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Stuff That’s Loud was written by Ben Sedley, a clinical psychologist and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) practitioner, and Lisa Coyne, founder of the McClean OCD Institute for Children and Adolescents. They have a wealth of experience in adolescent mental health and it shows. This is a book I wish I had as a teenager with OCD.
Stuff That’s Loud is aimed at teenagers, but it would be suited for parents, teachers and adults with OCD. The tone is conversational, and it lays out the basics of exposure and response prevention (ERP) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in a way that is easy to understand and apply to your own life.
It talks about OCD in two sections: Spiralling and Unspiralling.
Spiralling talks about living with OCD, the different types of OCD, and gives real life examples from teens with OCD. They touch on most types of OCD, including the less talked-about like harm and sexual orientation. The authors prompt the reader to consider the wider effect OCD is having on their life.
Reading this section, I felt seen. It's like the authors put to words everything I've struggled to understand or articulate about my own OCD.
Unspiralling is about treating OCD. I know from my own experience with OCD that treating it is difficult and it gets worse before it gets better. The authors don’t sugar coat that reality, they are frank about the pitfalls you will face but also offer strategies for how to get through those rough times and cultivate the willpower to keep going. They address the impact OCD has on those around you, and provide a guide for how to talk to family, teachers and friends about OCD and the best way for them to provide help.
Reviewed by Jenna Sayring