Mental Health Tag

What Does ERP Therapy for OCD Actually Look Like? A Session-by-Session Guide

By Bradley Wilson, LMFT  |  The OCD Treatment Center

If you’ve spent any time researching OCD treatment, you’ve probably come across the term “ERP.” You might have read that exposure and response prevention is the “gold standard” for treating OCD. Maybe a therapist recommended it, or you stumbled across it at 1 a.m. during a particularly rough night. Either way, you’re here because you want to know: what does ERP therapy actually look like in practice?

I get it. When I was struggling with OCD myself, the idea of “exposure therapy” sounded terrifying. I pictured something extreme like being thrown into my worst nightmare and told to just deal with it. That’s not what happened. And as someone who went through ERP as a patient before becoming a licensed therapist who now treats OCD every day, I want to walk you through exactly what to expect in ERP therapy session by session, step by step, so it feels a lot less mysterious and a lot more manageable.

What Is ERP Therapy? (And What It Isn’t)

ERP stands for Exposure and Response Prevention. It’s a specific type of cognitive-behavioral therapy designed for OCD. Here’s the short version: you gradually face the situations, thoughts, or images that trigger your obsessions (that’s the “exposure” part), and then you practice not performing the compulsions you’d normally use to neutralize the anxiety (that’s the “response prevention” part).

Let me be clear about what ERP therapy for OCD is not. It’s not flooding and nobody (at least not here at The OCD Treatment Center) is going to drop you into your worst fear on day one. It’s not just “facing your fears” in some vague, white-knuckle way. And it’s definitely not something you are able to best do on your own from a YouTube video. ERP is a structured, gradual process guided by a trained specialist who understands OCD inside and out.

The research behind ERP is strong. A meta-analysis published in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry found that approximately two-thirds of patients who received ERP experienced significant improvement in their symptoms, and roughly one-third were considered fully recovered. According to the International OCD Foundation, patients achieve an average 60% reduction in OCD symptoms, along with reductions in general anxiety, depression, and functional interference. Those numbers are remarkable for a condition that can feel so intractable.

What a Typical ERP Session Looks Like

One of the biggest barriers to starting ERP is not knowing what to expect in ERP therapy so let me demystify it. While every session is tailored to the individual, most follow a similar rhythm. Keep in mind this timeline is very general, and everyone (therapist and client) moves at their own pace.

Check-In (5–10 Minutes)

Your therapist will start by asking how your week went. What came up? Did you notice any new triggers? How did your between-session practice go? This isn’t small talk, it’s strategic. Your therapist is gathering information to calibrate the session to where you are right now.

Reviewing Homework (5–10 Minutes)

ERP involves practice between sessions (more on that below). Your therapist will review what you tried, what felt hard, and what surprised you. If something didn’t go well, that’s not a failure, it’s useful data. We learn as much from the exposures that felt impossible as from the ones that went smoothly.

The Exposure Exercise (20–30 Minutes)

This is the core of the session. Together, you and your therapist will do an exposure, meaning you’ll intentionally engage with something that triggers your OCD. This could be imaginal (picturing a feared scenario), in vivo (touching something, going somewhere, or doing something that triggers anxiety), or even interoceptive (creating physical sensations that mimic anxiety).

Here’s what matters: your therapist is right there with you. They’re coaching you through it, normalizing what you’re feeling, and helping you resist the urge to perform a compulsion. You’re not white-knuckling it alone. The anxiety will rise and then, given enough time, it will come down on its own. That’s the lesson your brain needs to learn.

Processing (5–10 Minutes)

After the exposure, you’ll debrief. What did you notice? Was the anxiety as bad as you expected? What happened when you didn’t do the compulsion? This reflection helps consolidate what you learned and builds confidence for the next exposure.

The Exposure Hierarchy: Your Personalized Fear Ladder

Before you start doing exposures, your therapist will work with you to build an exposure hierarchy which is sometimes called a “fear ladder.” This is a ranked list of situations that trigger your OCD, organized from least anxiety-provoking to most.

You and your therapist create this together. You rate each item on a scale of 0 to 100 based on how much distress it causes (this is called a SUDS rating—Subjective Units of Distress). Then you organize them into a ladder.

For example, someone with contamination OCD might build a hierarchy like this:

• 20/100 — Touching a doorknob at home without washing hands immediately
• 35/100 — Touching a doorknob at a public building
• 50/100 — Sitting on a park bench and then touching your face
• 65/100 — Using a public restroom without excessive hand-washing
• 80/100 — Touching a trash can lid and waiting 30 minutes before washing
• 95/100 — Touching the floor of a public restroom

You always start at the bottom and work your way up. Nobody begins with the hardest item on the list. As lower-level exposures get easier, you gain the confidence and skills to tackle the ones higher up. The ladder is also flexible and you and your therapist may adjust it as you progress.

What ERP Homework Looks Like Between Sessions

Exposure and response prevention explained in one sentence: you learn to sit with discomfort instead of running from it. But that learning doesn’t happen only in your therapist’s office, ERP homework is where real-world change takes root.

Between sessions, your therapist will ask you to practice exposures on your own. These are always based on what you’ve already done in session and are nothing new and nothing you haven’t been prepared for. The goal is repetition. The more you practice resisting compulsions in everyday life, the faster your brain updates its threat assessment.

Homework might look like:

• Touching a doorknob at your office and waiting 15 minutes before washing your hands
• Writing down an intrusive thought and reading it back to yourself twice a day
• Driving your usual route without turning around to “check”
• Leaving the house without performing your checking ritual

Your therapist will ask you to track your anxiety before, during, and after each practice. This data helps both of you see patterns and progress. And if something feels too hard, you bring that to the next session. The homework is designed to be challenging but manageable, not overwhelming.

How Intensive ERP Differs from Weekly Sessions

Most people are familiar with the traditional therapy format: one session per week, typically over several months. For many people with OCD, that works well. A standard course of weekly ERP usually runs about 12 to 20 sessions.

But some people need or want something more concentrated and that’s where intensive ERP comes in.

Intensive ERP condenses the treatment into a shorter timeframe with multiple sessions per week, sometimes daily. At The OCD Treatment Center, we offer a 3-week intensive program with 45 hours of one-on-one ERP therapy. That includes in-office sessions, community-based exposures (going out into real-world environments where OCD shows up), and even home visits.

Research supports the intensive format. A systematic review published in Frontiers in Psychiatry found that intensive CBT is associated with rapid, robust improvements and similar long-term outcomes compared to weekly therapy. Longer session durations also correlate with more favorable treatment outcomes, according to a 2022 meta-analysis published in ScienceDirect.

Intensive ERP tends to be a strong fit for people who:

• Want faster results and can commit the time
• Have tried weekly therapy without getting the traction they need
• Have severe OCD that is significantly impairing daily life
• Are traveling from out of the area and need a condensed format
• Simply prefer to tackle it head-on rather than spread it out over months

Whether weekly or intensive is right for you depends on your situation, severity, and personal preferences. Both are effective. The best format is the one you’ll actually complete.

How to Know When ERP Is Working

Let me set realistic expectations: you will not feel “cured” after your first session. ERP is a process, and progress is often gradual. But there are clear signs that it’s working.

Here’s what to watch for:

• Your anxiety during exposures starts to decrease. What once felt like a 70/100 now registers as a 40.
• You spend less time on compulsions. Maybe you used to check the stove five times; now it’s once or twice.
• You start doing things you’ve been avoiding (you go to that restaurant, touch that surface, drive that route.)
• Intrusive thoughts still show up, but they bother you less. You can notice them and move on instead of spiraling.
• You begin to trust yourself more. The doubt that defines OCD loosens its grip.

For weekly ERP, most people start to notice meaningful change within 12 to 20 sessions. For our 3-week intensive program, many clients see significant shifts within the first one to two weeks because of the daily repetition and immersive structure.

It’s also worth noting that ERP doesn’t just help with OCD symptoms. Research has shown that ERP can reduce depressive symptoms by 44.2% and anxiety symptoms by 47.8% on average. When OCD stops running your life, everything else gets a little easier too.

Ready to Take the First Step?

If you’re considering ERP therapy for OCD, the first step isn’t an exposure exercise, it’s a conversation. At The OCD Treatment Center, we offer a free consultation to help you understand your options, ask questions, and figure out whether weekly sessions or our 3-week intensive program is the right fit for you.

I know how hard it is to make that first call. I’ve been on the other side of it. But I can tell you from both personal and professional experience: ERP works. And you don’t have to keep living the way OCD is telling you to.

Call us at (949) 398-8350 or visit our website to schedule your free consultation today.

Related Reading:

Types of OCD Treatment: What It Is, How It’s Done, and Therapy Options

Our 3-Week Intensive OCD Treatment Program

Eddy et al., meta-analysis cited in Indian Journal of Psychiatry (PMC6343408): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6343408/

International OCD Foundation, ERP Treatment Guide: https://iocdf.org/ocd-treatment-guide/erp/

Feusner et al. (2022), cited in ScienceDirect meta-analysis on ERP effectiveness: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S016517812200453X

Selles et al. (2021), Frontiers in Psychiatry (PMC8165233): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8165233/

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Am I Just Anxious, or Do I Have OCD? How to Tell the Difference

By Bradley Wilson, LMFT — Founder, The OCD Treatment Center

You’ve probably Googled something like “do I have OCD?” at 2 a.m., lying in bed while the same thought loops through your mind for the hundredth time. Maybe you’ve scrolled through symptoms lists, taken a quiz or two, and still walked away unsure. If that sounds like you, I want you to know two things: you’re not alone, and the fact that you’re asking the question matters.

