How We Treat

Starting with the premise that the way you think (cognitions) and behave strongly affect how you feel, CBT focuses on identifying, understanding, and changing self-defeating and irrational thinking and behavioral patterns. It is a highly effective modality, proven to be particularly helpful in treating anxiety, OCD and related disorders.

When you work with us, you are actively involved in your own recovery. Clients are often given “homework” to complete between sessions, including keeping a journal to monitor thoughts and behaviors. We will teach you to notice unhelpful and automatic thought patterns, and replace them with more accurate and realistic ones. Examples of these “thinking traps” include catastrophizing ("The hurricane will probably break all our windows and our house will be swept away"), underestimating abilities (“There's no point in applying for the job because I won't get it”), and over-generalizations (“No one likes me”). 

We will also work on helping you identify and change unhelpful, avoidant, or self-destructive behavioral patterns. You’ll learn techniques that make it easier to tolerate anxious feelings and sensations, and how to “lean into” rather than avoid situations that make you anxious or increase your OCD.

Exposure and Response Prevention is a subset of CBT and is the gold standard in treating anxiety and OCD. As its name suggests, exposure therapy involves “exposing” oneself to anxiety-provoking stimuli, situations, or objects. In the case of OCD, it is used to teach one how to resist physical and mental rituals/compulsions.

ERP can be done in the office and, when appropriate, we will accompany you into the actual feared situations. You will learn how to “lean into” and manage your anxious and “just-not-right” feelings. You are in charge! We will encourage you to face your fears, but you set the pace as you learn how to embrace, rather than avoid, anxiety and OCD.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is considered a “third wave” treatment, and is often used in conjunction with CBT to increase motivation to do the work necessary to overcome your challenges. ACT’s focus on radical acceptance and a commitment to change in spite of emotional challenges makes this a highly effective treatment modality.

ACT’s framework of acceptance-commitment allows individuals to manage the relationships between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, that empowers them to embrace and “lean into” uncomfortable or unpleasant feelings and sensations rather then avoid them— the true key to overcoming anxiety disorders and OCD.

Mindfulness is rooted in Buddhist and Hindu teachings. Its emergence into mainstream Western medicine is generally attributed to Jon Kabat-Zinn, a University of Massachusetts medical school professor who created the first mindfulness-based program for people with chronic pain. Mindfulness is the practice of paying focused, non-judgmental attention to the present moment, cultivating awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and sensations as they arise. By doing so, one can learn to lean into and manage both their physical and emotional pain. For those with anxiety and OCD, mindfulness allows them to “notice” but not engage with anxious thoughts, feelings, sensations or compulsions..