Isabella* is just 22, but she’d been living with severe contamination OCD for eight years. It had taken over her life - touching people, objects, even parts of her own home, felt dangerous. Every interaction came with a cost: hours of cleaning, sanitising and rituals.

In this episode we follow Isabella’s story. From a life ruled by OCD to her experience with a revolutionary therapy: the Bergen 4 day Treatment (B4DT).

Over 100 thousand New Zealanders are estimated to suffer from OCD and access to treatment is difficult.  Thanks to the charity Open Closed Doors the B4DT had it’s first New Zealand trial in January of this year.  And the results were phenomenal.

Guests:

Isabella*

Dr Bjarne Hansen

Dr Marthinus Bekker

Emma Chapman

Mihi Gillies

To find out more, or to support the charity go to Open Closed Doors. 

Resources:

Open Closed Doors.

Fixate - FB group

In this episode:

• Isabella’s story: what OCD feels like from the inside
• The hidden cost of OCD: intrusive thoughts, compulsions, and the exhausting mental load
• Why OCD is so often misunderstood, and why logic alone doesn’t work
• The impact on families, relationships, and daily life
• The gold-standard treatment: Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), and its limitations
• The first New Zealand trial of the Bergen 4-day Treatment (B4DT) - an intensive four-day therapy
• Insights from co-founder Bjarne Hansen on anxiety, intention, and “cracking the code”
• Willingness:  the key predictor of recovery
• A strengths-based reframe of OCD: these traits are not weaknesses.
• “Don’t feed the cat”. Learning to respond differently to intrusive thoughts
• What recovery looks like in real life.
• Honest reflections on early recovery, the highs, the doubts, and what comes next
• Practical insights for parents and families: supporting without reinforcing OCD

No Such Thing as Normal is made with support from NZ On Air