CBT for OCD

Exposure and Response Prevention (CBT)

Exposure and Response Prevention (ExRP) is considered the gold standard Cognitive Behavioral Treatment treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). In a safe way, Susan will help you confront your feared thoughts or situations with a behavioral approach. In blocking unhelpful responses to triggering thoughts or situations, you will learn to tolerate accompanying distress. Through this process of exposure, you will create new learning: “the thing I feel fearful of might not be as dangerous as I perceive”. The goal of ExRP is to help clients experience freedom of the mind. Learn more about ExRP at the International OCD Foundation.

What is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?

“The characteristic symptoms of OCD are the presence of obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions​ are repetitive and persistent thoughts, images or urges. Importantly, obsessions are not pleasurable or experienced as voluntary: they are intrusive and unwanted and cause marked distress or anxiety in most individuals. The individual attempts to ignore or suppress these obsessions (e.g. avoiding triggers or using thought suppression) or to neutralize them with another thought or action (e.g. performing a compulsion). ​Compulsions ​(or rituals) are repetitive behaviors (e.g. washing or checking) or mental acts (e.g. counting, repeating words silently) that the individual feels driven to perform in response to an obsession or according to rules that must be applied rigidly” (DSM-5).