 4 Why Are Obsessions So Hard to Let Go Of?; 5 Are There Different Types of OCD?; PART II What Would ACT Do for You?; 6 What Is This Thing Called “ACT”?; 7 What About ACT and Exposure?; 8 What Lies Ahead?; PART III The Trilogy That Makes Your Life Miserable; 9 What Are the Compulsions You’re Doing?; 10 Don’t Forget About Avoidant Behaviors!; 11 Do You Know Your Ruling-Thoughts?; PART IV Facts and Fantasy About Getting Rid of Obsessions; 12 How Do Ruling-Thoughts, Compulsions and Avoidant Behaviors Work?; 13 How Are You Relating to Yourself These Days?; 14 What’s Really in Your Control?; 15 What About Dropping Those “Getting Rid of Obsessions” Strategies?; PART V Learning to Date Your Mind; 16 Let Your Mind Do Its Own Minding; 17 Fall Out of Blind Love With Your Mind!; 18 Get Out of the Content of Your Mind!; 19 Stay “In the Moment,” Not in Your Head!; 20 Keep in Mind the F of Thinking, Not What It Looks Like!; 21 Make Room for Disturbing Content in Your Mind!; 22 Watch Out for Fake-Acceptance!; 23 Hold Your Mind Lightly!; 24 Always Check What Works!; PART VI Shift, Shift, Shift . . . Shift Your Moves!; 25 Watching Your Mind; 26 Riding the Wave of Fear, Anxiety, and Terrible Feelings; 27 Acceptance Moves; 28 Keeping an Eye on Your Shift Moves!; PART VII Designing Your Life and Living Your Life; 29 Figuring Out What Matters; 30 Living Your HOWs; 31 Counting Your HOWs Moves; 32 Taking a Break; PART VIII Making W.I.S.E. M.O.V.E.S.; 33 Put Together Your Values-Guided Exposure Menu; 34 Make W.I.S.E. M.O.V.E.S. When Practicing Values-Guided Exposures; 35 Get Familiar With Different Types of Values-Guided Exposure Exercises; 36 Make the Best of Your Values-Guided Exposures; 37 Read About What You May Feel When Making W.I.S.E. M.O.V.E.S.; 38 Remove Your Compulsions From the Equation; 39 Track Your Planned W.I.S.E. M.O.V.E.S.; PART IX Unpacking Blocks for Making W.I.S.E. M.O.V.E.S.; 40 I Can’t Do It: Reason-Giving Thoughts; 41 I Would Rather Be Safe: Values-Conflict or Fake-Value?; 42 Why Am I Doing This?: Lack of Values Clarity; 43 I’m Doing Hundreds of Exposures: New Compulsion?; PART X Moving Forward; 44 Make Mini W.I.S.E. M.O.V.E.S. On-the-Go; 45 Soften Up With Self-Compassion; 46 What Gets in Your Way of Being Kind to Yourself?; Self-Compassion Reflective Exercises; 48 Self-Compassion Exercises On-the-Run; 49 Life Is Imperfect!; 50 The Illusion of Control; 51 How to Handle Those Unexpected Moments; Departing Words; Appendices; About the Author; Bibliography; Index