Treatment

SPACE stands for Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions and is a game-changer for parents navigating the trickiness of childhood anxiety. SPACE is all about empowering you, the parents, to be a rock-solid support system for your child dealing with anxiety.
As the New Year approaches, many of us are drawn to the idea of starting fresh and making resolutions for positive change. However, traditional New Year's resolutions often focus on specific outcomes, setting us up for potential disappointment and loss of momentum.
Fear is one of the six basic human emotions, with a clear evolutionary purpose: to help us respond to danger and survive. In Exposure Therapy, providers create a safe environment to intentionally “expose” their clients to objects, activities, or situations they fear.
Successfully treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often requires primary psychotherapeutic treatment with exposure and response prevention (ERP) and pharmacological treatment with serotonergic agents, typically beginning with SSRIs; however, for a subset of patients with OCD, SSRIs alone do not effectively manage symptoms.
Limit the depth of exposure to details. People can consume news in limited ways. In other words, learn what’s happening, then stop there. Avoid the urge for disaster voyeurism. If you have heard the story, you might not need to search for the images or the videos; if you have seen them, there is no need to revisit them over and over.

While treatment for OCD is highly effective for many, it can be hard work! It’s not an uncommon experience to lose momentum midway through treatment or even in the final stages. Below are some helpful tips from an OCD specialist to help you make it across the finish line!

Choosing a therapist can be an overwhelming decision: there are so many therapists out there, how can you be sure you are choosing someone who is the right fit for you?
Check out our ADAA members' new books - CBT for social anxiety, an action mindset for teens and thriving with anxiety. Helpful resources to support your mental health journey.
Although primary care physicians and other non-specialists in mental health feel comfortable managing less complicated anxiety-related disorders, OCD is a more complex diagnosis and ideally should be managed by a psychiatrist.  Before initiating medication, the psychiatrist will first do a thorough assessment to ensure that the diagnosis of OCD is accurate, and to determine the presence of coexisting conditions that may complicate the treatment.
Intensive programs for OCD can serve as a bridge between different levels of care, specifically as a step-up from weekly outpatient therapy or as a step-down from partial hospitalization/residential programs.