The OCD Whisperer Podcast with Kristina Orlova
The OCD Whisperer Podcast explores anxiety, OCD, and mental health through unscripted, human-centered conversations and personal stories. Featuring clinicians, creatives, public figures, and everyday people, the show looks at how anxiety, fear, pressure, and identity shape our lives — and how people learn to live alongside them. Hosted by Kristina Orlova, a licensed therapist with lived experience of OCD, the podcast centers honest conversation over polished answers. Episodes are reflective, unscripted, and grounded in real life, allowing space for nuance, curiosity, and moments that don’t always resolve neatly. This is a podcast for anyone who has questioned themselves, felt overwhelmed, or wondered what’s happening beneath the surface of anxiety, OCD, and mental health — and what it means to be human while living with it.
Episodes
Is it OCD, or is your brain just wired differently?🧠
In this episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova speaks with Dr. Jeremy Shuman, a psychologist and specialist in the intersection of Autism and OCD. Together, they explore the complex overlap between neurodevelopmental traits and obsessive-compulsive patterns.
Dr. Shuman opens up about:
• The definition of Autism and the shift toward the Neurodiversity Movement...
Is it OCD, or is your brain just wired differently?🧠
In this episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova speaks with Dr. Jeremy Shuman, a psychologist and specialist in the intersection of Autism and OCD. Together, they explore the complex overlap between neurodevelopmental traits and obsessive-compulsive patterns.
Dr. Shuman opens up about:
• The definition of Autism and the shift toward the Neurodiversity Movement...
Is Perfectionism Hijacking Your Values? 🧠
In this episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova speaks with Dr. Marisa Mazza, PsyD. Together, they explore the final pieces of the ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) puzzle: values and committed action, and how to integrate these tools into a long-term recovery journey.
Dr. Mazza opens up about:
• The critical difference between "Values" (directions) and "Goals" (de...
How can you stay present when your brain is screaming with OCD? 🧠
In this episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova speaks with Dr. Marisa Mazza, PsyD. Together, they explore the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) concepts of Self-as-Context and Present Moment Awareness—and how to apply them even when anxiety feels overwhelming.
Dr. Mazza opens up about:
• Why "being present" feels threatening or impossible w...
Can You Really Accept a Thought You Hate? 🧠
In this episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova speaks with Dr. Marisa Mazza, a psychologist and expert in ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy). Together, they explore the "how-to" of diffusion and acceptance—the tools that transform your relationship with intrusive thoughts from a battle into a peaceful coexistence.
[Dr. Mazza opens up about]:
• The Thought Machi...
🧠Is the opposite of anxiety actually trust?
In this episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova speaks with Dr. Marisa Mazza, PsyD, a faculty member of the Behavioral Therapy Training Institute and author of The ACT Workbook for OCD. Together, they explore Psychological Flexibility—the core of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)—and how it integrates with ERP to help you live a "big, beautiful life" even with OCD.
...
🧠Can OCD trick even a trained medical professional?
What happens when your worst fear actually comes true—and your OCD tells you it’s your fault?
In this episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova speaks with Sarah Michelle Boes, nurse practitioner, entrepreneur, mother, and OCD advocate. Together, they explore what it’s like to live for decades with undiagnosed OCD, how pregnancy intensified obsessive thinking, and h...
🧠Can you really accept OCD thoughts without agreeing with them?
And what does “acceptance” actually look like when your mind is attacking you nonstop?
In this episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova, LMFT, speaks with Dr. Sarah Brungardt, psychologist and founder of Calm OCD. Together, they explore one of the most misunderstood (and feared) concepts in OCD recovery: accepting intrusive thoughts without engaging in ...
🧠What If OCD Isn’t About Uncertainty—But About Doubting the Wrong Things?
In this episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova, LMFT shares her personal journey living with OCD and how her understanding of treatment has evolved over time. Drawing from both lived experience and nearly a decade of clinical work with OCD, Kristina breaks down ERP, ICBT, ACT, and why learning how OCD actually works mattered more than chasi...
