OCD Therapy in Prosper, TX
Does Your Brain Ever Get Stuck on a Thought that You Can’t Seem to Let Go?
Do you ever:
- Get an intrusive thought that feels so disturbing, strange, or out of character that you can’t stop trying to figure out what it means?
- Replay conversations, decisions, or past events in your head, worrying that you said something wrong, made a mistake, or overlooked something important?
- Question your own thoughts, feelings, or intentions, wondering what they say about you or whether you can really trust yourself?
- Ask others for reassurance, search online, or research something extensively, only to find that the doubt keeps coming back?
- Feel like you have to figure something out, get absolute certainty, or make something feel “just right” before you can finally relax and move on?
OCD Doesn’t Always Look Like Washing Your Hands or Checking the Stove
Sometimes OCD is loud and obvious. You may find yourself washing your hands excessively, checking the door a certain number of times to make sure it’s locked, or checking your pulse until your body feels “just right”.
But other times, compulsive behaviors are quieter, with some happening entirely inside your own head. You may spend hours analyzing a thought, reviewing a memory, testing your feelings, rehearsing what happened, or trying to prove to yourself that the thing you fear isn’t true.
Distressing intrusive thoughts may center around the things you hold most dearly—your relationship, your faith, who you are as a person, the possibility of harming someone, your health or the health and wellbeing of someone you love. Because you care so much, these thoughts can feel incredibly convincing.
With the help of OCD therapy, you can stop being a prisoner of your thoughts and finally find peace again.
Reach Out With Any Questions
But Isn’t OCD Pretty Rare?
OCD is actually pretty common, affecting an estimated 1 in 40 adults at some point in their lives.1 Some people assume they simply struggle with anxiety, only to discover they’re actually dealing with OCD or OCD traits.
You might think, “But my life isn’t falling apart. I accomplish a lot. No one would even think I’m struggling!”
This is a reality for so many people with OCD who are also high-functioning. You may be an exceptional student, a high-performing executive, a conscientious parent, or have many people relying on you. OCD symptoms can be obvious to outsiders for some, while remaining highly covert for others. This is particularly true for those whose compulsions primarily happen in the mind or are easily hidden.
1 Ruscio, A. M., Stein, D. J., Chiu, W. T., & Kessler, R. C. (2010). The epidemiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Molecular psychiatry, 15(1), 53-63.
It’s Normal to Feel Distressed About Your Intrusive Thoughts
With OCD, your fears and intrusive thoughts often feel highly distressing. You may even feel guilt or embarrassment that you have them. OCD thoughts are often ego-dystonic, meaning they feel inconsistent with your values, identity, desires, or how you understand yourself.
You genuinely don’t want the thoughts and recognize that engaging in compulsions that temporarily keep those thoughts at bay is time-consuming and exhausting.
The good news is, with OCD therapy, you can transform your relationship to those thoughts so that you’re no longer held hostage to a cycle of obsessions and compulsions that only relieve your anxiety temporarily.
OCD Treatment Can Help Ease the Mental Noise and Even Bring Peace
You may wonder if dealing with obsessions, intrusive thoughts, and time-stealing compulsions is just your lot in life. It doesn’t have to be.
Specialized obsessive compulsive disorder therapy doesn’t insist you “just stop thinking that way!” You may already recognize that your fears are unlikely or disproportionate—and still feel unable to stop questioning them. If you could simply decide to stop having these thoughts, you would have already done so.
Instead, we will work together to help you step out of the OCD cycle of:
Obsession ➔ Growing Anxiety ➔ Compulsion ➔ Temporary Relief
We do this primarily by using the gold-standard treatment for OCD, Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP).
In a collaborative and gentle way, we will develop a plan that helps you begin interrupting the compulsions that keep the OCD cycle locked in place.
We’ll help you build your capacity to experience anxiety and uncertainty without immediately responding with a compulsion, allowing you to discover that discomfort can rise and fall on its own.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is another effective approach I weave in to treat OCD, which helps lessen the need for certainty in every situation and allows you to do what actually matters to you, even when some anxiety is present.
An OCD Therapist Provides Care in a Specialized Way
One thing to understand about OCD therapy is that it often looks different than traditional talk therapy. In fact, seeing a generalist therapist for your OCD might actually reinforce the very patterns you are hoping to break.
For more than 12 years, I’ve treated people who are struggling with OCD, combining my clinical expertise with my gentle and warm demeanor. My unique approach provides the needed structured and gradual exposure to your fears without leaving you feeling overwhelmed or like therapy is just “too much.”
OCD is a disorder of doubt. Effective OCD treatment is less about convincing you that your fears will never happen or helping you find the perfect answer to whatever question your brain is asking. In fact, repeatedly trying to reach perfect certainty often only keeps the cycle going.
Instead, you’ll learn to respond differently to your distressing intrusive thoughts and obsessions. You’ll begin to build your life around what is actually important to you instead of staying focused on avoiding your anxiety.
This doesn’t mean you’ll never have another intrusive thought. But it does mean a thought will begin to have its proper place in your life—simply being a thought. Not a problem you have to solve or a meaning you have to neutralize before you can get back to your life.
You May Still Have Some Questions You’d Like Answered About OCD Treatment
What if I am not sure whether this is OCD or just anxiety or overthinking?
Do you offer online or in-person OCD treatment?
How much does OCD therapy cost?
Your Thoughts Don’t Have to Run Your Life
Whether you’re hesitant, curious, or eager to get started, please reach out. You can book a free 15-minute phone consult where we’ll have an opportunity to get to know each other and determine whether OCD therapy is right for you.
If you have questions, you can also email me. I personally read and respond to all emails, typically within 24 hours.
