Fabrizio Didonna

on Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy
for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Not through actions, not through words
Do we become free of mental contaminations
But seeing and acknowledging them over and over
--Anguttara Nikaya

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is characterized by intrusive thoughts that trigger repetitive behaviors, and traditional treatments for OCD focus on reducing the frequency of the distressing behavior. But what if we went a little deeper to help the individual understand how their OCD works? What if we could use mindfulness and self-compassion to help people recognize what’s really at play?

Internationally-known Clinical Psychologist Dr. Fabrizio Didonna serves as Visiting Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Professor at the Institute for Lifelong Learning at the University of Barcelona. He is also the Founder and President of the Italian Institute for Mindfulness and Coordinator of the Unit for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders in the Department of Psychiatry of the Villa Margherita Private Hospital in Vicenza. Dr. Didonna developed Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for OCD as a therapeutic model and authored Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for OCD: A Treatment Manual.

On this episode of Noble Mind, Dr. Didonna joins Kate and Alex to explain the core features of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for OCD, describing how his approach focuses less on symptoms and more on changing the individual’s relationship with their internal experience. He introduces us to the factors that contribute to the development of OCD and explores how obsessive thoughts and behaviors show up in other psychological disorders. Listen in for Dr. Didonna’s insight on what makes OCD a trust disorder and learn what differentiates mindful exposure from classical exposure and response prevention therapy.

Key Takeaways

• What inspired Dr. Didonna’s work in using mindfulness to treat OCD
• The intrusive thoughts that characterize an obsession and the compulsive behaviors that emerge to manage those obsessions
• Dr. Didonna’s insight on the range of factors that contribute to the development of OCD
• What distinguishes obsessive-compulsive personality disorder from the better-known obsessive-compulsive disorder
• How the obsessive thoughts and behaviors that characterize OCD show up in other disorders (e.g.: eating disorders, generalized anxiety, hypochondria, etc.)
• How Dr. Didonna differentiates compulsive behaviors from addictions like shopping, gambling or sex
• How MBCT for OCD focuses less on symptoms and more on the processes that activate the problem
• The core features of MBCT for OCD as a therapeutic model
• How Dr. Didonna characterizes OCD as a mistrust of one’s perceptions, memory or intentions
• The self-forgiveness practice central to MBCT for OCD
• How MBCT for OCD integrates MBSR, CFT, CET, ACT, CBT and other therapies
• What differentiates Dr. Didonna’s mindful exposure from classical ERP

• MBCT for OCD

Other Resources 

• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for OCD by Fabrizio Didonna
• Italian Institute for Mindfulness
• Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression by Zindel V. Segal, J. Mark G. Williams and John D. Teasdale
• Cognitive Behavior Therapy
• As Good as It Gets
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)
• Paul Gilbert
• The Symposium by Plato
• Compassion Focused Therapy
• Cognitive Evolutionary Therapy
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
• Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy