OCD & Anxiety Spring Lecture Series: Sessions III & IV

Join The Center for Professional Education for our Spring 2024 OCD & Anxiety Lecture Series!

Sessions III & IV, Friday, May 10, 2024, 12 - 3:15 p.m. ET

Click here to register.

Session III: When Stuff Mounts: The Nature and Evidence-Based Treatment of Hoarding

Speaker: Gregory S. Chasson, PhD, ABPP, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago

Overview: Hoarding Disorder (HD) is a serious psychiatric disorder affecting about 4% of the adult population and costing $2 billion per year in the U.S. alone. HD is characterized by the excessive saving of possessions, considerable difficulty discarding items, and clutter that impairs quality of life. HD interferes with every aspect of life for those suffering—causing difficulty completing basic activities (cooking, sleeping), increasing risk of multiple illnesses (poor sanitation, rodent and insect infestations), and increasing the risk of injury/death (fires, falls, structural collapse). The disorder puts multiple parties in jeopardy (family, neighbors, first responders). Evidence for pharmacotherapy and non-specialized cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to treat HD has been mixed, necessitating the creation of a specialized protocol called CBT for HD. This presentation will define the nature of hoarding, characterize its associated features, and provide the latest details about CBT for HD. Attendees will learn to recognize hoarding and its features and to identify evidence-based CBT techniques indicated for the condition.  

Learning Objectives:

After this lecture, registrants will be able to:

1. Define hoarding disorder and characterize how it presents.
2. Explain the associated features of hoarding disorder (e.g., prevalence, course, pathophysiology).
3. Summarize cognitive-behavioral therapy for hoarding disorder (CBT for HD).

Session IV: Is it All in My Head? Treating Health Anxiety

Speaker: Michelle Massi, LMFT, private practice, Los Angeles, CA

Overview: We will all die one day, but when and how are unknowns. While many deaths are due to preventable injuries, most are caused by medical conditions including cancer, stroke, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. Too often, taking our symptoms to Dr. Google fuels health anxiety by focusing on extreme outcomes. Is it just a headache or is it a brain tumor? It is no wonder humans experience excessive health-related fear based on misperceptions of bodily cues and sensations. We refer to these worries generally as health anxiety. But we are really talking about two different diagnoses: illness anxiety disorder and somatic symptom disorder. In this talk you will learn the difference between the two diagnoses and how to treat them effectively. 

Learning Objectives:

After this lecture, registrants will be able to:

1. Differentiate Illness Anxiety Disorder and Somatic Symptom Disorder.
2. Identify common Cognitive Distortions associated with Health Anxiety.
3. Define specific treatment interventions for Illness Anxiety Disorder and Somatic Symptom Disorder.