What is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)?

OCD is a condition that impacts your ability to function and live life in accordance to your values. Those with symptoms of OCD experience unwanted thoughts, images, or bodily sensations that cause anxiety, which leads one to engage in a compulsion (mental or behavioral) to reduce the anxiety.

OCD can be thought of as a “broken alarm system” meaning the part of your brain responsible for our fight or flight response is hyperactive. Even when someone logically understands that intrusive thoughts pose no threat, the brain makes it “feel real” and threatening. To deal with this sense of danger, one believes they must do a compulsion in order to find relief.

There are many different themes of OCD and this varies from person to person. However, the universal difficulty when it comes to OCD is tolerating uncertainty.

How Do We Treat OCD?

Individualized Treatment Plans

Everyone is impacted by OCD differently, therefore it is important to develop a treatment plan that works for your unique symptoms. We will work collaboratively with you to develop an individualized plan tailored to your goals, values, and needs. You determine how fast or slow we go in treatment. We will meet you where you are at!

Psychoeducation

There are many misconceptions and stereotypes about OCD. It is our job to make sure you fully understand your symptoms and how compulsions are reinforcing them. We will help you understand the underpinnings of OCD, your triggers/symptoms, and what treatment will look like.

Modern Evidence-Based Treatments

We are trained in two of the most effective treatments for OCD that are backed by research!

• Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP)

  This is considered the “gold standard” treatment for OCD. ERP will involve building a hierarchy of feared stimuli and gradually engaging in exposures at increasing difficulty. ERP also involves tools and techniques to disengage from compulsions (i.e., response prevention). Exposures may consist of imaginal exposures and/or in vivo exposures (i.e., real life situations).

• Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)

  There has been new research looking at the effectiveness of combining ERP with ACT as opposed to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). ACT teaches us what is called “psychological flexibility” through mindfulness, willingness, and acceptance. Through ACT we learn how to look at thoughts and emotions from a distance and accept their presence instead of trying to change or avoid them.

• Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT)

  I-CBT is an evidence-based treatment for OCD that focuses on the reasoning process that leads to intrusive doubts and obsessions. Instead of starting with exposures, I-CBT works by identifying and challenging the faulty inferences that fuel obsessive thinking, such as mistaking possibility for probability or confusing imagination with reality. Clients learn to recognize when their mind is engaging in “obsessional doubt” and to shift back into present-moment, common-sense reasoning. This approach can be particularly helpful for those who struggle with more taboo OCD themes.