My name is Bradley Wilson. I’m a licensed marriage and family therapist, but before I ever treated OCD, I lived with it. I know what it’s like to wonder whether the thoughts in your head are normal or whether something deeper is going on. That confusion, the question of “am I just anxious, or is this something else?”, is one of the most common experiences people describe when they first walk through our door.

So let’s break it down. In this post, I’m going to walk you through the real differences between everyday anxiety and OCD, explain the signs of OCD that most people miss, and help you answer the question: how do I know if I have OCD? No judgment, no scare tactics, just honest information.

What Anxiety Looks Like vs. What OCD Looks Like

First, let’s clear something up: anxiety is not the enemy. Everyone experiences it. Feeling nervous before a job interview, worrying about a loved one’s health, stressing about money, and life worries like that is all part of being human. Anxiety becomes a problem when it’s persistent, excessive, and hard to control, but it’s still a spectrum that every person falls somewhere on.

OCD is different. It’s not just “a lot of anxiety.” OCD involves two specific components that work together in a cycle:

Obsessions: These are intrusive, unwanted thoughts, images, or urges that show up uninvited and cause significant distress. They’re not the kind of worries you choose to think about. They feel foreign, disturbing, and sometimes completely out of character. You might think, “Why would I even think that?”, and that horror is actually a hallmark of OCD.

Compulsions: These are the behaviors or mental acts you feel driven to perform in response to the obsession. The goal is to reduce the anxiety or “prevent” something bad from happening. Compulsions provide temporary relief, but the obsession always comes back, usually stronger.

With general anxiety, you worry about real-life situations (finances, relationships, health) and the worry, while excessive, usually connects logically to the concern. With OCD, the thoughts often feel irrational even to the person having them. You might know the thought doesn’t make sense and still feel unable to let it go. The disconnect between what you believe and what your brain is telling you is one of the clearest signs of OCD.

The key differentiator? The compulsive cycle. If you find yourself doing something repeatedly, whether a physical action or a mental one, to neutralize or escape a specific intrusive thought, is the OCD pattern at work.

The Role of Compulsions (What Most People Miss)

When most people think of OCD, they picture someone washing their hands raw or flipping a light switch a certain number of times. And yes, those are forms of compulsions. But they’re only the tip of the iceberg.

Many compulsions are completely invisible. They happen inside your mind, which means you can be stuck in the OCD cycle all day long and no one around you has any idea. Here are some of the most common mental compulsions:

• Mental reviewing: Replaying a conversation, event, or thought over and over to figure out if you said or did something wrong.
• Reassurance seeking: Asking people (or yourself) the same question repeatedly (“Am I a bad person?” “Do you still love me?” “Did I lock the door?”)
• Checking feelings: Constantly testing how you feel about something (“Do I actually love my partner?” “Am I actually attracted to that person?”)
• Avoidance: Steering clear of people, places, or situations that trigger the intrusive thoughts.
• Mental rituals: Silently praying, counting, or repeating certain phrases to “cancel out” a bad thought.
• Googling and researching: Spending hours searching for answers online.

If you’re doing any of these things repeatedly to relieve the anxiety caused by a specific thought, that’s the OCD cycle. The thought creates distress, the compulsion provides temporary relief, and then the thought comes back, demanding more. It’s exhausting, and it’s not something you can just “stop doing” through willpower alone.

OCD Can Look Like Almost Anything

One of the most misunderstood things about OCD is how many forms it can take. Intrusive thoughts that go against your core values and identity. These thoughts feel so foreign and disturbing that they can make you question who you are as a person. OCD latches onto whatever you value most (your morality, your relationships, your identity, your safety) and turns it into a source of relentless doubt. Here are just a few of the subtypes we work with at The OCD Treatment Center:

Morality OCD— Involves the obsessive fear of being a bad person. You might replay every decision looking for proof that you’ve done something wrong, even when nothing happened.

False Memory OCD— Your brain creates “memories” of things that never happened, making you question whether you did something terrible in the past.

Harm/Self-Harm OCD— You have reoccurring thoughts and imagery of causing harm to oneself or others

Incest OCD— You experience unwanted, distressing intrusive sexual thoughts about family members.

POCD— Involves intrusive, unwanted thoughts related to children that cause extreme distress. People with POCD are often the most careful, vigilant people around children precisely because of how much these thoughts disturb them.

Scrupulosity/Religious OCD— is characterized by intrusive thoughts and behaviors related to religion and morality. You may experience intrusive thoughts about sinning, blaspheming, or offending God, and may feel compelled to perform rituals or prayers to ward off these thoughts.

And these are just a few examples. OCD can also center on contamination, bodily sensations, relationships, existential thoughts, sexuality, perfectionism, health, and more. If a thought causes you deep distress and you feel compelled to do something (even mentally) to make it go away, OCD could be at play regardless of the theme.

Why Self-Diagnosis Isn’t Enough

I get it. You want answers, and the internet is right there. Honestly, the fact that you’re researching your symptoms shows real self-awareness. Google can absolutely point you in the right direction.

But the problem is that OCD is incredibly good at disguising itself. One of its cruelest tricks is making you doubt whether you even have OCD in the first place. You might read a description that sounds exactly like you, then immediately think, “But what if I’m the exception? What if my thoughts are real?” That doubt? That’s OCD doing its thing.

There’s also a practical issue. Many therapists and even some psychiatrists aren’t specifically trained in OCD. It’s incredibly common for people with OCD to be told they “just have anxiety” or “just need to relax.” Some are even given treatment approaches that make OCD worse like traditional talk therapy that focuses on exploring the content of intrusive thoughts rather than changing how you respond to them.

About 1 in 40 adults in the United States lives with OCD which is roughly 8.2 million people, yet many go years without a proper diagnosis. Children and teens have an average of 2.5 years before being assessed, and another 1.5 years before receiving their first treatment. That delay matters, because the earlier you get the right help, the better the outcomes.

A proper assessment by an OCD specialist can make all the difference. They know what to look for, what questions to ask, and how to distinguish OCD from generalized anxiety, depression, and other conditions that can look similar on the surface. If you’re wondering “how do I know if I have OCD?”, the honest answer is that a specialist can give you clarity that no amount of Googling will.

When to Seek Help

So how do you know when it’s time to reach out to someone? Here are some signs that what you’re experiencing may go beyond normal anxiety:

• Your intrusive thoughts take up more than an hour a day. If unwanted thoughts are consuming a significant chunk of your waking hours, that’s a signal.
• You’re avoiding things because of fear. Skipping social events, avoiding certain places or people, steering clear of topics that trigger your thoughts, avoidance is a compulsion, and it shrinks your world over time.
• The cycle is interfering with work, school, or relationships. When OCD starts affecting your ability to focus at work, show up to class, or be present with the people you care about, it’s no longer something to push through alone.
• You feel stuck in a loop. You try to stop the thought, but it keeps coming back. You do the compulsion, feel better for a moment, then it starts again. That loop is the hallmark of OCD.
• You’re exhausted from managing it alone. OCD is draining. If you feel like you’re spending all your mental energy fighting your own brain, that’s a sign you need and deserve support.

You don’t need to be in crisis to ask for help. You don’t need to be “bad enough.” If these signs of OCD sound familiar and they’re affecting your quality of life, that’s reason enough.

What Treatment Looks Like

If you do have OCD, there’s really encouraging news: it’s treatable. The gold standard treatment for OCD is called Exposure and Response Prevention, or ERP. It’s a specific type of cognitive-behavioral therapy that works by gradually exposing you to the situations, thoughts, or images that trigger your obsessions while teaching you to resist performing the compulsion.

I know that probably sounds terrifying. And I’ll be honest it’s uncomfortable, especially at first. But ERP isn’t about flooding you with your worst fear on day one, it’s a structured, gradual process that moves at your pace, with a trained therapist guiding you every step of the way.

The results speak for themselves: about two-thirds of people who complete ERP experience significant improvement in their symptoms. Research also shows that ERP can reduce anxiety symptoms by nearly 48% and depressive symptoms by over 44%. Those aren’t small numbers, for many people, treatment is genuinely life-changing.

At The OCD Treatment Center, we offer two main paths:

• Weekly therapy sessions — for people who want to work through OCD at a steady pace while maintaining their daily routine.
• Intensive treatment programs — a 3-week program with 45 hours of one-on-one ERP therapy, including in-office sessions, real-world exposures in the community, and home visits. This option is designed for people who want to make rapid, meaningful progress. Research has shown that intensive formats produce improvements comparable to longer-term weekly therapy, often in a fraction of the time. We also offer a virtual option for those who can’t travel to our Fountain Valley, California office.

Our approach is what we call “More Than ERP” where we combine ERP with other evidence-based strategies, including cognitive-behavioral therapy and exposure therapy techniques, to create a treatment plan that fits your specific needs. Because OCD looks different for every person, and your treatment should, too.

Not Sure if It’s OCD? Let’s Talk.

If you’ve read this far and you’re still not sure whether what you’re experiencing is OCD or anxiety, that’s okay. That uncertainty is exactly what a consultation is for.

At The OCD Treatment Center, we offer a free phone consultation to help you understand what’s going on and figure out your next steps. There’s no pressure, no commitment, just an honest conversation with someone who gets it. I’ve and many of our staff have been where you are. We know how isolating it feels to wonder whether something is wrong with you. And I can tell you from both personal and professional experience: getting clarity is the first step toward feeling better.

Call us at (949) 398-8350 or visit www.theocdtreatmentcenter.com to schedule your free consultation today.

You don’t have to figure this out alone.

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Intensive OCD Treatment vs. Weekly Therapy

Which Is Right for You?

You know you need help for OCD. Maybe you’ve known for a while. But now that you’re looking into treatment, you’re facing a new question: should I do weekly therapy, or go through an intensive program?

It’s a fair question and an important one. Both approaches can work and both use the same core method, Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), which is the gold standard for treating OCD. But they work differently, they move at different speeds, and the right choice depends on your situation.

This post will walk you through exactly what each option looks like, who tends to benefit most from each, and how to make the decision that’s right for you.

What Weekly OCD Therapy Looks Like

Weekly therapy is the traditional format most people picture when they think of treatment. You meet with a therapist once a week, usually for 45 to 60 minutes, over several months. A standard course of ERP typically runs 12 to 20 or more sessions.

During each session, you work on understanding your OCD, building an exposure hierarchy (a ranked list of feared situations), and gradually confronting those fears in a structured way. Between sessions, you practice exposures on your own through homework provided by your therapist that reinforces what you worked on in the office.

Weekly therapy tends to be a good fit if you:

• Have mild to moderate OCD symptoms
• Have a stable schedule that allows for consistent weekly appointments
• Are motivated to practice exposures independently between sessions
• Want to integrate treatment gradually into your everyday life
• Are dealing with your first experience of OCD treatment

The strength of weekly therapy is that it fits into a normal routine. You keep going to work or school, see your therapist once a week, and build your skills over time. For many people, that’s enough.

But for others, it’s not. Some people find that a week between sessions is too long. OCD fills that gap with avoidance, rituals, and doubt, making it hard to build momentum and that’s where intensive treatment comes in.

What an Intensive Program Looks Like

An intensive OCD treatment program condenses what might take months of weekly therapy into a much shorter timeframe. Instead of one session a week, you’re doing multiple sessions per day or per week, immersing yourself in treatment so your brain gets consistent, sustained practice at responding differently to OCD.

At The OCD Treatment Center, our intensive program is structured as a 3-week program with 45 hours of one-on-one ERP therapy. That’s not group work. It’s you and your therapist, working together through real-world situations where your OCD shows up.

Here’s what makes our program different:

• In-office sessions for assessment, psychoeducation, and building your exposure plan
• Community-based exposures where we go out into the real world together (grocery stores, restaurants, malls, public spaces) wherever your OCD lives
• Home visits to address the rituals and avoidance patterns that happen in your private space
• A virtual option for those who can’t be on-site in Orange County

The idea is simple: OCD doesn’t only show up in a therapist’s office, so treatment shouldn’t only happen there. When your therapist is with you at the grocery store helping you resist a compulsion, or at your home helping you break a bedtime ritual, the learning goes deeper and sticks better.

Weekly vs. Intensive: A Side-by-Side Comparison

	Weekly Therapy	Intensive Program
Frequency	Hour long sessions 1-2 times per week	Multiple hour sessions 5 times a week
Duration	45–60 minutes per session	3 weeks, 45 total hours
Total Time	10–20+ weeks	3 weeks
Format	Office-based	Office, community, and home
Therapist Ratio	1-on-1	1-on-1
Best For	Mild to moderate OCD	Moderate to severe OCD
Between Sessions	Therapist directed self practice	Daily structured exposure
Speed of Progress	Gradual	Rapid, concentrated

Who Benefits Most from Intensive Treatment?

Not everyone needs an intensive program—but for the right person, it can be transformative. Intensive OCD treatment tends to be the better choice for people who fall into one or more of these categories:

• Moderate to severe OCD. If your OCD is significantly interfering with your ability to work, go to school, maintain relationships, or handle daily tasks, an intensive format gives you the level of support you need to make real progress.
• Previous weekly therapy hasn’t worked. Maybe you’ve tried weekly sessions before and didn’t see enough improvement. That doesn’t entirely mean ERP doesn’t work for you, it often means you need more of it. Intensive treatment provides that concentrated exposure.
• You want faster results. College students on break, professionals who can take a few weeks off, or anyone who simply doesn’t want to spend months in treatment, intensive programs deliver meaningful change in a compressed timeframe.
• You’re traveling for specialized care. Many of our clients come from outside Orange County and some from other states. If you’re traveling for treatment, an intensive format makes the trip worthwhile by fitting a full course of therapy into your stay.
• You’re traveling for specialized care. Many of our clients come from outside Orange County and some from other states. If you’re traveling for treatment, an intensive format makes the trip worthwhile by fitting a full course of therapy into your stay.
• OCD is controlling your daily life. When OCD has its grip on most of your day, when rituals take hours, and when avoidance limits where you go or what you do, weekly sessions may simply not be enough to break that cycle. Intensive treatment meets the severity of the problem with an equal level of effort.

The 3-Week Format at The OCD Treatment Center

So what does an intensive OCD treatment program actually look like in practice? Here’s a walk-through of what you can expect during our 3-week program.

Week 1: Building the Foundation

The first week is about understanding your OCD inside and out. We start with a thorough assessment not just of your symptoms, but of how OCD affects your specific life. From there, we build your exposure hierarchy together: a personalized roadmap of the situations, thoughts, and triggers that fuel your OCD, ranked from least to most distressing.

You’ll also get psychoeducation which is a clear explanation of how OCD works, why compulsions make it worse, and exactly how ERP will help you get better. Then we begin exposures in a controlled setting, starting with manageable challenges and building your confidence.

Week 2: Taking Treatment Into the Real World

This is where things get real—literally. In week two, we increase the difficulty of your exposures and move treatment out of the office and into the places where your OCD actually shows up.

That means community-based exposures: going to grocery stores, restaurants, malls, or public spaces with your therapist right beside you. If your OCD triggers in the car, we work in the car. If it triggers at home, we do home visits. The goal is to practice facing your fears in the exact situations where OCD has been winning and to learn that you can handle the discomfort without rituals.

This is a part of treatment that makes our program unique. You’re not just talking about feared situations in an office, you’re in them with professional support.

Week 3: Building Independence and Preparing for Life After Treatment

By week three, you’ve already made significant progress. Now it’s about solidifying those gains and preparing you to maintain them on your own. We continue challenging exposures, but with increasing independence, you take more of the lead while your therapist supports you.

We also focus on relapse prevention: helping you recognize early warning signs, building a plan for setbacks, and making sure you have the tools to keep moving forward after the program ends. The goal isn’t just to feel better during treatment, it’s to give you the skills to stay better.

To date, we’ve completed over 175 intensive treatment programs and served 350+ happy clients. We’ve seen firsthand how three focused weeks can accomplish what months of sporadic treatment sometimes can’t.

What the Research Says

The evidence supporting intensive OCD treatment is strong and growing. Here’s what the research tells us:

Intensive CBT produces rapid, robust improvements. Research published in Frontiers in Psychiatry found that intensive CBT, where traditional weekly sessions are condensed into a shorter timeframe with longer and more frequent sessions, is associated with rapid and robust improvements, as well as similar long-term outcomes compared to weekly approaches.

Longer sessions lead to better outcomes. A 2022 meta-regression analysis published in ScienceDirect found that longer ERP session durations correlate with more favorable treatment outcomes. The study also found that ERP reduced depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms in OCD patients compared to control groups.

Over 50% of IOP patients see clinically significant improvement. A 2024 effectiveness study on intensive outpatient treatment for OCD found that over half of patients experienced clinically significant improvement and that telehealth was as effective as in-person delivery.

ERP is the most effective treatment for OCD overall. Approximately 50–60% of patients who complete ERP show clinically significant improvement, and about two-thirds of all patients who receive ERP experience meaningful symptom reduction.

The logic behind intensive treatment is intuitive once you understand how OCD works: OCD doesn’t take days off between sessions. It shows up every day, reinforcing avoidance and compulsions every chance it gets. When treatment matches that intensity and you’re doing exposure work daily instead of once a week, you give your brain a more consistent signal that these feared situations are actually safe. The learning is faster, deeper, and harder for OCD to undo.

How to Decide: A Simple Framework

There’s no universally “better” option. The right choice depends on you. Here are the key factors to consider:

1. Severity. How much is OCD interfering with your life right now? If it’s mild and manageable, weekly therapy may be the right starting point. If it’s moderate to severe (if OCD is controlling hours of your day or keeping you from doing things you care about), intensive treatment gives you the concentrated support to make faster progress.

2. Timeline. How quickly do you need to see results? Weekly therapy unfolds over months. Intensive treatment delivers meaningful change in weeks. If you have a window of time such as a school break, time off from work, a transition period, an intensive program lets you use that time strategically.

3. Previous treatment history. Have you tried weekly therapy before? If you made good progress, continuing in that format may make sense. If you tried it and hit a plateau, or didn’t see the results you hoped for, intensive treatment offers a different approach that may be the breakthrough you need. For more on recognizing when to make that shift, read our post on when to consider an intensive outpatient program for OCD.

4. Schedule flexibility. Can you commit to a 3-week program? Intensive treatment requires a significant time investment upfront, but the payoff is a shorter total treatment period. Weekly therapy requires less time per week but extends over a longer period. Consider which fits your life right now.

5. Personal preference. Some people prefer the gradual pace of weekly therapy. Others want to tackle OCD head-on and get through the hardest part as fast as possible. Both approaches are valid and what matters is that you choose an approach you’ll commit to fully.

If you’re not sure where you fall, that’s okay. That’s exactly what a consultation and assessment is for.

Not Sure Which Format Is Right for You? Let’s Talk.

Choosing between weekly therapy and an intensive program is a personal decision and you don’t have to make it alone. At The OCD Treatment Center, we offer a free consultation where we can talk through your situation, understand what you’ve been dealing with, and help you figure out which treatment format you feel gives you the best shot at real, lasting improvement.

Whether you’re considering weekly sessions or our 3-week intensive program, we’ll meet you where you are and help you take the next step.

Call us at (949) 398-8350 to schedule your free consultation.

OCD is treatable. The right format of treatment can make all the difference and we’re here to help you find it.

Frontiers in Psychiatry: Effects of Treatment Setting on Outcomes of Flexibly-Dosed Intensive CBT, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8165233/

ScienceDirect: The Effect of Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy on OCD (2022), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S016517812200453X

ScienceDirect: An Effectiveness Study of Intensive Outpatient Treatment for OCD (2024), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211364924000769

Psychology Research and Behavior Management: Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6935308/

Indian Journal of Psychiatry: Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6343408/

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OCD in Your 20s: Why It Hits Hard and What You Can Do About It

By Bradley Wilson, LMFT — Founder, The OCD Treatment Center

If you’re in your late teens or early 20s and OCD just showed up out of nowhere or is something that was always quietly there suddenly got a lot louder, I want you to know two things right away. First, you’re not alone. This is one of the most common times in life for OCD to start or escalate. Second, it’s not random. There are real, scientific reasons this is happening right now. And once you understand them, the path forward gets a lot clearer.

I’m Bradley Wilson, and I founded The OCD Treatment Center after going through this myself as a young adult. OCD hit me hard during a time when I was supposed to be figuring out my life, and it felt like nobody around me understood what was happening. I went on to become a licensed therapist specializing in OCD, and now I work with young adults every day who are going through exactly what I went through. So let me walk you through what’s actually happening and what you can do about it.

Why OCD Peaks in Late Teens and Early 20s

This isn’t just your imagination or bad luck. Research consistently shows that OCD has two peak onset periods: one in childhood (roughly ages 7–12) and another in late adolescence to early adulthood, around age 20. A major review in Frontiers in Psychiatry confirmed that the second peak of OCD incidence occurs in the early 20s, with the mean age of onset for adult-onset OCD falling between 22 and 24.

So if OCD showed up or got significantly worse right around the time you left home, started college, landed your first job, or entered your first serious relationship, that’s not a coincidence. Your brain is still developing during this period. The prefrontal cortex, which plays a role in managing intrusive thoughts and regulating anxiety, doesn’t fully mature until your mid-20s. That means you’re dealing with some of the biggest life transitions you’ll ever face with a brain that’s still under construction.

Add to that the sheer volume of stress that comes with this stage of life (academic pressure, financial uncertainty, identity questions, new social environments, romantic relationships) and you’ve got the perfect conditions for OCD to emerge or intensify.

This is important: none of this is a personal failing. It’s neurobiology meeting life change. You didn’t cause this, and you’re not weak for struggling with it.

How OCD Shows Up in College and Early Career

OCD in young adults doesn’t always look like what you see in movies. It’s not just hand-washing or checking locks. For many college students and young professionals, OCD shows up in ways that are easy to dismiss or misidentify. Studies have found that OCD symptoms may be even more prevalent among college students than in the general population, with some research estimating rates of 3.8% to 6.7% among university students.

Here’s what it might actually look like in your day-to-day life:

You’re sitting in a lecture, and an intrusive thought pops into your head that might be disturbing, violent, or sexually inappropriate. You know it doesn’t reflect who you are, but you can’t stop replaying it. You spend the next 45 minutes mentally arguing with yourself instead of taking notes.

Or maybe you sent a text to a friend and now you’re reviewing the conversation over and over, convinced you said something offensive. You check your phone 20 times looking for reassurance that they’re not upset.

Maybe you’re in a relationship and suddenly you’re plagued by doubts: Do I really love this person? What if I’m with the wrong person? What if I’m not attracted to them enough? The doubts feel all-consuming and nothing you tell yourself makes them stop.

Or your perfectionism around schoolwork has gone from “being a good student” to something that controls you. You rewrite emails five times before sending them. You recheck assignments so many times that you miss deadlines. Every task takes three times as long as it should.

You might be avoiding certain social situations entirely, not because you don’t want to go, but because being around people triggers intrusive thoughts you can’t handle.

Here’s what makes OCD in young adults particularly tricky: many of you are what we’d call “high-functioning.” From the outside, you look like you’re keeping it together. You’re getting good grades, holding down a job, maintaining friendships. But internally, it’s a war zone. You’re spending hours each day on compulsions that nobody else can see (mental rituals, constant reassurance-seeking, avoidance patterns) and you’re exhausted from it.

Why Young Adults Wait to Get Help

On average, it takes over seven years for someone with OCD to receive an accurate diagnosis. Seven years! So for someone whose OCD starts at 20, that means they might not get the right help until they’re nearly 30.

Why the delay? There are several reasons, and almost all of them are fixable:

You don’t know it’s OCD. Most people think OCD is about being neat or organized. When your OCD is actually about horrifying intrusive thoughts, relationship doubts, or existential fears, it doesn’t match what you’ve seen on TV. So you assume something else is wrong with you or worse, that the thoughts mean something about who you really are.

You think everyone deals with this. “Everyone has weird thoughts sometimes, right?” Sure. But not everyone has the same thought on repeat for six hours. Not everyone builds elaborate mental rituals to neutralize anxiety. There’s a line between a passing intrusive thought and OCD, and if you’ve crossed it, you probably already know something feels different.

Stigma, especially for young men. Guys in their 20s are often told to tough it out, that mental health struggles are a sign of weakness. This is flat-out wrong, and it keeps a lot of young men suffering in silence for years longer than they need to.

You saw a non-specialist who missed it. This happens all the time. You finally work up the courage to talk to a therapist, and they tell you it’s “just anxiety” or “just stress.” OCD requires specialized assessment. A general therapist who doesn’t work with OCD regularly can easily miss it.

You’re too busy. Between classes, work, social obligations, and just trying to survive young adulthood, prioritizing mental health feels like a luxury. But OCD doesn’t get better by ignoring it, it typically gets worse.

What Effective Treatment Looks Like for Young Adults

The gold standard treatment for OCD is Exposure and Response Prevention, or ERP. This is true regardless of your age, the type of OCD you have, or how long you’ve been dealing with it. ERP works by gradually and systematically exposing you to the thoughts, situations, or images that trigger your anxiety and then helping you resist the urge to perform compulsions in response.

The evidence behind ERP is strong. About 50–60% of patients who complete ERP show clinically significant improvement, and research has found that ERP can reduce depressive symptoms by 44.2% and anxiety symptoms by 47.8%. On average, patients achieve about a 60% reduction in OCD symptoms through ERP therapy.

For young adults specifically, there are a few things that make treatment work well:

• Flexibility. Treatment needs to fit around your life. If you’re in school or working, weekly sessions can work well, showing up for one hour each week, doing your exposures in between, and building momentum over time.
• Intensive options. For some young adults, a weekly pace isn’t enough, especially if OCD is severe or you’re in a crisis. That’s where intensive treatment programs come in. Programs like our 3-week intensive offer 45 hours of one-on-one therapy in a compressed timeframe. Many college students do intensive treatment over winter or summer break. Research has shown that intensive CBT is associated with rapid, robust improvements and produces similar long-term outcomes compared to weekly therapy.
• Treatment that’s relatively brief. Compared to many other mental health conditions, OCD treatment through ERP can produce meaningful results in a fairly short timeframe. You’re not signing up for years of open-ended talk therapy. ERP is structured, goal-oriented, and designed to get you back to living your life.

One thing I always tell young adults: getting treatment now, rather than waiting, is one of the best decisions you can make. The longer OCD goes untreated, the more entrenched compulsive patterns become. Early intervention makes treatment faster and outcomes better.

The OCD Treatment Center’s Approach

We built The OCD Treatment Center with young adults in mind. Our core demographic is 18 to 32, and the majority of the people we work with are in exactly the stage of life this article describes: college, early career, figuring things out, and trying to do all of that with OCD in the way.

I didn’t get into this work by accident. I personally struggled with OCD as a young adult. I know what it feels like to sit in a classroom and not hear a word the professor says because your brain is locked on a thought you can’t shake. I know what it feels like to wonder if something is seriously wrong with you. And I know what it feels like to finally get the right treatment and realize you can get your life back.

That personal experience shapes everything we do here. Our team understands this demographic because we’ve lived it, and we treat OCD every single day.

Here’s what treatment looks like with us:

Weekly sessions for those who need consistent, ongoing support alongside their regular schedule.

A 3-week intensive program that includes 45 hours of one-on-one ERP therapy completed during in-office sessions, community-based exposures (going to the places that trigger your OCD and working through it in real time), and home visits. This program is ideal for students on break, young professionals between jobs, or anyone who needs accelerated progress.

Virtual options for those who live in California but can’t make it to our Newport Beach office in person.

We’ve helped over 350 clients and completed more than 175 intensive programs. We serve the Orange County area including Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Irvine, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana, Laguna Beach, and we regularly work with clients who travel to us specifically for the intensive program.

Take the First Step

If OCD showed up in your 20s and you’re not sure what to do next, start with a conversation. You don’t need to have it all figured out or even a previous diagnosis. You just need to talk to someone who gets it.

We offer a free consultation where we’ll help you understand what you’re dealing with, whether it’s OCD, and what your treatment options look like. No pressure, no commitment, just clarity.

