SoulSpaPsych@hush.com
OCD Treatment for everybody else…
I provide culturally-centered Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy for children, teens and adults tired of suffering from OCD.
Once upon a time, you enjoyed life…
But strange thoughts began to invade your mind…
Maybe your mind is saying you want to hurt someone… even if you’ve never purposefully hurt anyone.
Perhaps your mind is telling you to do things over and over… like wash your hands, spit on the floor or check the ground behind you to see if you dropped anything valuable. But all you want to do is STOP doing these things.
Or maybe your mind keeps asking the same questions…
What happens after I die?
Did I harm someone?
Do I really love my partner?
But somehow, no answer ever feels like the correct one.
And now your world has fallen apart…
You used to be an excellent student, well on your way to success, but as you prepared for finals, you began having obsessive thoughts about choosing incorrect answers.
You also began to worry that you might be accused of cheating on your exam or maybe that you committed a crime a long time ago that you forgot about. If true, this could disqualify you from graduation and licensure!
Preparation for the written sections of the test takes 2-5 times longer to complete because you type, erase, then re-type the same words repeatedly.
You are considering withdrawal. You want to give up. You just want to hide until you feel better.
Feeling doomed, your body throbs with shame that feels inescapable.
It feels like nobody will understand you, and you will never be good enough for the career you have been working so hard for.
You haven’t spent time with your friends and family because you don’t want to risk them “finding out” who you actually are. You don’t want to disappoint them.
Nothing feels certain anymore, and you worry that your life will never be the same again.
You feel embarrassed…
You might even liken it to torture.
You feel like a prisoner in your mind and don’t want to live like this anymore.
Talking to someone about any of these thoughts (or the things you do to make them go away) may be unthinkable. You might be terrified of being labeled. Or, worse, you might be worried that you are just a “messed up” person who can’t be helped.
Please know that many people with OCD feel this way.
You can do this. I’m here to help.
I focus on you as a whole person, not just your OCD symptoms. At the beginning of therapy, I take the time to learn who you are, your hopes, your dreams and how you have triumphed despite your symptoms.
I will also explain how OCD is treated with an intervention called ERP, which stands for Exposure and Response Prevention. This means we will purposefully expose you to what you worry about and meet your feelings with warmth, acceptance and love.
As we continue to meet, and when you are ready, you can share the contents of your thoughts and the details of your compulsions with me. Sharing your thoughts is often a very scary step. But for many, this is one of the most liberating experiences they have ever had.
We will then create a “hierarchy,” which is a list of ERP activities (or “exposures”) ranked from easiest to hardest. We will start with the easy ones and work our way up.
As you can imagine, this might be hard but know that you get to be in control. You get to set the pace. I will never “force” or “make” you do anything. We will discuss each activity in advance, and I will be with you as you decide to face each fear… one step at a time.
We will also use mindfulness and thought-focused and cognitive therapies to help you understand your mind and develop tools to cope in other areas of your life.
Many people with OCD worry that their kind of intrusive thoughts or habits might be too weird – that you’re the only person with thoughts or compulsions like yours.
You are not alone! Here are some of the OCD thoughts that I have worked with…
All plants will poison me.
My clothes are contaminated, and I may die if I touch them.
My sibling is contaminated.
God is mad at me.
My bears will come alive at night.
What is my race or ethnicity?
What if everybody else perceives me as dangerous?
What if I become a hoarder?
Am I gay?
Am I straight?
What if I molest children?
What if I don’t actually love my partner?
What if I’m with the wrong person?
What if aliens will visit me at night?
What if my negative thoughts “infect” my clothing?
What if there are worms in my ears?
What if I don’t actually have OCD?
What if I am doing ERP therapy wrong?
OCD is not your fault. It’s not who you are… or who you will become.
Together, we can slowly deal with each of your thoughts,
recovering a sense of who you truly are.
You can find peace again and get back to how life was
before all these thoughts started.
I invite you to ask me questions about my background, training and experience with OCD during your free 15-minute consultation. Call or text today: