OCD Treatment

Therapy for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

The ACED team is fully specialized in OCD, and can help you to learn the skills and coping tools needed to turn away from obsessions and the unwanted intrusive thoughts, behaviors, or compulsions that follow. We are here to help you better understand yourself, how your mind works, and how to create an internal sense of safety that isn’t as reliant on external circumstances or behaviors.

The ACED clinicians are trained and experienced in working with all of the different presentations of OCD, as well as mental health concerns that co-occur with OCD:

  • OCPD (Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder)

  • Anxiety: including Generalized Anxiety Disorder, panic attacks and Panic Disorder, phobias, and social anxiety, etc.

  • Eating Disorders

  • Body Dysmorphia

  • Substance Use Disorder

  • Trauma

  • Disorders of over-control

 

We’re Here to Help

A white couch with a blanket thrown over it in the center of a plain white room, representing obsessive compulsive disorder

Obsessions Have Taken Over

OCD can severely impair your ability to be present and at peace with yourself, and can really mess with your functioning at work or school, make social situations extremely stressful, and can greatly interfere with relationships.

OCD can rule your mind and body, and life. It can feel exhausting, lonely, and impossible to live with this disorder, especially since it can be largely invisible. Intrusive thoughts can be scary or distressing, and drive you to engage in behaviors that feel like a prison.

There is hope - keep reading.

OCD can show up in many different ways:

  • Overthinking ordinary decisions

  • Getting “stuck” on mundane choices, like what to wear, what to eat, etc

  • Fear of making the “wrong” choice

  • Unwanted intrusive thoughts that can be disturbing or values-aligned

  • Hyper-awareness of bodily sensations

  • Specific phobias (like going to the doctor, or driving)

  • Having invisible, mental compulsions (like needing to count, pray, repeating phrases to prevent bad things from happening)

  • Needing to stay distracted all the time

  • Obsessive rumination or over-thinking

  • Compulsive reassurance-seeking

  • “Just right” compulsions

  • Extreme people pleasing or excessive worry of how others perceive you

  • Significant fear of judgment, rejection, or abandonment that affects your relationships

  • Over-checking work, tasks, sensations, or body parts


 

Why Do I Have OCD?

Struggling with OCD can be overwhelming, and effects everything in your life— your relationships, your work or school, your physical body, your emotions, your mental health, your capacity to pay attention, and even your identity. At the same time, having OCD is not your fault.

OCD, in all of its presentations, has a genetic component and tends to run in families. The treatment for OCD is typically a combination of psychotherapy, medication, nutrition therapy (if your OCD affects your relationship with food), and self care tools. Since every person’s OCD symptoms are unique, it is important to work with a specialized therapist to learn how to manage it for your specific needs, history, genetics, and style.

 

Many People Struggle With Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

OCD affects 2-3% of people in the United States, and often begins in childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood. Some people may have some symptoms of OCD but not meet full criteria for this disorder. Over 3 million adults in the US have OCD at any given year. OCD often co-occurs with eating disorders, and impairs functioning in a person’s relationships with food and their body.

OCD Treatment Can Help

Psychotherapy for OCD is a collaborative process, where you will be a big part of your treatment, and will get support to cope with and reduce your OCD symptoms. The therapy sessions will look a bit different for everyone, and this is because the ACED team is specialized in individualized OCD treatment. Some folks will be a great fit for exposure therapy, while others will benefit from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), or a combination of multiple modalities. You and your therapist will decide what you want and need together.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is very treatable! Most folks who struggle with OCD are able to reduce symptoms after several months of psychotherapy and medication, and many people notice fast improvement with education and practice with specific techniques, tools, and skills to manage symptoms.

 

We’re Here to Help

With the help of a skilled, specialized therapist and/or dietitian (if your OCD affects your eating), you can develop the coping skills, insight, and compassionate self-care needed to help with your anxiety. We can provide the support you need:

  • You will receive a personalized treatment plan that is highly specific and aligned with your unique needs and goals

  • Tools and skills to manage and diminish OCD symptoms

  • Support in developing insight and understanding about yourself, your mind, and your body

  • Education about the science behind OCD and the brain

  • Help learning to regulate and soothe any intense emotions

  • Coping skills to learn how to better care for yourself

  • Inspiration, motivation, and accountability

  • So much love and compassion

 
 

We utilize a number of therapeutic modalities to aid in your unique recovery process:

  • Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

  • Harm Reduction

  • Health at Every Size® and Intuitive Eating

  • Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Parts Work

  • Relational Cultural Theory

  • Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT)

We Cherish Your Autonomy

You and you alone (given that you are an adult) are in charge of your life and your body. You make decisions based upon what you believe is best for you. We will have plenty of recommendations (see above) to aid your healing process, and if your symptoms are more severe, we may be more directive in nature. However, you are always free to agree or disagree, to come and go as you please, and do what you believe is the best thing for you.

We believe that you must make your own decisions to get the most out of therapy, and we support you in doing so. We cannot make you do anything, and you simply will not change unless you want to. We unconditionally accept you for who you are, right now.

 
 

Help Is Available for OCD.

We’re here for you. Schedule a complimentary phone consultation to ask all of your questions, and see if we might be a good fit for you.

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