Call us at (949) 398-8350 or visit theocdtreatmentcenter.com to schedule your free consultation today.

You don’t have to keep white-knuckling your way through this. OCD is treatable, the science is clear, and the right help exists. You just have to reach for it.

1 International OCD Foundation, “Who Gets OCD?” https://kids.iocdf.org/what-is-ocd-kids/who-gets-ocd/

2 Frontiers in Psychiatry, “Developmental Considerations in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8269156/

3 Taylor & Francis, “Prevalence of Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms” https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/28367138.2025.2577644

4 International OCD Foundation, “About OCD” https://iocdf.org/about-ocd/

5 Psychology Research and Behavior Management, “Exposure and Response Prevention in the Treatment of OCD” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6935308/

6 ScienceDirect, “The effect of exposure and response prevention therapy on OCD” (2022) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S016517812200453X

7 Frontiers in Psychiatry, “Intensive CBT for OCD” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8165233/

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5 Signs Your Current OCD Treatment Isn’t Working (And What to Do Next)

By Bradley Wilson, LMFT — Founder, The OCD Treatment Center

If you’ve been going to therapy for OCD and things aren’t getting better, or maybe they’re even getting worse, I want you to hear something clearly: you are not the problem.

I know what it feels like to sit across from a therapist and wonder why nothing is changing. To do the homework, show up every week, try to explain what’s going on in your head, and still feel stuck. It’s exhausting. And it’s easy to start blaming yourself. Maybe I’m not trying hard enough. Maybe my OCD is just too severe. Maybe I’m broken.

You’re not. In many cases, the reason OCD treatment isn’t working has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the type of treatment you’re receiving. Most therapists (even good ones) aren’t trained to treat OCD effectively. That’s not a knock on them. It’s a gap in how therapists are trained. OCD is a specialty, and treating it requires specialized tools.

Here are five signs that your current treatment isn’t the right fit and what to do about it.

Sign 1: Your Therapist Doesn’t Use ERP

This is the single biggest reason OCD treatment fails. ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention) is the gold standard treatment for OCD. It’s the approach with the most research behind it, and it’s what every major OCD organization recommends as a first-line treatment. Research shows that 50–60% of patients who complete ERP show clinically significant improvement, and roughly two-thirds of those who engage in treatment experience meaningful gains.

If your therapist says they do CBT but isn’t including structured exposures, that’s a problem. General CBT without ERP doesn’t address the OCD cycle. Many well-meaning therapists treat OCD the same way they’d treat generalized anxiety using relaxation techniques, coping strategies, and talk therapy. Those approaches can be helpful for other conditions, but for OCD, they miss the mark.

Ask your therapist directly: “Are we doing ERP?” If they’re not sure what that means, or if they describe their approach as “just talking through your thoughts,” it may be time to look for someone who specializes in evidence-based OCD treatment.

Sign 2: You’re Only Doing Talk Therapy

Here’s something that surprises a lot of people: talking about OCD can actually make it worse.

When therapy consists entirely of discussing your obsessions, analyzing where they came from, or exploring the “why” behind your thoughts, it can become a compulsion in itself. If you spend your session reviewing intrusive thoughts in detail, seeking reassurance from your therapist about what those thoughts mean, or trying to figure out whether your fears are “rational,” you’re doing exactly what OCD wants you to do. You’re engaging with the content of the thoughts instead of changing your relationship with them.

Effective OCD treatment requires behavioral change. That means actually doing exposures that are deliberately confronting the situations, thoughts, and feelings that trigger your OCD, and then resisting the urge to perform compulsions. Understanding why you have OCD can be interesting, but insight alone doesn’t break the cycle. Action does.

If your sessions feel like you’re mostly talking and very little doing, that’s a sign the approach needs to change.

Sign 3: You’ve Been in Therapy for Months with No Measurable Progress

ERP isn’t a years-long process before you start seeing results. When it’s done correctly, you should start noticing some improvement within the first 8–12 sessions. That doesn’t mean you’ll be symptom-free, but you should see signs of movement. Things like being able to sit with an intrusive thought a little longer without compulsing, or noticing that a previously triggering situation feels slightly more manageable.

If months have gone by and your OCD is the same or worse, that’s worth paying attention to. It doesn’t necessarily mean ERP doesn’t work for you. In fact, it may mean you haven’t truly received ERP yet. Many people think they’ve “tried ERP” when what they actually received was general talk therapy with an occasional mention of exposure.

True ERP is structured. It involves building a fear hierarchy, systematically working through exposures, tracking your progress with validated tools, and adjusting the plan as you go. If that doesn’t sound like your experience, you may benefit from a more intensive, structured approach.

Sign 4: Your Therapist Seems Uncomfortable with Your OCD Themes

OCD latches onto the things you care about most and it exploits your deepest fears. That means OCD often generates the most disturbing, taboo, and distressing thoughts imaginable. Themes such as harm OCD, sexual orientation OCD, pedophilia OCD, incest OCD, or religious OCD exist precisely because they’re the thoughts that horrify you the most.

A good OCD therapist knows this. They don’t flinch. They’ve heard every theme, and they understand that these intrusive thoughts are not reflections of who you are. They’re symptoms of a disorder.

But if your therapist changes the subject when you bring up your intrusive thoughts, looks visibly uncomfortable, seems shocked by what you’re sharing, or worst of all, suggests that your thoughts might mean something about your character, they likely don’t have the specialized OCD training needed to help you.

You deserve a therapist who can sit with the darkest content of your OCD without blinking. That’s not because they don’t care, it’s because they understand what OCD is and how it works. They know the thoughts aren’t the problem. The cycle is the problem.

Sign 5: You’re Doing Reassurance-Seeking in Session

This one is subtle, and it’s incredibly common. You’re sitting in session and you ask your therapist something like:

“But do you think I would actually do that?”

“Am I a bad person?”

“Do you think this means something is really wrong with me?”

And your therapist responds: “No, of course not. You’re a good person. Those are just thoughts.”

That might feel good in the moment. But it’s feeding the OCD cycle. Reassurance is a compulsion. When your therapist provides it, they’re inadvertently reinforcing the idea that you need external validation to feel okay and that you can’t trust your own judgment. And the relief from reassurance is always temporary. The doubt comes back, and you need more.

A trained OCD therapist would recognize reassurance-seeking the moment it happens and redirect you rather than answering the question. They might say something like, “It sounds like OCD is asking that question. What would it look like to sit with the uncertainty?” That’s not cold or uncaring, it’s therapeutic. It’s helping you build the muscle to tolerate doubt, which is the core skill OCD recovery requires.

What to Look for in an OCD Specialist

If any of the signs above sound familiar, it doesn’t mean you’re out of options. It means you need the right specialist. Here’s what to look for:

• Trained in ERP specifically, not just general CBT. ERP is a specialized protocol, and training in it matters.
• Experience with your specific OCD subtype. Whether it’s harm OCD, contamination, relationship OCD, or something else, it is best when your therapist has direct experience treating it.
• Comfortable discussing any theme without judgment. No flinching, no shocked expressions, and definitely no suggesting your thoughts are a reflection of reality.
• Uses structured exposure exercises. Not just talking about your fears, but actively working through them in a planned, graduated way.
• Measures progress with validated tools. Good OCD treatment tracks where you started and how you’re improving, often using measures like the Y-BOCS (Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale).

You shouldn’t have to guess whether treatment is working, a specialist will make it clear and measurable.

Ready for a Different Approach?

If any of these signs sound familiar, it might be time for a second opinion.

At The OCD Treatment Center, every therapist specializes in OCD and uses ERP as the foundation of treatment. Myself, the founder, Bradley Wilson, LMFT, overcame OCD before dedicating my career to helping others do the same. We’ve worked with over 350 clients and completed more than 175 intensive treatment programs. We know what effective OCD treatment looks like because we’ve lived it and delivered it.

We offer a free consultation to review where you are in your treatment and help you figure out what might work better. Whether that means weekly sessions, our 3-week intensive program, or simply a professional perspective on your current plan. We’re here to help.

Call us at (949) 398-8350 or visit www.theocdtreatmentcenter.com to schedule your free consultation today.

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What to Expect During our 3-Week Intensive OCD Treatment Program

By Bradley Wilson, LMFT — Founder, The OCD Treatment Center

Taking the Leap: Why the Unknown Feels So Hard

Deciding to do an intensive OCD treatment program is one of the biggest steps you can take for your mental health. If you’re reading this, you’re probably weighing the decision right now and I’d bet you have a lot of questions. What will my days actually look like? Is it going to be too hard? What happens when it’s over?

I get it. The unknown is one of the most anxiety-provoking parts of starting treatment, especially when you already struggle with uncertainty (which, if you have OCD, is kind of your thing). But here’s what I can tell you: the fear of doing the program is almost always worse than actually doing it.

I’ve guided over 175 clients through our 3-week intensive program at The OCD Treatment Center, and I want to walk you through exactly what the experience looks like week by week, step by step, so the unknown doesn’t hold you back from getting the help you need.

Before You Start: The Consultation and Assessment Process

Every intensive begins with a free consultation. This is just a conversation, not a commitment. We talk through your OCD themes, your history, the severity of your symptoms, and what you’re hoping to accomplish. We want to understand where you are and where you want to be.

One thing we are always honest about is that the intensive isn’t the right fit for everyone. Some clients do better with weekly therapy. Some need a different level of care. During our consultation, we’ll figure out together what makes the most sense for your situation. If the intensive isn’t right for you, we help you find other options.

