Therapy for OCD, Anxiety, and Related Conditions
I provide evidence-based therapy for adults navigating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorders such as generalized anxiety, panic disorder, and phobias. Obsessive-compulsive disorder involves obsessions (intrusive, unwanted thoughts, images, or urges that cause significant distress) and compulsions (repetitive behaviors or mental acts performed to reduce that distress or prevent a feared outcome). Both OCD and anxiety disorders have options for effective treatment.
My clinical focus on OCD began during my residency at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine and continued through postdoctoral training at the Durham VA Medical Center. I am a verified provider in the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF) directory. I primarily use Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), the gold-standard, first-line treatment for OCD, integrated with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). I use a blend of cognitive behavioral, exposure-based approaches to treat anxiety disorders.
I also provide dedicated treatment for trauma and PTSD, and reproductive and perinatal mental health. You can learn more on my Trauma Recovery & PTSD Treatment and Reproductive and Perinatal Mental Health pages.
✺ What encompasses OCD and anxiety treatment? ✺
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OCD traps people in a cycle: an intrusive thought, image, or urge causes distress and perceived threat, a compulsion to try to gain certainty (avoidance, reassurance seeking, rituals, behaviors) brings short-term relief, and the relief teaches the brain that the thought was dangerous which makes it return even stronger. Compulsions can be visible behaviors or entirely mental, which is why OCD often goes unrecognized, even by the person experiencing it.
Common experiences of OCD include:
- Intrusive, unwanted thoughts, images, or urges that feel disturbing or "not like you"
- Repetitive checking, washing, arranging, or redoing
- Mental rituals: reviewing, counting, praying, or silently repeating phrases
- Repeatedly seeking reassurance from loved ones, doctors, or the internet
- Avoiding people, places, or situations that trigger the thoughts
- Hours lost each day to obsessions and compulsions, and exhaustion from fighting them
Many people with OCD have spent years in talk therapy without improvement, because standard talk therapy, even general CBT, can inadvertently reinforce OCD by treating obsessions as problems to analyze or reassure away. OCD requires specialized treatment.
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I treat several OCD subtypes and themes, including:
- Contamination OCD — fears of germs, illness, chemicals, or contamination
- Harm OCD — intrusive thoughts about harming oneself or others
- Scrupulosity — religious or moral obsessions about sin, blasphemy, or being a bad person
- Real event and false memory OCD — obsessive review of past events and fear of having done something wrong
- Perfectionism and "just right" OCD — needing things to feel complete, symmetrical, perfect, or exact
- Taboo intrusive thoughts — violent or sexual intrusive thoughts, which are among the most distressing and most misunderstood OCD themes
Intrusive thoughts are not desires, predictions, or reflections of character. People with OCD are distressed by their thoughts precisely because the thoughts conflict with their values. I provide non-judgmental, stigma-free care.
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OCD that begins or worsens during pregnancy or postpartum often centers on intrusive thoughts about harm coming to the baby, paired with checking, avoidance, or reassurance seeking. These thoughts are ego-dystonic — the opposite of what a parent wants, which is exactly why they are so distressing — and parents with perinatal OCD are not at increased risk of harming their babies.
This is the intersection of my two primary specialties: I hold the Perinatal Mental Health Certification (PMH-C) and provide ERP thoughtfully adapted for pregnancy and the postpartum period. You can read more on my postpartum OCD blog post, or contact me directly.
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ERP is a structured form of cognitive behavioral therapy in which we work together to approach feared thoughts, situations, and sensations while practicing tolerating uncertainty and not performing compulsions. Over time, clients learn that they can tolerate uncertainty and distress and that feared outcomes are far less likely or less catastrophic than OCD insists. ERP is the most well-researched treatment for OCD, with decades of evidence supporting its effectiveness.
In my practice, ERP is collaborative, personalized, and paced with each client. We build an exposure plan together based on your specific fears and goals — you are always in the driver's seat. I integrate ACT to help clients relate differently to thoughts and emotions and reconnect with what matters most to them, so that treatment is not only about reducing symptoms but about reclaiming a life OCD has narrowed.