👨👩👧👦Is your child’s OCD hiding behind good behavior and perfectionism?
In this episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova speaks with Katherine Schooland, LMFT, founder and director of Raising Brave Kids, a multi-state practice specializing in child and teen anxiety and OCD. Together, they explore how childhood OCD can quietly hide in high-functioning, compliant, and “well-behaved” kids — and why it’s so often m...
🤰These Thoughts Don’t Mean You Want to Harm Your Baby
In this second of two episodes about perinatal OCD on The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova is joined again by Betty Flores, LCSW, a perinatal mental health specialist and founder of Perinatal Wellness, for an honest and deeply needed conversation about perinatal OCD, intrusive thoughts, pregnancy, and postpartum mental health.
Betty shares her own lived experience with ...
🤰Are these protective instincts… or is it postpartum OCD?
In this episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova speaks with Betty Flores, LCSW, a perinatal mental health specialist from Perinatal Wellness. Together, they explore how postpartum and pregnancy OCD show up, why intrusive thoughts feel so convincing during this stage of life, and how parents can tell the difference between normal worry and an OCD-driven threa...
💔Can OCD convince you that you’re incapable of love?
In this episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova speaks with Zack Tucker, OCD advocate and creator of OCDestigmatize. Together, they explore relationship OCD, health anxiety, shame, and what real recovery actually looks like when OCD never fully disappears—but stops controlling your life.
Zack opens up about:
• Relationship OCD and the fear of “not really loving...
🧠Can social media trigger your OCD without you even realizing it?
In this solo episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova explores how social media interacts with OCD, compulsions, and obsessive thoughts. She shares strategies for scrolling with intention, not on autopilot, and how to reclaim control over your digital habits.
Kristina opens up about:
• How a quick scroll can spark OCD spirals and leave you feeling ...
🧠 Can grief and OCD completely change your sex drive, intimacy, and connection with your partner?
In this powerful episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova speaks with Krista Reed, licensed therapist and trauma specialist, about how grief, trauma, cortisol, and the nervous system directly affect sexuality, desire, and emotional intimacy in people with OCD.
❤️This episode explores:
• Why grief and OCD can shut down...
🧠 Can you grieve “correctly” when you have OCD?
In this episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova speaks with Krista Reed, clinical social worker and specialist in OCD, BFRBs, and Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Together, they explore how grief, loss, and real-life emotional pain interact with OCD — and how deeply the experience can impact identity, relationships, and recovery.
❤️Krista opens up about:
• The childhood lo...
🧠 *Can self-compassion really help you recover from OCD?*
In this episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova speaks with Lukasz, known online as Intrusive OCD Memes. Together, they explore how humor, community, and self-awareness play a role in managing OCD, and how sharing personal experiences can help both yourself and others.
Lucas opens up about:
• First symptoms of OCD as a child and struggles with contaminatio...
🧠 Can self-compassion really help you recover from OCD?
In this episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, host Kristina Orlova speaks with Kimberley Quinlan, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, creator of CBT School, and author of The Self-Compassion Workbook for OCD. Together, they explore how learning to treat yourself with kindness can transform your relationship with OCD and emotional suffering.
Kimberley opens up about:
•...
🧠 Do you ever feel like something is wrong — even when nothing happened?
In this episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova speaks with Heather Brown, LCSW, OCD and trauma specialist. Together, they explore Just Right OCD, magical thinking, somatic anxiety, and how OCD can sometimes feel like trauma.
Heather opens up about:
• Her personal experience living with Just Right OCD
• Sensations-based OCD: when the fear i...
🧠 Could Your Child’s Sudden OCD Be Something Else? Understanding PANS & PANDAS
In this powerful episode of The OCD Whisperer Podcast, Kristina Orlova speaks with Angela Henry, therapist and PANS/PANDAS specialist, and Lindsay Forsyth, a mother and advocate who has navigated this journey with her own child. Together, they shed light on how sudden-onset OCD, tics, and anxiety in children may sometimes point to something deepe...
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