Individual Therapy for OCD and Anxiety


OVERALL GOAL:
I try to bring clinical experience, research, compassion, and common sense into my collaborative work with clients. I offer strategies to target specific concerns, a safe space to process life, and encouragement to draw out client strengths. Clients will learn, practice, and fine-tune strategies that they can continue using in the future.   

TYPE OF CONCERNS TREATED:
  • Obsessions/Compulsions - distressing thoughts, images, or urges that occupy real estate in your head and often lead you to act in ways that interfere with your life. I have offered Exposure and Response Prevention for several years and have recently begun offering Inference-based CBT (I-CBT). Please refer to the International OCD Foundation for more information.
  • Panic - those periods of intense anxiety that often comes on suddenly for no apparent reason
  • Phobias - fear of specific things or situations (e.g. snakes, blood, driving, enclosed spaces) 
  • Social Anxiety - nervousness in one or more social situations usually with assumptions that others are judging you.
  • Generalized Anxiety - excessive worrying that stresses the mind and body; unlike obsessions in OCD, the focus of worries in generalized anxiety often change as life circumstances change
  • PTSD - the recurring effects of a traumatic event. I have recently begun offering Written Exposure Therapy (writing about the trauma for a half hour in five sessions with no "homework" between sessions; research is very promising; my clients have found it very helpful). However, if PTSD is your primary concern, then you may want to work with someone whose main specialty is the treatment of trauma.
  • Insomnia - difficulty getting to sleep or returning to sleep in the middle of the night (See CBT-I page) 
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MY APPROACH:
To make sure my work with clients addresses their main concerns, I have developed some practices to keep the work focused, at least for a part of most sessions. 

By the 5th session, I write up a detailed assessment and treatment plan based on our conversations and questionnaires filled out by the client. This initial assessment and treatment plan is our starting point and includes:
  • the client's story - history of presenting concerns, hobbies and interests, life goals, important life events
  • detailed assessment of current clinical concerns​
  • client strengths and resources
  • treatment plan with tailored strategies/approaches I can offer; estimates of number of sessions when that makes sense 

Every 10th session after that, we will review and revise the assessment and treatment plan. In most cases, this review won't take much time.
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An intervention in every session - to keep focused on trying out different strategies, I try to do at least one 10-30 minute structured intervention in every session in addition to checking in, listening and offering support, and conversational problem solving. 

Basic communication skills - including talking and listening - for the client and myself, will be periodically discussed. Individual therapy can be a great opportunity to work on communication that would be helpful in other relationships.

Once the client sees significant improvement for their main concerns, I will discuss with the client the possibility of reducing how often we meet and consider readiness to complete treatment. 
See New Clients page for insurance, fees, and scheduling an appointment.