OCD Treatment

Dr. Berry uses gold standard techniques to help you manage intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors, and tolerate uncertainty. 

What is OCD?

Everyone has weird or intrusive thoughts from time to time, but not all of us obsess over them.  For people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), intrusive, obsessive thoughts feel heavy, real and uncontrollable, leading to overwhelming stress, anxiety, guilt, and panic. This constant worrying and rumination is often linked to fears of what will happen unless certain behaviors (also called rituals or compulsions) are performed. To find relief from both emotional and physical turmoil, individuals act in ways that help them feel safe or less anxious and eliminate thoughts, leading to cycles of rumination, reassurance, and avoidance, all of which contributes to distress and suffering. 

OCD is much more than what common misconceptions or stereotypes might convey around excessive handwashing, need for organization and cleanliness, or being fixated on specific numbers and patterns. Manifestations of OCD can vary widely from person to person, with individuals experiencing different themes or patterns of obsessions and compulsions. 

One common challenge unites those with OCD: difficulty tolerating uncertainty (and the physical and mental discomfort that goes along with it).

  • Harm obsessions, relationship OCD, religiosity, moral scrupulosity, sexual obsessions, pedophilic OCD, false memory OCD.

  • Involves compulsive checking behaviors to prevent perceived harm or disaster (e.g., repeatedly checking locks, appliances, or ensuring no one was harmed).

  • Obsessions about symmetry or order, leading to compulsions to arrange objects in a specific way or ensure they “feel right.”

  • Intense fear of germs, illness, or contamination, leading to excessive cleaning, washing, or avoiding perceived contaminants.


  • Involves the compulsion to count objects, actions, or thoughts to prevent harm or achieve a sense of control.

  • Preoccupations with deep, unanswerable questions about existence, reality, or purpose, causing distress and compulsive mental or behavioral rituals to find answers.

  • A need for things to feel “just right” or perfect, leading to repeated actions or adjustments until internal tension/stress/anxiety is resolved.

  • Belief that certain thoughts, actions, or rituals can influence unrelated outcomes (e.g., stepping on cracks might harm a loved one).

  • Intrusive, distressing thoughts of harm coming to one’s infant (sometimes involving the parent as the cause), leading to excessive checking, avoidance, or mental rituals.

Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) with Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is an effective, gold standard intervention for ameliorating symptoms of OCD. The "Exposure" in ERP refers to intentionally confronting the thoughts, images, objects and situations that make a person with OCD anxious. The"Response Prevention" in ERP refers to making a choice not to perform a compulsive behavior that serves to relieve that fear. Although anxiety is expected to increase with the initial phases of ERP, the ultimate goal is to decrease the long-term anxiety and time-consuming rituals (and eventually not do the ritual at all). Individuals are also supported to correct dysfunctional beliefs that maintain obsessive fears and to form adaptive ways of confronting and tolerating feared situations without ritualizing. With repeated exposure, individuals progressively recognize that feared outcomes are unlikely to happen, and that if they do, they are tolerable. Additionally, individuals learn that they can manage physical and emotional discomfort without “falling apart”.

“Uncertainty is the only certainty there is”

- John Allen Paulos

Intensive Therapy for OCD, Anxiety and Phobias

For individuals with severe OCD, anxiety, and specific phobias, treatment is also offered in an intensive format integrating additional individual therapy sessions, parent education and support, and collaboration with school personnel and medication providers. Research has shown that increased frequency and length of sessions can be effective in supporting rapid skills acquisition and skills practice, and help facilitate progress and symptom reduction.

Intensive therapy involves a more concentrated approach to treatment, with multiple therapy sessions per week, parent or family involvement and education (when applicable), and close collaboration with other professionals, such as school staff or medication providers. By increasing the frequency and length of sessions, clients can acquire and practice skills faster, helping them progress and see a decrease in symptoms that are creating challenges in their lives.

Who can Benefit from Intensive Therapy?

People who are experiencing any of the following in a way that severely impacts their lives may be good candidates for more intensive therapy treatment options: 

  • For individuals facing debilitating generalized anxiety, panic attacks, or phobias that significantly impact daily functioning.

  • Including clients with compulsions, intrusive thoughts, and severe OC-spectrum conditions like body dysmorphic disorder and hoarding.

  • Addressing intense and irrational fears through specialized exposure and response prevention (ERP) work.

Get in touch with Dr. Berry

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