Overcoming Harm OCD: Mindfulness and CBT Tools for Coping with Unwanted Violent Thoughts

Don’t let your thoughts and fears define you. In Overcoming Harm OCD, psychotherapist Jon Hershfield offers powerful cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness tools to help you break free from the pain and self-doubt caused by harm OCD.

Do you suffer from violent, unwanted thoughts and a crippling fear of harming others? Are you afraid to seek treatment for fear of being judged? If so, you may have harm OCD—an anxiety disorder associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). First and foremost, you need to know that these thoughts do not define you as a human being. But they can cause a lot of real emotional pain. So, how can you overcome harm OCD and start living a better life?

Written by an expert in treating harm OCD, this much-needed book offers a direct and comprehensive explanation of what harm OCD is and how to manage it. You’ll learn why you have unwanted thoughts, how to identify mental compulsions, and find an overview of cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness-based treatment approaches that can help you reclaim your life. You’ll also find tips for disclosing violent obsessions, finding adequate professional help, and working with loved ones to address harm OCD systemically. And finally, you’ll learn that your thoughts are just thoughts, and that they don’t make you a bad person.

If you have harm OCD, it’s time to move past the stigma and start focusing on solutions. This evidence-based guide will help light the way.

This book has been selected as an Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Self-Help Book Recommendation—an honor bestowed on outstanding self-help books that are consistent with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles and that incorporate scientifically tested strategies for overcoming mental health difficulties. Used alone or in conjunction with therapy, our books offer powerful tools readers can use to jump-start changes in their lives.

• Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts: A CBT-Based Guide to Getting Over Frightening, Obsessive, or Disturbing Thoughts
• Everyday Mindfulness for OCD: Tips, Tricks, and Skills for Living Joyfully
• The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD: A Guide to Overcoming Obsessions and Compulsions Using Mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (A New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook)
• The Complete OCD Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Free Yourself from Intrusive Thoughts and Compulsive Behaviors
• Freedom from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: A Personalized Recovery Program for Living with Uncertainty, Updated Edition
• Getting Over OCD, Second Edition: A 10-Step Workbook for Taking Back Your Life (The Guilford Self-Help Workbook Series)
• Is Fred in the Refrigerator?: Taming OCD and Reclaiming My Life
• The Imp of the Mind: Exploring the Silent Epidemic of Obsessive Bad Thoughts
• Brain Lock, Twentieth Anniversary Edition: Free Yourself from Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior
• When a Family Member Has OCD: Mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioral Skills to Help Families Affected by Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder