About Phil Hickey Ph.D

I am a licensed psychologist, presently retired. I have worked in clinical and managerial positions in the mental health, corrections, and addictions fields in the United States and England. My wife Nancy and I have been married since 1970 and have four grown children.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Is Not An Illness

April 2, 2012 By Phil Hickey |

Recently I was listening to NPR on the car radio. The program was about so-called obsessive compulsive disorder, and a woman was describing her difficulty in this area. I didn’t record her actual words, but it went something like this: I have all these checks and rituals that I have to do each day. And… Continue Reading

Eccentricity

March 21, 2012 By Phil Hickey |

Yesterday I received the following email from a reader. “What’s your stance on eccentricity? How do you relate to the general view in the APA that deviation from cultural norms is pathological? And, have you ever read about David Weeks? I consider myself an eccentric person with many quirks and some fetishes. While I have… Continue Reading

Intrusive Thoughts

March 13, 2012 By Phil Hickey |

I recently received the following email from a reader: “I was wondering what your thoughts were on intrusive thoughts and anxiety problems or what some people call pure ocd. I have had problems for as long as I can remember. There is so much information out there it gets confusing. I don’t believe these are… Continue Reading

“Normal” Bereavement

March 13, 2012 By Phil Hickey |

There was a nice article in the Lancet last month. The article posed the question: “When should grief be classified as a mental illness?” The author criticized the APA’s draft version of DSM-5 for blurring the distinction and for making it more likely that people in bereavement will be “diagnosed” as depressed and, of course,… Continue Reading