Bode the Brave Battles the OCD Monster

This book outlines through storytelling the most common and effective healthy coping skills to utilize when managing symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The book is for children experiencing OCD symptoms who are aged 8 to 11 years old. The story centers around a German Shepherd dog named Bode who is determined to win a power struggle with an entity known as "the OCD Monster". Bode demonstrates how he triumphs over "the OCD Monster" by utilizing the strategies of "talking back" whenever the OCD Monster tempts him to keep checking if the doors are locked, windows closed, gate around the estate he protects is secured, confirm that all the people are in their rooms asleep, and that the sprinklers are not left running water. Every time "the OCD Monster" tempts Bode with an intrusive thought of "what if" to persuade him to compulsively check that everything in and around the house is OK, Bode's response is to refrain from doing so because the more he performs a repetitive compulsion the stronger "the OCD Monster" will become. Bode responds by engaging in witty banter, responding to "the OCD Monster" with replies such as "Maybe and Maybe Not" to frustrate the efforts of "the OCD Monster". With each attempt by "the OCD Monster" to prompt Bode to compulsively behave like an overactive guard dog, Bode defeats and shrinks "the OCD Monster" in size each time he resists the urge to compulsively check. Eventually Bode is successful and "the OCD Monster" becomes a tiny bug that is hard to see and harder to hear. Bode's strategies demonstrate in a children's illustrated story how the concepts of response prevention, inhibitory learning, and habituation through Exposure and Response Prevention activities effectiveness reduce the severity and frequency and intensity of the symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder by not performing behavioral or mental compulsions when triggered by obsessive thoughts of irrational doubt.