Obsessive Compulsive Treatment

OCD feels terrible but fortunately there’s an effective treatment for it! Our compassionate, understanding therapists have a plan for you.

Treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) has advanced greatly in recent decades. It is now considered a mental health disorder that responds very well to treatment. It’s important for individuals with OCD to be very educated on the treatment they pursue, as some are helpful whereas others can actually make symptoms worse.

• About 1 in 40 adults currently have OCD. That’s over three million adults in the United States
• About 2.2 million children in the United States have OCD.
• OCD affects men, women, and children of all races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.
• On average, it takes over 7 years for an individual to receive an accurate OCD diagnosis.

It’s Not Nurture, It’s Nature for OCD

OCD cannot be taught. It is an intrusive thought that is “ego-dystonic”, meaning you are upset by the content. More often than naught, it has been passed down through generations. Our approach is to see this disorder as a scientific, neurological concern as opposed to a character problem.

Let’s Start with Obsessions

Obsessions are thoughts, images, or impulses that occur over and over again and feel outside of the person’s control. Individuals with OCD do not want to have these thoughts and find them disturbing. In most cases, people with OCD have some insight — they realize that these thoughts are illogical. 

Obsessions are typically accompanied by intense and uncomfortable feelings such as fear, disgust, uncertainty, and/or doubt, or a feeling that things have to be done in a way that is “just right.” In the context of OCD, obsessions are time-consuming and get in the way of important activities the person values. This last part is extremely important to keep in mind as it, in part, determines whether someone has OCD — a psychological disorder — rather than an obsessive personality trait.

Here’s a short, abbreviated list of obsessions:

• Contamination Obsessions
• Sexual Obsessions
• Religious/Moral Obsessions
• Scrupulosity (pathological guilt)
• Violent Obsessions
• Responsibility Obsessions
• Perfectionism-related Obsessions
• Identity Obsessions

Compulsions are repetitive physical actions or mental acts performed to temporarily alleviate the anxiety caused by unwanted obsessions. While individuals often recognize these ritualistic behaviors—including avoidance strategies—as excessive, they rely on them as a temporary fix, ultimately creating a time-consuming cycle that interferes with daily life.

The feelings associated with a behavior also indicate whether it is compulsive. If you enjoy the details or like to have things neatly arranged, you could consider these things to be ‘compulsive’ behaviors. In the same vein, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are symptoms of OCD. In these cases, ‘compulsive’ refers to a personality trait or something about yourself you actually like. In most cases, individuals with OCD feel driven to engage in compulsive behavior and would rather not have to do these time-consuming and often torturous acts. Rather than being a source of pleasure, people with OCD perform compulsions because they believe they are necessary to prevent negative consequences and/or to escape or reduce anxiety or the presence of obsessions.

Common Compulsions in OCD

• Washing and Cleaning
• Checking and ReChecking
• Repeating
• Mental Compulsions
• Organizing and Ordering

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