Best 10 Books On OCD Intrusive Thoughts

1. The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD

By Jon Hershfield MFT, Tom Corboy MFT

Combining mindfulness practices with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD offers practical and accessible tools for managing the unwanted thoughts and compulsive urges that are associated with OCD. With this workbook, you will develop present-moment awareness, learn to challenge your own distorted thinking, and stop treating thoughts as threats and feelings as facts.

2. The OCD Workbook

By Bruce M. Hyman PhD LCSW, Cherlene Pedrick RN

The OCD Workbook has helped thousands of people with OCD break the bonds of troubling OCD symptoms and regain the hope of a productive life. Endorsed and used in hospitals and clinics the world over, this valuable resource is now fully revised and updated with the latest evidence-based approaches to understanding and managing OCD. It offers day-to-day coping strategies you can start using right away, along with proven-effective self-help techniques that can help you maintain your progress. The book also includes information for family members seeking to understand and support loved ones who suffer from this often baffling and frustrating disorder.

3. The Complete OCD Workbook

By Scott Granet LCSW

The Complete OCD Workbook includes:

• An essential introduction that provides an overview of the primary treatment methods such as CBT, ERP, and mindfulness.
• Actionable exercises that use questionnaires, checklists, and reflective prompts to provide a hands-on and personalized approach to treating OCD.
• Real stories that offer support throughout your journey to healing, from patients who understand and have overcome struggles associated with OCD.

4. When a Family Member Has OCD

By Jon Hershfield

In When a Family Member Has OCD, you and your family will learn ways to better understand and communicate with each other when OCD becomes a major part of your household. In addition to proven-effective cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness techniques, you’ll find comprehensive information on OCD and its symptoms, as well as advice for each affected family member.

5. Treating Your OCD with Exposure and Response (Ritual) Prevention Therapy

By Elna Yadin, Edna B. Foa, Tracey K. Lichner

Designed to be used in conjunction with its companion therapist guide titled Exposure and Ritual (Response) Prevention for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, thisWorkbook includes an exposure and ritual prevention treatment program which is broken down into 17 – 20 biweekly treatment sessions. During these sessions the patient will be gradually exposed to situations and places that trigger his or her OCD symptoms. The goal is that over time the OCD sufferer comes to realize that the things he or she fears will not necessarily occur if the rituals are not performed. Some exposures will be supervised by the therapist, but the workbook can help the patient to practice on their own at home in order to overcome some of the barriers and difficulties that are part and parcel of every treatment.

6. Rewire Your OCD Brain

By Catherine M. Pittman PhD, William H. Youngs PhD

Written by clinical psychologist Catherine Pittman and clinical neuropsychologist William Youngs, this groundbreaking book will show how neurological functions in your brain lead to obsessions, compulsions, and anxiety. You’ll also find tons of proven-effective coping strategies to help you manage your worst symptoms—including relaxation, exercise, healthy sleep habits, cognitive restructuring, cognitive defusion, distraction, and mindfulness. 

7. The ACT Workbook for OCD

By Marisa T. Mazza PsyD

Whether you’ve just received a diagnosis, or have suffered for years, this workbook can help. Using the powerful and proven-effective treatments in this guide, you’ll learn what type of OCD you suffer from (such as harm OCD), how to identify the underlying mechanisms of your OCD, move through triggering incidents while staying present and connected to your values, be more aware and flexible, tolerate uncertainty, and commit to behaviors that ultimately allow you to lead a full, rewarding life. Once you realize what really matters to you, you’ll find the motivation needed to start on the path to psychological well-being.

8. The Self-Compassion Workbook for OCD

By Kimberley Quinlan LMFT

The Self-Compassion Workbook for OCD outlines a step-by-step program to help you understand the emotional experience of OCD, and develop the tools you need to manage your disorder and build a better life. Drawing on a powerful combination of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), exposure and response prevention (ERP), and compassion-focused therapy (CFT), this breakthrough guide will teach you how to balance intense emotions, lean into your fear, and focus on recovery. Over time, you’ll learn to replace self-judgment with kindness and self-compassion, so you can stop suffering and start thriving.

9. “Pure O” OCD

By Chad LeJeune PhD

Grounded in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and written by a renowned ACT and anxiety expert, “Pure O” OCD explains the process of “cognitive fusion” that leads to obsessive thinking, and how efforts to avoid or control our thoughts reinforce the fusion in an unhelpful, positive feedback loop. Using the five skills in the book—labeling, letting go, acceptance, mindfulness, and proceeding with purpose—you’ll learn how to finally break free of the struggle, worrying, and avoidance that keeps you stuck.

10. Relationship OCD

By Sheva Rajaee MFT

Relationship OCD offers an evidence-based, cognitive behavioral approach to finding relief from relationship anxiety, obsessive doubt, and fear of commitment. You’ll learn to challenge the often-distorted thought patterns that trigger harmful emotions, increase your ability to think rationally, and ultimately accept the presence of intrusive thinking while maintaining the values of a healthy relationship.