If the intensive is the right fit, here’s what you need to know about logistics:

• 45 hours of one-on-one therapy over 3 weeks. This is not group work. It’s just you and your therapist, focused entirely on your OCD.
• Your schedule is built around your needs. We work with you to create a daily schedule that fits your life as much as possible.
• Traveling from out of the area? Many of our clients fly in from across the country for the program. We can help with recommendations to make the logistics as smooth as possible.
• A virtual option is available. If traveling to our Orange County office isn’t feasible and you are located in the state of California, we offer a virtual intensive format as well for clients who are a good fit fort the virtual format.

Once we’ve set everything up, it’s time to begin.

Week 1: Building the Foundation

The first week is all about building the groundwork for everything that comes after. If you’re worried about being thrown into the deep end on Day 1, take comfort in knowing that’s not how we work.

We start with psychoeducation: understanding how OCD works, the cycle that keeps it going, and how Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)breaks that cycle. A lot of clients come in with misconceptions about what ERP actually is and think it means being forced to face their worst fear on the first day but that is not how we do it. Our ERP framework is structured, gradual, and collaborative.

Together, we build your exposure hierarchy which is a personalized list of fears and triggers ranked from least to most anxiety-provoking. Think of it as a ladder. We’re not starting at the top. We’re starting with the rungs that feel challenging but manageable, and we build from there.

During Week 1, exposures happen in a controlled, in-office setting. Your therapist is with you every step of the way, guiding you through each exposure, helping you sit with the discomfort, and coaching you through the response prevention piece which means resisting the urge to do your compulsions.

By the end of Week 1, many clients already notice a shift in how they relate to their intrusive thoughts. They start to see that the thoughts don’t have to run the show and that shift is powerful.

Week 2: Taking It Into the Real World

This is where the intensive format truly excels and where it looks radically different from weekly therapy.

In a traditional weekly session, you practice exposures in the office for an hour and then go home to face your triggers alone. In the intensive, we go where your OCD lives. We call these community-based exposures, and they’re a game-changer.

If contamination is your theme, we go to grocery stores, restaurants, public restrooms and any other places where your OCD screams the loudest. If you have harm OCD, we might go to a kitchen store and have you hold a knife while sitting with the intrusive thought. If your OCD centers on relationships, we work through real scenarios in real environments. The point is, we practice where it matters.

Week 2 also includes home visits for clients who live or are staying close enough to our office. Your therapist comes to your actual living space to address OCD patterns in your real environment such as the rituals you do before bed, the way you organize things, or the spots in your house that trigger you. This kind of in-vivo work is incredibly effective because you’re not imagining a scenario. You’re in it.

The intensity ramps up during this week. You’re doing harder exposures. You’re climbing higher on that hierarchy. You’re building real tolerance to discomfort. Research supports this approach: studies show that intensive formats produce rapid, robust improvements, with outcomes comparable to longer-term weekly therapy. Longer session durations in particular have been linked to more favorable results.

Week 2 is the week can be the hardest for many of our clients, but it’s also the week they describe as the most transformative. It’s the week where you start to feel the freedom you may not have felt in a long time.

Week 3: Building Independence

By Week 3, something has shifted. You’re not the same person who walked in on Day 1. You’ve faced fears you never thought you could face. You’ve sat with discomfort and survived. And now, the focus shifts to making sure you can keep doing this on your own.

During this final week, you start doing exposures independently, with your therapist in a support role rather than leading the way. This is deliberate. The goal of the intensive isn’t to make you dependent on a therapist, but to teach you how to be your own therapist.

We spend significant time on relapse prevention planning. Together, we:

• Identify your personal warning signs that OCD is trying to creep back in
• Build a maintenance plan with specific strategies for handling setbacks
• Create a toolkit of ERP skills you can use in any situation
• Practice responding to new or unexpected triggers without therapist guidance

By the end of Week 3, you don’t just have short-term relief. You have a written relapse prevention plan, a set of skills you’ve practiced under real conditions, and—most importantly—the confidence that you can face whatever OCD throws at you next.

Life After the Program: What Comes Next

The intensive ends, but your recovery doesn’t. One of the most common concerns I hear is, “What happens when it’s over? Will I go right back to where I was?”

The honest answer is no, recovery is ongoing. OCD is a chronic condition. There will be hard days. There will be moments where intrusive thoughts feel louder again. That’s normal and it’s exactly why we spend so much time in Week 3 preparing you for life after the program.

Here’s what the transition typically looks like:

• Many clients transition to weekly check-ins or as-needed sessions after the intensive. This gives you a touchpoint to process challenges, fine-tune your skills, and stay accountable.
• You’ll have your written relapse prevention plan to reference whenever you need it. It’s a concrete document tailored to your specific OCD themes and triggers.
• The skills are yours. ERP teaches you a fundamentally different way of responding to OCD. That way of responding stays with you long after the program ends.

I’ve watched clients who could barely leave their house walk out of our program and go back to school, start new jobs, rebuild relationships, and travel the world. The intensive doesn’t just reduce symptoms, it gives people their lives back.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to take time off work or school?

Yes, you should plan for about 3 weeks away from your regular schedule. The intensive requires a significant daily time commitment, and getting the most out of it means being fully present. Many clients use vacation time, request academic leave, or schedule the program during a natural break. I know 3 weeks feels like a lot, but here’s how I look at it: you’re investing 3 weeks to change the trajectory of the rest of your life. For most people, that’s a trade worth making.

Can I do the intensive program virtually?

Yes. We offer a virtual intensive option for clients who can’t travel to our Newport Beach office, but due to state licensing rules we can only offer the program virtually to clients located in the state of California. The virtual format follows the same structure and intensity, adapted for a telehealth setting. We’ve seen strong results with both in-person and virtual clients.

Does insurance cover the intensive program?

We are an out of network provider so coverage varies by insurance plan. Some plans will provide out-of-network reimbursement. We’re happy to discuss the specifics during your free consultation and help you understand your options before you commit to anything.

What if my OCD is too severe for this kind of program?

The intensive program is actually designed for moderate to severe OCD. If your symptoms are significantly impacting your daily life such as getting in the way of work, school, relationships, or basic functioning, the intensive format may be exactly what you need. Severity is not a barrier. In many cases, it’s the reason the intensive is the right choice. Research shows that about two-thirds of patients who receive ERP experience meaningful improvement, and intensive formats have been associated with rapid, robust gains. However, patients do need to be able to live on their own or with assistance from a loved one while at the program as the program is entirely outpatient so we do not provide care outside of the time that the clients are working with their therapist.

What if I’m coming from out of state?

You’re not alone—many of our clients travel to Orange County specifically for this program. We can help with recommendations for nearby housing and get you set up so you can focus entirely on treatment. Our location in Newport Beach is close to plenty of affordable, comfortable lodging options.

How is this different from weekly therapy?

The biggest difference is immersion. In weekly therapy, you get one hour a week and do the rest on your own. In the intensive, you’re doing 15 hours of therapy per week, with your therapist by your side during real-world exposures. That level of support and repetition accelerates progress dramatically. Many clients accomplish in 3 weeks what would take 6 to 12 months in weekly sessions.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

If you’ve read this far, something in you is ready. Maybe you’re not 100% sure yet and that’s okay. You don’t have to be certain to take the first step.

Schedule a free consultation to talk through your situation and find out if the 3-week intensive is right for you. We’ll answer all your questions, talk through logistics, and help you make a decision that feels right—no pressure, no obligation.

Call us at (949) 398-8350 or visit our intensive program page to learn more and book your consultation.

You don’t have to keep living the way OCD wants you to live. And you don’t have to figure it out alone.

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When to Consider an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) for OCD

By Bradley Wilson, LMFT  |  The OCD Treatment Center, Newport Beach, CA

If you or someone you love has been struggling with OCD, you’ve likely heard of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy — the gold-standard, evidence-based treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Maybe you’ve even tried it. Weekly therapy sessions can be incredibly effective for many people, but for others, once-a-week treatment simply isn’t enough.

That’s where an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) comes in.

An IOP is a structured, higher-level treatment option that provides significantly more support than traditional weekly therapy without requiring a residential or inpatient stay. It’s one of the most powerful tools available for people whose OCD is severe, stuck, or significantly disrupting daily life.

So how do you know if an IOP is the right next step? Here are the key signs to look for.

1. Weekly Therapy Isn’t Moving the Needle

One of the most common reasons people consider an IOP is that they’ve been in weekly therapy for months — sometimes years — without significant improvement. This doesn’t mean therapy has failed. It often means the frequency and intensity of treatment needs to increase.

OCD is a persistent condition. For some people, seeing a therapist once a week gives the OCD too much time to reassert itself between sessions. An IOP compresses treatment into multiple hours per day, several days per week, creating the kind of momentum that can break through long-standing patterns.

If you feel like you’re making progress in session but losing ground by the time the next appointment rolls around, that’s a strong signal that a more intensive approach may be warranted.

2. OCD Is Significantly Interfering with Daily Life

OCD exists on a spectrum. For some, it’s a manageable background noise. For others, it consumes hours of every day making it impossible to work, attend school, maintain relationships, or leave the house.

If OCD has reached a point where it’s causing serious impairment in one or more areas of life, an IOP provides the concentrated treatment structure needed to address that level of severity. This is especially true when:

• A child or teen is missing school or refusing to attend
• An adult is unable to hold down a job or care for themselves
• Relationships are fracturing due to OCD-driven behaviors
• Daily routines take hours longer than they should due to rituals or avoidance

At this level of disruption, weekly therapy is often simply not enough firepower.

