There are a few things to like about this book, but my main complaint was that it was just waaay too short. I finished reading it so quickly that it felt like there was a lot left to be desired. It also seems like it's written for a really young audience (like children or pre-teens). There wasn't a lot of insight into the actual diagnosis of OCD or what some of its causes might be, so it seemed like this was much more of a brief overview. OCD can also manifest in a lot of different ways, so this has a pretty narrow focus of the condition.

The best part is that Dennis shares her own experiences with the disorder and what has helped her. This personal touch makes it seem like the activities and progress are actually obtainable. Some of the suggestions seem useful and I liked that the journal gives space for the reader to write out their thoughts and keep track of their compulsions.

I'm not 100 percent sure I would give this book to someone with OCD - I feel like it would have been helpful to have more facts to back up the therapeutic suggestions. More info about CBT would have been nice to gain some background too. Overall, I'm glad Dennis wrote about her own struggle with OCD, and I think this short book could be helpful just for people to see they're not alone with their diagnosis.

Sweet down to earth reflection. Helpfulsomeone living with OCD to be used as a tool for others with OCD to outline ways of coping and overcoming a myriad of compulsions by utilizing cognitive behavior therapy.

This is part self-help, part-personal struggle.

It combines activities to manage your OCD with the author's personal experiences. It is potentially triggering if you are not ready to confront your biggest fears and try to work through it.

Interesting. Some things I already knew and some I didn't.
Well done ! Short but good, easy to follow.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.
This is my honest review. All opinions are my own.

As someone who has been recently diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, there was a lot that I could relate to in this book. The book being written in a diary type form helped to make it more personal and relatable. I would not use this book in my classroom with kids, but I would recommend it to teachers because it would give insight into the students that have OCD or have signs. This book was insightful and I would also recommend it to parents of students that might be showing signs or OCD.

My rating: 4/5

I'm likely not the intended audience or age group for this workbook. It was really informative to get a view from another person who has OCD on their experiences, obsessions, personal life, etc. and her ways of dealing with the obsessions. My gripe is that I'm not a fan of a number of the activities in this book like drawing or filling in graphs, though they are unique and interesting accompaniments to each chapter. I think this would be a great workbook for younger OCD sufferers to guide them through handling OCD with their therapist or on their own time.

This is a sweet, honest, and personal guide/activity book that was written by someone living with OCD to be used as a tool for others with OCD to outline ways of coping and overcoming a myriad of compulsions by utilizing cognitive behavior therapy.

"Let's begin to talk about our mental health and page by page, bit by bit, we will be okay."

The author outlines multiple different tactics for managing anxiety and compulsions, so you can try them all or one by one to see what works or doesn't work for you. It's quite short, which is why I believe this book is a good starting point for someone looking for help coping with OCD. But because it is short, this book also isn't intimidating. The is important for someone who might be feeling overwhelmed but anxious about finding something to help. This won't take you hours upon hours to read like other books might, so can get into the activities rather quickly. The activites are scattered throughout the book, with information to lead you into the how's and why's of it and after as well to follow up.

The thing I loved most was that she was sharing her own personal struggles, not just giving you homework on how to help yourself. She actually shared her journey, from photos she has that document when she was struggling, to logs that she kept as she was learning to diminish her behaviors and anxiety, and lists she had made for herself when coming to terms with what was inducing her anxiety. She shows you how far she has come, how she is still working on some things; that some situations or environments can be triggering and new compulsions can try to sneak their way in. This book is overall uplifting and encouraging.

Due to the activities contained within this book, a physical copy of this book is the most beneficial way to read this book so that you may do the activities as you go along and keep all of your stuff together if you need to revisit it or add to it at a later date.

I believe this book would be a good companion to utilize alongside therapy or as a starting point for someone seeking relief from their OCD on their own. As OCD is an anxiety disorder and this diary seeks to help lessen the anxiety leading to and stemming from compulsions, I believe this diary could also be beneficial to someone suffering other anxiety disorders, like generalized anxiety disorder or social anxiety disorder (but I'm not a medical professional, this is merely my belief).

Many thanks to Charlotte Dennis for writing such a personal book in the hopes of helping others and to Jessica Kingsley Publishers for sharing a digital copy with me via NetGalley for reviewing purposes.

A very interesting book written by a person suffering of OCD.
It is written in the form of a diary and contains practical exercises for relief and it suggests way to cope with the anxiety.
I believe this book would be great in paper form as it would be easier to take notes and write down thoughts.

A great book both for those who suffer of OCD and for those who would love to know more in order to help friends/family.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange of an honest review.

As per title, this book describes, using a sort of "diary", the author's activities that helped herself to gain relief from OCD.

The book helps you understand your OCD, is written in plain English, can be read by everyone and no previous information on CBT/ERP is required. But it is by far too basic, so I rated 3 stars.

Anyway, if you suffer severe OCD you always need external help and support from specialized terapist, so you can find useful links at the end of the book, too.

