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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.

The annual Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) conference has become the mecca of evidence-based practitioners and researchers for anxiety, OCD, and depression.

You remember the bully from school. They call your name, demean you, undermine your confidence. The same is true for the “bully” that is your OCD thoughts.

To keep the momentum of the treatment progress, I like to refer to these four steps that can help one to develop an individualized relapse prevention plan with their provider.

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.

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.

The processes driving worry will vary for every individual.  Chances are good that it will not be one or another, but a proprietary blend of several processes which shape each person’s presentation of worry.  Our job as clinicians is to explore these processes and work with our clients to curate a blend of interventions uniquely suited to their experience.

In BDD, people are tormented by obsessive thoughts associated with a part or parts of their physical appearance being flawed in some way, yet these flaws tend not to be noticeable to anyone but themselves.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based treatment that challenges ineffective thought patterns (cognitions) and ineffective behavior patterns (behavioral) to pursue a more fulfilling life.