OCD Treatment
Therapy for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Are you tired of OCD running your life?
Do any of these sound familiar?
- You constantly worry that your actions (or inaction) will cause something terrible to happen to you, your loved ones, or even strangers
- These thoughts leave you feeling paralyzed, terrified, and willing to do whatever it takes to keep them from coming true
- You are constantly looking for certainty that your worries aren’t true or won’t actually happen
- You are always chasing a feeling of “rightness” that never seems to stick around
- You feel compelled to do things that don’t entirely make logical sense in order to quiet the thoughts, keep everyone safe, or make things feel “right” again
- You find yourself avoiding situations that might bring up these worries or feelings, just to escape the whole thing
If you are dealing with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, you may feel caught in an endless cycle. It can be exhausting constantly worrying about the many possible “What if’s?” and then doing whatever you can to try to gain some certainty that your fears won’t come true. Or you may feel that things are “off” or “wrong” and constantly be trying to make things feel “just right.”
OCD thoughts may sound like:
(possible trigger warning)
- What if I didn’t actually lock the door when I left the house?
- What if I hurt someone unintentionally?
- What if I touched someone inappropriately?
- What if I’m wrong about my sexual orientation?
- What if I spread germs everywhere?
- What if I or my loved ones get really sick?
- What if my partner is not actually the one for me?
- What if this “wrong” feeling never goes away?
- What if I make a mistake?
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can quickly take over your life and make it extremely difficult to do the things you used to enjoy. In addition, OCD often goes unrecognized or untreated due to the variety of ways that you can experience these symptoms (as well as the embarrassing or sensitive nature of some of the fears).
Check out the screening tool below if you are wondering if you might have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
If you have OCD, you are not alone. About 1% of US adults suffer from OCD (that’s 2.2 million people), according to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America.
Types of OCD
OCD can look very different depending on the theme or themes that you struggle with. Here are some of the most common themes of OCD:
- Relationship OCD (ROCD)
- “Just Right” OCD
- Contamination OCD
- Sexual Orientation OCD (SO-OCD)
- Scrupulosity OCD
- Harm OCD
- Pedophilia OCD (POCD)**
Unfortunately, there is a lot of misunderstanding of OCD and how challenging and debilitating it can be, no matter what your OCD centers around. For more information about each of these types, you can check out my article “OCD – Not What You See On TV: 7 Types And Why OCD Is The Worst.”
**Please note that having POCD does not mean that someone is a pedophile
What Causes OCD?
Most anxiety is caused by a combination of two main factors: genetics and environment. What does this mean?
First, you may have inherited a greater likelihood of developing anxiety or OCD from your biological parents. Just like green eyes or brown hair, anxiety is something that can be passed down from one generation to the next. Like other traits, however, just because your parent has a hooked nose or anxiety, that doesn’t mean that you are destined to.
Second, the way that you learned to handle anxiety growing up may have made your anxiety worse over time. For example, if you had a parent or caregiver that worried about everything all the time, then you may have picked up this habit from them. Or if you learned as a child that avoiding certain things helped you to feel better, then this may have solidified your anxiety around those things. Unfortunately, what tends to help us to feel better in the short-term often makes anxiety worse in the long-run!
The good news is that whether you were born with anxiety or you picked it up along the way, therapy can help you learn how to cope with your anxiety more effectively and stop letting it interfere with your life.
What Does Treatment for OCD Look LIke?
If you are ready to stop letting your OCD run your life, the good news is that OCD is very treatable! Below are the 3 main types of treatment that I use in OCD counseling.
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) helps you break your cycle of anxiety and face your fears in gradual steps.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on breaking unhelpful patterns in your thinking and acting and finding more effective ways of being.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) incorporates mindfulness and acceptance strategies to help you be more present and bring your life more in line with your values.
No matter what kind of OCD you have, we would work together to make a plan to help you overcome your OCD in manageable steps. Treatment for OCD is both effective and can be relatively quick. My goal is to give you the tools you need to start enjoying your life again as quickly as possible.
So What Next?
If you find that OCD is stealing your joy or affecting not only you but your family as well, I encourage you to reach out for help! Know that if we work together, you will have a safe place to talk about your worries, no matter how scary. I would love to help you learn the tools you need to overcome your OCD.
Let's talk!
If you’d like to talk about how I could help you with your OCD, please feel free to reach out!