Clinically Thinking

Dr Emily O’Leary has built her career on studying and treating OCD and anxiety. In this episode Lisa and Dr O’Leary discuss treatment approaches ranging from the traditional approaches to the new modalities and ideas being trialed. Highlights include:

05:20 What is OCD
07:27 What OCD is not
08:37 Comparing OCD and GAD
12:55 Comparing OCD and OCPD
17:20 Identifying OCD in therapy
20:00 Diagnosis and co-occurring conditions
28:54 Foundational research in OCD
35:00 Do clinicians avoid OCD?
41:39 Emerging new treatments
47:10 Using Schema perspectives
50:12 Prioritising multiple diagnoses
55:00 Imagery rescripting
56:20 Working with POCD
1:02:40 Debunking OCD myths
1:05:20 Future directions.

Follow the Clinically Thinking Facebook page to find links to Dr O'Leary's reading list and links to treatment resources

A very practical discussion with Dr Tracey Wade on 10 ways to improve client outcomes in your current clinical practice.

Talking points in this packed episode

03:00 What is a competency?
07:12 Firm empathy
13:15 Don’t overestimate a patient’s fragility
18:35 Prioritise early change
25:39 The role of epigenetics
30:44 Measure symptoms at each session..
35:15 Don’t put your clients into a coma
36:58 Benefits of weekly sessions..
40:30 Don’t assume more complex therapy is required..
46:54 Adapting the protocol to the patient
51:08 Cognitive dissonance and motivational enhancement
55:27 Setting goals between sessions
57:29 WOOP and fantasy realisation therapy
58:21 Prioritising training and supervision

Lisa and Tracey are discussing the paper "Ten generic competences to improve outcomes of cognitive behaviour therapy: Evidence, postulated processes, and clinical implications"
by Tracey D Wade and Glenn Waller

Grab a copy and read along at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0005796725001482?via%3Dihub

FACE TO FACE TRAINING
Tracey Wade will expand on this material, and then apply it with reference to perfectionism, at a practical one day workshop being held in Adelaide, 19 June 2026. Information and registration at:
https://www.bridgepsychologists.com.au/training

Dr Catherine Hynes brings Neuroscience and Neuropsychology underpinnings to her Clinical work with trauma and dissociation. Lisa and Catherine discuss the impact of trauma on memory, the controversies around repressed memories, recovered memories and false memories, and explore best practice guidelines for therapists working in this space.

www.catherinehynes.net/training/ to learn more about Catherine's training and workshops.

Recommended reading and research in this topic:

Callus, E., Gallina, E., & Fernandez, I. (2024).EMDR: dispelling the false memory creation myth in response to Otgaar et al. (2022a). Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1366137. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1366137

Dalenberg, C. J., Brand, B. L., Gleaves, D. H., Dorahy, M. J., Loewenstein, R. J., Cardeña, E., Spiegel, D. (2012). Evaluation of the evidence for the trauma and fantasy models of dissociation. Psychological Bulletin, 138(3), 550-588.

Freyd, Jennifer (1996). Betrayal Trauma: The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Geraerts, E., Schooler, J. W., Merckelbach, H., Jelicic, M., Hauer, B. J. A.,& Ambadar, Z. (2007). The reality of recovered memories: Corroborating continuous and discontinuous memories of childhood sexual abuse. Psychological Science, 18, 564 –568. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01940.x

Goodman-Delahunty, J., Nolan, M. & van Gijn Grosvenor, E. Empirical guidance on the effects of child sexual abuse on memory and complainants’ evidence, Report for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, 2017.

Houben, S. T. L., Otgaar, H., Roelofs, J., & Merckelbach, H. (2018). Lateral eye movements increase false memory rates. Clinical Psychological Science, 6, 610–616. doi:10.1177/2167702618757658.

Lee, C., de Jongh, A., & Hase, M. (2019). Lateral eye movements,EMDR, and memory changes: A critical commentary on Houben et al. (2018) [Letter]. Clinical Psychological Science, 6, 403–404. doi:10.1177/216770261983039

Loftus, E. (1993) The Reality of Repressed Memories. American Psychologist. 48(5):518-37

Pezdek, K., Finger, K., & Hodge, D. (1997). Planting false childhood memories: The role of event plausibility. Psychological Science, 8(6), 437–441. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00457.

Ross CA, Ridgway J, Neighbors Q, Myron T. Reversal of Amnesia for Trauma in a Sample of Psychiatric Inpatients with Dissociative Identity Disorder and Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. J Child Sex Abus. 2022 Jul;31(5):550-561. doi: 10.1080/10538712.2022.2067096. Epub 2022 Apr 19. PMID: 35437119.a

van der Hart, O. & Nijenhuis, E.R.S. (1995) Amnesia for traumatic experiences. Hypnosis 1995; 22:73-86

van der Hart, O. & Nijenhuis, E.R.S. (1999) Bearing Witness to Uncorroborated Trauma: The clinician’s development of reflective belief. Professional Psychology, Research and Practice. Vol 30, Number 1, pp 37-44.

Dr Michael Proeve is a Clinically and Forensically endorsed Australian Psychologist. Dr Lisa Chantler asks Michael why remorse, guilt and shame are common factors in therapeutic issues such as Social Anxiety and Depression, and how clinicians can help.

Dr Vanessa Spiller explains the history of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, offers tools to diagnose FASD and helpful pathways for Clinical Psychologists offering therapy. She explains why it is so easily overlooked in comparison with other commonly co-occurring diagnoses, and reveals FASD's alarmingly high rates of involvement with the criminal justice system.