The Lindsay Clancy case has sparked intense conversations about postpartum mental health—and for many people with OCD, those conversations can be terrifying.

In this special Water Trough Chat, Nicole welcomes back OCD specialist Gina Abbondante, LCSW, who brings nearly 20 years of maternal mental health experience. Together, they explore perinatal OCD versus postpartum psychosis, intrusive thoughts, psychosis, hormonal influences, and why this case has created so much fear and confusion within the OCD community.

They also discuss the polarization surrounding the case and what happens when we try to force an incredibly complicated tragedy into black-and-white explanations.

Content Warning: Includes discussion of child death, filicide, suicide attempts, intrusive harm thoughts, psychosis, and severe perinatal mental illness.

In this Water Cooler Chat, Nicole is joined by her Seattle roomies and fellow OCD specialists Amanda Petrik-Gardner and Angela Henry to recap the 31st Annual IOCDF Conference.

The trio talks conference highlights, including expanded conversations around OCPD and PANS/PANDAS, the inaugural in-person I-CBT Special Interest Group meeting, evolving evidence-based treatment options, and why bringing clinicians, researchers, families, supporters, and people with lived experience together matters so much.

And because this is the OCD Family Podcast, there are plenty of roommate shenanigans along the way—including one very unexpected, exposure-filled barefoot walk through the streets of Seattle.

Come for the OCD education, stay for the dirty feet.

CONTENT WARNING: This episode discusses suicidal ideation, self-harm, suicide risk, and psychiatric hospitalization. Please listen with care. This podcast is educational and is NOT crisis management, therapy, or individualized treatment.

In this Water Cooler Chat, Nicole explores a question many people are afraid to ask: Will being honest with my therapist about suicidal thoughts automatically get me hospitalized?

Nicole breaks down why suicidal ideation isn’t one-size-fits-all, including passive versus active thoughts, intent, plan, access to means, protective factors, and acute versus chronic risk. She also explains why disclosure does not automatically mean hospitalization—and why not having a specific plan doesn’t automatically mean someone is safe or cannot be hospitalized. Risk assessment requires context, clinical judgment, and the whole clinical picture.

For the OCD community, Nicole also discusses the important distinction between unwanted intrusive thoughts about suicide or self-harm and suicidal desire or intent, while emphasizing that these experiences require individualized assessment by a qualified clinician.

If you or someone you love may act on thoughts of suicide, cannot stay safe, or is experiencing an immediate mental health crisis, please seek professional help now. In the U.S., call or text 988, go to the nearest emergency department, or contact emergency services for immediate help. Outside the U.S., contact your country’s emergency or crisis services.