What OCD can look like
OCD involves unwanted thoughts, images, or urges (obsessions) and the things you do to neutralize them (compulsions). Compulsions can be visible or entirely mental.
- Checking locks, appliances, emails, or your own memory
- Washing or avoiding contamination
- Asking for reassurance, confessing, or researching until it feels "certain"
- Reviewing past events or analyzing thoughts for hours
- Intrusive thoughts about harm, relationships, health, morality, or sexuality that feel completely out of character
How treatment works
I use exposure and response prevention (ERP), the leading evidence-based treatment for OCD, alongside Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
Together we identify your triggers and compulsions, then build a step-by-step plan. You practice facing triggers while resisting the compulsion, starting with easier steps. ACT helps you relate to intrusive thoughts as thoughts, so they carry less weight.
Why OCD needs a specialist
OCD often gets worse with the kind of help that feels natural: reassurance, talking a fear through until it feels settled, or trying to prove an intrusive thought isn't true. Each of these works like another compulsion. Effective OCD treatment looks different, and it helps to work with someone trained in it.
Common questions
What is ERP?
Exposure and response prevention means facing the thoughts and situations that trigger OCD while practicing not doing the compulsion. Over time the anxiety drops and the urge to ritualize weakens. It is the most researched treatment for OCD.
Is ERP harsh?
No. It's collaborative and gradual. We build a list of exposures together, start where you're ready, and you never do an exposure you haven't agreed to.
Does ERP work online?
Yes. Many exposures happen naturally at home, where OCD often shows up most, which makes online sessions a good fit for ERP.
Do you use virtual reality for OCD?
Rarely. Most OCD exposures work best with real triggers in your everyday life, which online sessions are well suited for. VR is used more often for phobias and fear of flying.
Do you treat Pure O or mental compulsions?
Yes. Many people with OCD have mostly mental compulsions, such as reviewing, analyzing, or neutralizing thoughts. ERP and ACT address these directly.