3. You’ve Relapsed After Previous Treatment

Some people make real progress in therapy, then experience a significant relapse triggered by a life event, a new stressor, or simply the natural ebb and flow of OCD. When a relapse is severe, returning to weekly therapy may not be enough to regain lost ground quickly.

An IOP can serve as a powerful reset. The intensive structure allows clients to stabilize, rebuild their ERP skills, and regain confidence in a relatively short period of time (typically two to four weeks) before transitioning back to a lower level of care.

4. You’ve Never Received Specialized OCD Treatment

This one surprises many people: a significant number of individuals who come to us have been in therapy for years but have never actually received proper OCD treatment. General therapists may not have specialized training in ERP or the nuances of OCD subtypes. Some well-meaning approaches (like reassurance-based talk therapy) can actually reinforce OCD rather than treat it.

If you’ve been in therapy without receiving ERP specifically, an IOP with OCD specialists may be the first time you receive truly targeted care. For many clients, this is genuinely life-changing.

5. You’re Preparing for a Major Life Transition

Stress is one of OCD’s most powerful triggers. Starting college, having a baby, changing careers, going through a divorce — any major life transition can cause OCD to flare. For people who know a big change is coming and have a history of OCD, a proactive IOP can build the skills and resilience needed to navigate that transition without being derailed.

Think of it like physical therapy before surgery: the stronger you are going in, the better your recovery.

6. A Child or Teen’s OCD Is Escalating

For parents, watching a child struggle with OCD can feel overwhelming and heartbreaking. You may have tried everything (reassuring them, helping them avoid triggers, adjusting family routines) and found that things have only gotten worse.

Family accommodation (when family members adjust their own behavior to reduce a child’s OCD-related distress) is one of the biggest obstacles to recovery in younger patients. An adolescent IOP addresses not just the child’s treatment, but also coaches parents on how to respond in ways that support recovery rather than reinforce the OCD cycle.

If your child’s OCD is escalating, an IOP that includes a family component can be transformative for the whole family.

What Does an IOP Actually Look Like?

At The OCD Treatment Center, our Intensive Outpatient Program is designed around your individual needs. Clients receive multiple hours of specialized, one-on-one therapy per day using ERP, CBT, and our proprietary More Than ERP™ framework. Treatment is tailored to your specific OCD subtype whether that’s harm OCD, contamination OCD, Pure O, scrupulosity, or any other form.

Our IOP is available for both adults and adolescents, and we offer an optional faith-based track for clients whose OCD intersects with religious or moral themes. We also provide a Client Travel Manual for those coming from outside the Newport Beach area because great OCD care is worth traveling for.

You Don’t Have to Stay Stuck

OCD is a treatable condition. The right level of care, matched to the severity and circumstances of your situation, can make an enormous difference. If weekly therapy hasn’t been enough, or if OCD is running your life rather than the other way around, an IOP may be exactly what’s needed to turn the corner.

We offer a free 20-minute consultation to help you figure out whether our IOP is the right fit. There’s no pressure and no obligation, just a conversation about where you are and what might help.

Schedule your free consultation today: theocdtreatmentcenter.com/contact-us-form

About the Author

Bradley Wilson, LMFT is the founder of The OCD Treatment Center in Newport Beach, California. He and his team specialize exclusively in OCD and anxiety disorders, offering Intensive Outpatient Programs for adults and adolescents. Learn more at theocdtreatmentcenter.com.

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How to Get an OCD Diagnosis

What to Do if You Think You Might Have OCD

Getting a diagnosis for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) involves a diagnostic evaluation by a mental health professional. Below are the steps you can take when you are looking for a provider and the criteria the provider is using to conclude if an OCD diagnosis is the correct diagnosis for you.

1. Find a Professional

• Primary Care Physician: If you are not sure where to start, discussing your symptoms with your primary care physician can be a helpful first step. They can refer you to a mental health specialist if necessary. That being said, sometimes primary care physicians are unfamiliar with all the symptoms that are under the umbrella of OCD. If they do not refer you to a specialist but you still think what you are experiencing may be OCD, online resources such as the International OCD Foundation website (iocdf.org) have many options for where to find a licensed professional that is familiar with the symptoms of OCD and can offer a diagnosis.
• Mental Health Specialist: The types of providers who are qualified to diagnose OCD are psychiatrists, psychologists, or licensed therapists. When finding a professional that can help you find out if you have OCD, make sure to find a professional that is experienced and knowledgeable in OCD. Online resources such as the International OCD Foundation website (iocdf.org) have many options for where to find a licensed professional that is familiar with the symptoms of OCD and can offer a diagnosis near you.

2. Diagnostic Tools

Once you are in contact with a mental health professional who is knowledgable about OCD, they will typically book an assessment or a psychological evaluation with you. This can include:

• A Detailed Clinical Interview:
  • Symptom Discussion: The clinician will ask detailed questions about the obsessions you may be experiencing (recurring, unwanted thoughts) and the compulsions you may be doing in response (repetitive behaviors or mental acts).
  • Impact on Daily Life: They will assess how these symptoms affect your daily functioning, relationships, work, and quality of life.
  • Duration and Severity: The clinician will consider how long you’ve experienced the symptoms and their intensity.
  • Behavioral Observation: Clinicians may observe your behavior directly and sometimes, with your permission, clinicians will consult with your current provider for their observations on your symptoms.
  • Family and Friends: Sometimes, with your permission, clinicians will consult your loved ones. Input from family members or close friends can provide additional context and details about your symptoms and how they affect your life.
• Psychological Assessments:
  • Structured Questionnaires: Tools like the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) can help quantify the severity of OCD symptoms.
  • Self-Report Inventories: These can provide additional insight into your experiences and symptom patterns.

3. Diagnostic Criteria

The clinician will use criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) to determine if you meet the requirements for an OCD diagnosis. According to the DSM-5, the criteria include:

• Presence of obsessions, compulsions, or both.
  • The DSM defines obsessions as “Recurrent and persistent thoughts, urges or images that are experienced, at some time during the disturbance, as intrusive, unwanted, and that in most individuals cause marked anxiety or distress.”
• Obsessions and compulsions are time-consuming (e.g., take more than one hour per day) or cause significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
  • The DSM defines these obsessions as “Repetitive behaviors (e.g., hand washing, ordering checking) or mental acts (e.g., praying, counting, repeating words silently) that the person feels driven to perform in response to an obsession”
  • These behaviors or mental acts are aimed at preventing or reducing distress but are either are not connected to the obsession in a realistic way or are clearly excessive.
• The symptoms are not due to the physiological effects of a substance (e.g., drugs or medications) or another medical condition.
  • To rule out another medical condition, this can sometimes involve a physical exam or lab tests to rule out other causes of symptoms.
• The disturbance is not better explained by the symptoms of another mental disorder (e.g., generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder). It is important to note individuals can present with separate diagnoses alongside OCD and the existence of one does not exclude the possibility of another and sometimes, one illness may cause another.

Next Steps After Diagnosis

Once diagnosed, the clinician will discuss treatment options, which may include:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Particularly Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy, which is highly effective for OCD.
• Medication: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or other medications can help manage symptoms.
• Support Groups: Joining OCD support groups can provide community and additional coping strategies.

If you think you have OCD, it is important to seek professional help. While OCD can be extremely debilitating, proper treatment can help you manage your OCD symptoms and start your journey to recovery.

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What to Do if You or Your Loved One is Diagnosed with OCD

What OCD is, The Next Steps, Finding Treatment

What is OCD?

OCD, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, is characterized by intrusive thoughts or obsessions that lead to repetitive behaviors or compulsions. OCD can be very distressing and can significantly impact an individual’s daily life, including their work, relationships, and social activities. It affects individuals of all ages, and its severity can vary widely. There are many different types of OCD and individuals often have more than one type.

Know that you or your loved one is not alone in this diagnosis. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental health disorder that affects 1-2% of the population and many of our staff struggled personally with OCD and have been in recovery for years. Remember, there is no shame in seeking help for OCD. Treatment can help you manage your symptoms and live a happy and fulfilling life.

Obsessions

Obsessions are unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images, or urges that cause significant anxiety or distress. Common obsessions include fears of contamination, fears of harm coming to oneself or others, and unwanted taboo thoughts among many others.

Compulsions

Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts that an individual feels driven to perform in response to an obsession or according to rigid rules. The purpose of these behaviors is often to reduce anxiety or prevent a feared event, but they are not connected in a realistic way to the event or are excessive. Common compulsions include excessive cleaning or handwashing, checking things repeatedly, counting, and arranging items in a particular way among many others. Sometimes, there are no physical compulsions and instead individuals are doing mental compulsions. This is called Pure O OCD, or Purely Obsessional OCD, and those who suffer from this type of OCD manage the anxiety caused by their obsessions by engaging in mental rituals such as excessive rumination, reassurance-seeking, mental reviewing, or repeating certain phrases, actions, or prayers in their minds.

Avoidance

Individuals with OCD may also engage in avoidance behaviors in order to avoid triggering their OCD. These avoidance behaviors can cause significant detrimental effects on their daily lives and relationships.

What are my Next Steps?

If you or your loved one has been diagnosed with OCD, a good first step is to learn about OCD to understand the condition better. This helps you not only learn more about OCD, but also be better prepared for deciding how you would like to move forward. Some ideas for how to learn more about OCD include watching TedTalks, reading books about OCD, listening to podcasts, and researching online. It can also involve chat forums where people post their questions and talk about their diagnoses and experiences but remember, chat forums are helpful for education and community but are not for personal medical advice and you should talk to a provider before making any medical or therapeutic decisions.

