Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Because emotions are hard to change, we instead approach anxiety by redirecting and reprogramming both the body and mind through interruption and distraction. Interruption includes deep breathing techniques, alternating body movements, and distraction (such as squeezing a squishy object or turning over a pen in your hand), which serve to distract the brain and refocus energy.
Next we work to divert anxious thoughts. There are several techniques, but using a thought log to identify and extinguish your negative thinking, and then generating positive thoughts to replace them, has the most success. (This is called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT.) This tool, along with others that your counselor will use with you to change your thoughts and negative behaviors, can help you make some immediate changes in your life. Other techniques we use include mindfulness, mental imaging, and relaxation techniques. These tools can be quickly learned so that you can start to sense that you have mastery and hope over the anxiety right away. Your counselor can work on what triggers set off the anxiety or panic attacks so you can understand and learn to manage it on your own.
Therapists
These are our therapists who are experienced in working with OCD.