I received this copy as an ARC in return for honest feedback.
As someone who has lived with OCD since my teen years, I am always looking for new strategies and ways to cope with the thoughts that encompass my brain. I loved the format of this book! The sketches, activities really got me thinking and it was very personally done. I wish I had a hard copy of it so I could have marked it all up, but I was able to transfer many of the activities into my journal nonetheless. I loved that Charlotte shared her journey as it made me feel I was not alone in mine. Very well done!

The Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Diary: A Self-Help Diary with CBT Activities to Challenge Your OCD is written by Charlotte Dennis, who shares the experiences she has been through working on her own OCD using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).  It's designed as a workbook to be written in, so the paper version would definitely be a better pick than the ebook. 

The book is filled with exercises to help you reflect on yourself and examine different aspects of your OCD.  The exercises also help you to challenge your OCD thoughts, and build in difficulty as you progress through the book.  Some of the activities you might have expected, but others are more creative and may surprise you.Some of the points covered in the book are:
-separating yourself from your OCD
-create a hierarchy of compulsions based on difficulty to stop
-keeping an exposure log
-addressing body-focused repetitive behaviours like skin picking and hair pulling

There are enough different strategies covered in the book that even if some don't work as well, it's likely that others will and there will still be benefit overall.The book is very easy to read, with lots of white space, illustrations, and room to complete the guided activities.  There are hand-drawn style graphs that give it a friendly vibe, and even the font choices seem laid back.  The book feels very infused with the author's personality, which helps create a strong connection as a reader.

My favourite line in the book, which I think applies well to many mental health conditions aside from OCD, is: "The best thing I have learnt is that irrational thoughts don't survive very long outside of your own head." While the book is obviously geared towards OCD and related disorders (such as those involving body-focused repetitive behaviours), I think it could potentially be useful for people with anxiety disorders or even depression who are really struggling with avoidance as part of their illness.

As someone with mental illness, I appreciated this book. I didn't love this book but I am happy it exists and I believe that if read by the right person it could really make an impact on that person.

Great idea for younger people to begin to express their personal “whys” of their OCD. I think as someone who has been dealing with OCD in a therapeutic setting for any length of time would likely know most of the info this book helps uncover. However, both young and older OCD sufferers who haven’t been introduced to CBT for OCD will find these prompts helpful and revealing. It’s a great book to have a physical copy of rather than the digital copy I received as my ARC.

I received this ARC for a honest review. I personally struggle with my own OCD, so I was curious if this would provide any new information or techniques I could try. This would be better suited and more helpful as a physical book. I can say that while it didn’t help me directly, it may be be helpful for a young adult who needs some coping mechanisms. There were some errors, but that’s to be expected for an arc. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I received an eARC from NetGalley. This book is a self help book for people dealing with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The author discusses her experiences with OCD very openly and honestly. Along the way she provides exercises and tips to try and aid those who deal with OCD to any degree.

The reason I requested this is because mental health is not as common a topic as it should be. While the stigma around it is slowly lessening, it is still a topic most people avoid. I have depression and anxiety, and have read many books on that aspect of mental illness, but I want to learn about other mental illnesses. I want to try and understand what it is like so I can help the people around me who suffer from OCD, or bipolar, or any of the numerous other mental illnesses. Personally, I found this book informative and understand a bit better what it must be like to live with OCD. I cannot judge it beyond that point; I don’t know to what extent the exercises would help someone with OCD, but from my perspective they looked incredibly helpful. For this reason I am giving this book 3.5 stars, as I think the real ratings need to come from people who can relate and judge this book subjectively, rather than objectively. And now for some quotes I found inspiring and relatable (not just for people with OCD, but for everyone)!

“The more you avoid something, the more your brain fears it.”

“When you are aware a thought is just a thought, it’s easier to ignore.”

“By picturing a thought or fear as a headline, it can make you realise it’s not very likely to happen.”

“Let’s begin to talk about our mental health and page by page, bit by bit, we will be okay.”

Great resource for people who need journaling ideas for their OCD management. I think a paper copy would be more helpful than an eBook.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Diary is a self-help diary for those who battle OCD, written by an author winning her own battle. From a therapist’s perspective, I love the practicality and relatability of this. I can envision teen clients working through this as part of their recovery. It may be too simplistic for most adults and it isn’t a stand alone solution, but it is a fun complement to other interventions.

Thanks #NetGalley & #JessicaKingsleyPublishers

It's a diary which exercises for capturing your fears and seeing that some of them are completely unreasonable. The author apart from exercises provides her own examples of OCD behaviour and fears. I must admit that the journal is a bit intimidating at first because there's lots of free space to fill in. Whether it will help people who try to deal with their fears and phobias? I'm not so sure, still it's good that it's there.

A lot of grammatical mistakes and unreadable charts, diagrams and photos.
Nothing new just one person and their ocd.
Might help a teenager but that’s about as far as it goes.