ERP works well through telehealth. Virtual sessions allow us to do exposures in the environments where OCD actually shows up rather than an office. I offer treatment weekly, or multiple sessions per week for clients who want a more intensive pace; research supports both formats, and we will decide together.
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OCD frequently co-occurs with anxiety, depression, PTSD, bipolar disorders, and ADHD. I collaborate with clients to determine priorities and create a plan to address concerns consecutively or concurrently. My training in Prolonged Exposure for PTSD, behavioral treatments for mood concerns, and ACT allows me to treat the whole person, not just one diagnosis. When OCD and other concerns co-occur, my dual specialization means we can address both without you needing two different therapists.
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Anxiety becomes a disorder when worry or fear is persistent, difficult to control, and begins to narrow your life. I treat anxiety disorders in adults, including:
- Generalized anxiety — chronic, difficult-to-control worry about many areas of life
- Panic disorder — recurrent panic attacks and fear of future attacks
- Specific Phobias — extreme fear of specific objects or situations (e.g., heights, blood, injections, vomiting)
- Health anxiety — anxiety about illness, medical procedures, body sensations
I use exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapies for anxiety — the same evidence-based principles that make ERP effective — along with ACT, mindfulness, and self-compassion approaches.
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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an evidence-based form of cognitive behavioral therapy that changes your relationship with anxiety rather than fighting the anxious thoughts themselves. Much of what keeps anxiety in charge is the struggle against it — avoiding situations, suppressing thoughts, scanning for danger, waiting to feel calm before living your life.
ACT builds the skills to notice anxious thoughts and sensations without being ruled by them, make room for discomfort in the service of what matters, and take committed action guided by your values instead of your fear. ACT has been studied in hundreds of clinical trials and is effective across anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety, panic, and health anxiety.
In my practice, ACT is active and personalized — not just talking about anxiety, but practicing new ways of responding to it. Together we map out where anxiety has narrowed your life, clarify what you want your life to be about, and practice skills like mindfulness and cognitive defusion (stepping back from thoughts rather than wrestling with them). ACT pairs naturally with the exposure-based work I do: exposure teaches you that you can face what you fear, and ACT ensures that facing it is in the service of a life you actually want, not just symptom reduction.
ACT works well through telehealth, and its skills are built for daily life. The goal is not to feel calm in my office, but to act on your values in your life: the meeting you'd stopped speaking up in, the health appointment you'd been putting off, the invitation you'd been declining.
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Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the gold-standard treatment for anxiety disorders, and its most powerful ingredient is exposure: approaching the situations, sensations, and worries you have been avoiding, so your brain can learn through direct experience that you can handle them and that the feared outcome is far less likely or less catastrophic than anxiety insists.
Exposure looks different for each condition, and I tailor the modality to what you're facing. For panic disorder, this includes interoceptive exposure — deliberately bringing on the physical sensations of panic, like a racing heart or dizziness, in a safe and structured way, so those sensations stop feeling dangerous. For phobias and social anxiety, we use in vivo exposure, approaching feared situations in real life in planned steps. For chronic worry, exposure targets the uncertainty itself, building your tolerance for "what if" without needing to resolve it.
In my practice, exposure is collaborative. We design each step together, and you are never pushed. Alongside exposure, I use cognitive strategies to shift the thinking patterns that fuel anxiety, and I integrate ACT and self-compassion so that treatment builds a fuller life, not just fewer symptoms. This is the same evidence-based treatment family as ERP I provide for OCD and Prolonged Exposure I provide for PTSD — exposure-based care is the throughline of my practice.
If you are navigating intrusive thoughts, compulsions, anxiety, panic, or health anxiety I may be a good fit. Effective treatment exists. I offer telehealth therapy to adults in North Carolina, California, and 40+ PSYPACT states. You can contact me here.
Specialized therapy for reproductive mental health, OCD and anxiety, and PTSD — serving adults in North Carolina, California, and PSYPACT states