OCD Therapy

The thoughts are the worst part. And they're the part nobody says out loud.

Most people picture OCD as handwashing and straightened picture frames. For a lot of my clients it looks nothing like that. It looks like a thought arriving uninvited — about harm, about someone you love, about who you might secretly be — and the horror of having thought it at all. Here's what's worth knowing straight away: OCD reliably picks the thought that would disturb you most. That isn't a coincidence and it isn't a clue about your character. It's the mechanism. The thoughts that frighten you are the ones that stick, precisely because you'd never want them.

Is it anxiety or OCD?

Anxiety worries about what might happen. OCD gets stuck on a thought that feels urgent, then pulls you into a ritual — checking, seeking reassurance, mentally reviewing — to make the discomfort go away. Many people have both. Both are very treatable.

What it actually looks like

Checking, counting, washing, arranging. Mental rituals nobody can see: reviewing, praying, neutralizing, silently arguing with yourself. Googling at 1 a.m. Asking someone you trust whether you're a good person, and needing to ask again by Thursday. Avoiding anything that might set it off.

The relief always works. That's the trap. It works just long enough to teach your brain it was necessary.

How I treat it

Exposure and response prevention is the gold-standard treatment for OCD. Together, we gently approach the thoughts and situations you've been avoiding, without the rituals, so your brain learns you can handle the discomfort. We go at a pace that feels challenging but never overwhelming.

It's real work, and it's the thing that actually moves. Most generalist therapists aren't trained in it, and well-meaning reassurance-based therapy can make OCD worse.

I'm listed in the International OCD Foundation's provider directory.

Related conditions

Body dysmorphic disorder. Trichotillomania and skin picking. Tics and Tourette's. Health anxiety. These travel with OCD often enough that treating one without the others tends not to hold.

OCD in children and teens

Kids with OCD recruit their families into the rituals — the extra goodnight check, the word you have to say back, the food that can't touch. I work with the child on ERP and with you on untangling the household from the compulsion, which is usually what decides whether the gains survive the car ride home.