Podcast Interview

    1. Interview with Reid Wilson

    2. Quiz

Course Content

In this interview, Dr. Reid Wilson, an expert on anxiety and OCD, outlines his unique strategic and paradoxical approach to treatment. He posits that tackling anxiety is "hard, but not complex," and focuses on a two-step method: first, stepping back to identify the pattern the disorder uses to maintain control, and second, actively "messing with" that pattern. Rather than seeking to eliminate anxiety, Dr. Wilson encourages clients to adopt an aggressive stance, wanting the feeling and challenging it directly. He contrasts this provocative method with traditional mindfulness, which he argues can be an ineffective starting point for highly obsessive individuals. The core of his work involves teaching people to treat the specific topics of their anxiety or OCD as irrelevant, and instead focus on winning "moment by moment" by changing their response to the distress itself.

  • Describe Dr. Wilson's core philosophy that treating anxiety is "hard, but not complex."

  • Identify the key principles of a "strategic" or "paradoxical" approach to therapy.

  • Explain the process of stepping back from an anxious thought to identify its pattern.

  • Define the aggressive stance a client can adopt towards their anxiety and why it is effective.

  • Articulate the reasoning behind treating the content of an OCD obsession as "nothing."

  • Contrast Dr. Wilson's methods with more traditional mindfulness-based interventions for anxiety.

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