Wow. So I watched the first few episodes and I have got to say that the methods are mortifying. I just watched a women eat a scone that was wiped around the inside of a toilet.
You can teach a dog not to poop on the floor by beating the heck out of it but there are much more positive ways to go about it.
But ERP
isn't punishment, though it may feel that way to the client. While I agree that the exposures on this show tend to the extreme, I can also see why they would be that way. Tolin answered a similar question in the blog recently (about why he didn't let a clients with contamination OCD only touch the 'blood' she was exposed to with one hand and leave it that, but instead made her rub it all over her hands and [clothed] body) where he said something like "OCD will always try to prove that, somehow, the compulsion is 'working', and so you have to go extreme lengths to prove that it isn't so that the brain can only reach one possible conclusion" (I'm butchering that, but it's the general gist).
There are other theoretical approaches to take with OCD tx, of course, but I have yet hear of an empirically valid one that doesn't involve ERP in some form as a central process (I imagine even something like MBCBT would eventually result in client performing "ERP" on his or herself, so to speak). And ERP WILL be unpleasant for the client by definition.
I agree that Schwartz's explanations are indeed very understandable (OCD was one of my abnormal psych professor's areas of interest, and she used Schwartz's analogies in that lecture, which I found extremely helpful as a student).
(T4C, if this borders too much on a "clinical advice" post, let me know and I'll delete it. Thanks!).
I forgot to address this, but I actually think what is impressive here is not the number, but that it is mostly good research.
If you think 7 is impressive, you should see what some faculty are cranking out. I can list a number of faculty who publish 20, 30, even 40 articles per year. Many of these are not exactly substantive articles though. I think its also more common in large labs that do a lot of collaboration....people may publish that much but are frequently 12 of 15 authors...etc.
Yes, I should have clarified this a high publication rate with generally substantive, thorough studies as their bases (as opposed to, say, 20 opinion pieces a year).
), runs a well-regarded anxiety disorder clinic, etc. And, within my very limited ability to judge such things, he seems like an EXCELLENT clinician who is very grounded in EBT. I've been pleasantly surprised, to say the least.
