Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Evidence-based therapy for adults struggling with OCD
OCD convinces you that if you just check enough, avoid enough, or think it through enough, you'll finally feel certain… but the relief never lasts. OCD attaches to different themes for different people. A few common presentations include:
Contamination: Fear of germs, illness, or contamination, often leading to excessive washing, cleaning, or avoidance.
Harm: Intrusive fears of accidentally or intentionally harming yourself or someone else, despite no actual desire to do so.
Checking: Repeatedly checking locks, appliances, or messages to feel certain something was done correctly.
Symmetry and "Just Right": A need for things to feel even, aligned, or complete, often involving repeating actions until they feel right.
Relationship OCD: Obsessive doubts about a relationship, like whether you love your partner enough or picked the "right" person.
"Pure O": A somewhat misleading term for OCD that seems to involve only intrusive thoughts. The compulsions are still there; they're just internal, like mentally reviewing a thought.
Scrupulosity: Intrusive doubts about whether you're being a good, moral, or religious person, often with excessive guilt over wrongdoings.
Taboo OCD: Intrusive, unwanted thoughts of a violent, sexual, or otherwise disturbing nature that go against your values.
Related challenges include Body Dysmorphic Disorder, skin picking, and hair pulling. This list isn't exhaustive; treatment targets the underlying pattern, not the specific content of the thought.
My background and training with OCD
I'm a Certified Exposure and Response Prevention Therapist, trained through the University of Pennsylvania's Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety, one of the country's leading programs for this gold-standard OCD treatment. Earning that certification required submitting recorded sessions with real clients for close review by an expert supervisor, who evaluated my ability to competently deliver ERP with those cases. I'm also a graduate of the Behavior Therapy Training Institute through the International OCD Foundation, an intensive program for clinicians specializing in OCD.
I'm board certified in Clinical Psychology through the American Board of Professional Psychology, a credential requiring peer review beyond standard licensure, and I serve as a Board Examiner for the American Board of Clinical Psychology. I meet weekly with a peer consultation group and pursue ongoing continuing education.
My approach
I use Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), a specialized form of CBT and the most effective psychological treatment available for OCD. You gradually face the thoughts, situations, and sensations that trigger obsessions, while resisting the compulsion that usually follows, teaching your brain to tolerate the distress without the ritual. This means doing exposures together during our sessions, as well as practicing them on your own between sessions. We create every exposure plan collaboratively, so the work feels challenging but within your window of tolerance.
I also practice measurement-based care, using standardized tools like the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) to measure the severity of your symptoms at the outset and track your progress at regular intervals throughout treatment. This gives us an objective way to see what's working, adjust the plan when needed, and confirm that the changes you're feeling day to day are reflected in measurable improvement.
As a psychologist, I don't prescribe medication, but if it seems like it could be a helpful part of your treatment, I can refer you to trusted prescribers and coordinate with them as part of your care. More broadly, I believe strongly in a multidisciplinary approach to care, and I'm glad to coordinate with any of your treatment team.