Another important step is to decide what type or types of treatment would work best for you or your loved one. Treatments can involve options such as medications, therapies, and lifestyle changes and often involves more than one. It is important to decide which would be best for you or your loved ones needs.

Medications

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are commonly prescribed and can help reduce the intensity of obsessive thoughts. It is important to work closely with a healthcare provider, preferably a psychiatrist, to find the right medication and dosage. The process might involve some trial and error and it is important to take the medication as prescribed, even if you start to feel better. Stopping medication abruptly can lead to withdrawal symptoms and a return of OCD symptoms.

Therapies

There are many different types of therapies that can be done in many different ways to treat OCD. OCD therapy can be conducted in a one-on-one setting, with a group, or all alone with the guidance of a therapist. Also, it can be done in person or through telehealth. It can be done on its own or congruently with medication.

Lifestyle Changes

Certain lifestyles can contribute to OCD symptoms. A provider might recommend engaging in lifestyle changes such as regular exercise, a balanced diet, and adequate sleep as these changes can positively impact your mental health. This can also include avoiding excessive alcohol and drug use, as these can worsen OCD symptoms.

For more information, you can go to our post “Types of OCD Treatment“.

How do I Find Treatment for OCD?

When looking for treatment for OCD, there are many treatment options. The best treatment for you or your loved one will depend on the severity of the symptoms, how much they are impacting you or your loved ones life, and the preference for treatment. Some people with OCD respond well to medication, while others prefer a more holistic approach such as therapy or self-help groups. The most important part of looking for treatment is finding a treatment plan that works for you or your loved ones needs.

If you’re not sure where to start, you can search for “treatment for OCD near me” to find a list of treatment providers in your area. You can also ask your doctor for recommendations. There are also many helpful websites that can provide more information on finding OCD help near you including the International OCD Foundation’ssearch for providers database. This can be located at https://iocdf.org/. On their home page, they have a “Find Help” box that you can put your location into and receive a list of therapists and facilities that offer OCD treatment.

While speaking with providers about potential treatment, it is important to advocate for yourself and speak openly about what you are experiencing. Let them know what your needs and preferences are and if necessary, seek a second opinion or change therapists if you feel your current treatment isn’t working for you.

What Types of Therapy Programs Exist for OCD?

When looking for OCD therapy, it is important to first consider what level of OCD treatment you are looking for. Someone with more mild to moderate OCD is most likely a fit for outpatient weekly sessions with a therapist or group. Someone with more severe symptoms of OCD might be a better fit for an intensive outpatient program, a partial hospitalization program, or in particularly severe cases, residential treatment. Every program can be done a little bit differently, even if it sounds similar, so it is important to research how the therapy is done in the program and what the needs are of you or your loved one to ensure you are picking one that is the right fit. For more information on this, read our blog post OCD Treatment: What It Is, How It’s Done, and OCD Therapy Options for a deeper dive into how to decide which program is best.

What Types of Therapies are Best for OCD?

When looking for therapy for OCD, it is important to find a therapist or facility that specializes in the treatment of OCD. Therapies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy are commonly used to treat OCD. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is a highly effective form of CBT for treating OCD and it involves gradually exposing the client to their fears (obsessions) and refraining from performing their usual compulsions. When looking for OCD therapy, it is important to find a provider who is trained in using ERP to treat OCD even when looking in a group setting. Other therapies such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness Based Behavioral Therapy are often used to treat OCD among several more.

It is important to remember that everyone is different and there is no perfect way to treat OCD that will work for everyone. OCD treatment can be done in many different ways and it is important to find what works best for you or your loved ones needs.

Moving Forward

OCD can be a debilitating condition that interferes with daily life, so much so that it has been recognized as one of the top ten most debilitating conditions in the world according to The World Health Organization. Therefore, if you or someone you know is struggling with OCD, it is important to seek out professional help. Proper treatment can help you or your loved one manage their OCD symptoms and begin the journey to recovery.

Source

The International OCD Foundation. (2022). Retrieved 29 July 2024, from https://iocdf.org

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Traveling for OCD Treatment

No OCD Treatment Near You? What is Next?

When looking for treatment for OCD, it is important to find someone who specializes in treating OCD. General therapists can be helpful, but OCD typically requires specialized care which can be hard to find. When there are no therapists who specialize in treating OCD in your area, it can be disheartening but traveling to receive specialized OCD treatment is extremely common. Many facilities are familiar with offering treatment to clients from outside of the state and outside of the country.

How do I Know if it is Time to Travel?

When looking for OCD Treatment, it is important to find a facility or clinician near you that specializes in treating OCD and that is trained to use Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) to treat OCD. If you are not finding therapists near you that specialize in treating OCD or are not trained in using ERP, it may be time to consider traveling to find a therapist or facility that does. Also, many therapists offer weekly treatment sessions that are usually around an hour long to treat OCD but for those with more severe symptoms of OCD, this may not be enough. If you are looking for a higher level of care such as an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP), a Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP), or residential treatment for OCD, and the programs that are in your area do not offer treatment specifically for OCD, it is likely time to consider traveling for OCD treatment.

What It Means: Outpatient Therapy, IOP, PHP, Residential, Inpatient

If a client is engaging in outpatient therapy, it means they spend most of their time away from the treatment facility. Traditional weekly meetings with a therapist is the lowest level of outpatient care we offer at our facility and is considered outpatient therapy. An Intensive Outpatient Program, or IOP, is a higher level of care than traditional outpatient therapy and the highest level of care we offer at our facility. IOPs vary in how they are offered depending on the facility and what they are treating but it usually involves several hours a week, usually multiple times a week meeting one-on-one with a therapist or with a group. The client spends most of their time away from the facility but still engages in multiple hours of therapy multiple days a week. A Partial Hospitalization Program, or PHP, offers a higher level of care than an IOP and usually involves the client attending the facility for a significant portion of the day and week while still living at home. It usually involves the client attending the therapy for 5-8 hours a day, around 4-5 days a week. Residential treatment involves the client staying overnight and living at the facility and involves being in a care facility for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This can last anywhere between a few weeks to several months depending on the program and the level of care the client needs. A residential program is an Inpatient program. Inpatient means that the client is staying overnight at the facility during the duration of their treatment.

How to Narrow your Search

When looking for treatment for OCD, it is important to decide what level of care you are looking for as explained in the section above. The more severe the symptoms you or your loved one is experiencing, the higher the recommended level of care. If you are not sure, many facilities do assessments where you can discuss what you are experiencing with a clinician and they can offer guidance based on their professional opinion. Also, if you or your loved one is currently receiving care from a licensed therapist or psychologist, they will oftentimes be able to provide guidance in regards to what level of care to look for. Once you have decided the level of care you are looking for, you can start looking for programs. Oftentimes programs have qualifying requirements that clients must fit in order to be considered for their program. For example, certain facilities only work with certain age ranges of clients such as only adolescents ages 13-17 or only clients ages 18+. It is important to find out these requirements and make sure you or your loved one is within these parameters when deciding what facility to attend. The International OCD Foundation website has a list of OCD specialists from across the US where you can narrow your search based on your specific parameters.

How do I Know Where to Go?

It is important to consider what you are looking for in regards to how treatment is done as treatment can involve group therapy, all one-on-one therapy, or a mix of both. Outside of group and individual therapy, some programs involve the client spending time alone in a room doing work provided to them by a clinician without a group or a therapist with them during a portion of their time at the facility while a clinician checks on them regularly. Residential treatment can sometimes include attending school sessions while at the facility if it is a child and adolescent facility along with dietitian recommendations, exercise, reading, music time, and other types of treatment. Also, some facilities have psychiatrists on staff to offer medication management while the clients are attending treatment. While programs can offer similar treatments, programs are rarely the same in what they offer and how they treat clients so one program may be a much better fit for a client than another program.

It is important to note how the therapy is done as well. Some programs are able to be done through telehealth sessions, and some involve going off facility grounds to engage in other types of therapies such as visits to public places or visits to areas out in nature. Because of all the different ways therapy for OCD can be done and the ways it can vary between treatment programs and facilities, check with the facility you are looking into to find out how their therapy works and what a typical day or week of doing the program at their facility looks like so you can find what best fits you or your loved ones needs.

Finally, costs vary among programs as well and it is important to consider your needs financially as well as therapeutically. Some programs will take insurance while many are out of network for all insurance providers. When looking for programs, consider the financial commitment you are able to make as costs range greatly between programs and facilities.

Travel Guidance

Oftentimes, when you are traveling to attend a facility, they are able to offer guidance in regards to hotels in the area, local airports, and even things to do when not attending treatment. Our facility offers a physical travel guide as do some other facilities and usually if you call the facility, the person that answers the call is able to provide recommendations as well. When making the commitment to treatment, it may be helpful to ask the clinicians at the facility if they have recommendations as the recommendations can greatly reduce the stress associated with traveling and allow you or your loved one to focus solely on treatment.

Needing Advice or Support?

Traveling to receive OCD treatment can be an emotional process and it is hard to decide what to do and where to go but there are many people out there who have done it and are able to offer advice and encouragement. There are many chat forums where people can go for advice and assistance from people who have traveled for treatment themselves. Clients may feel alone but it is actually quite common to travel to seek a higher level of care in a different state or somewhere abroad and because of that, there are many people who have done it and want to help the process feel more comfortable for others who are looking to do so in the future. Looking for advice in places like Reddit, Quora, Skool, and other chat forums may be helpful as many people share personal and anecdotal tips and experiences but remember, chat forums are helpful for education and community but are not for personal medical advice and you should talk to a provider before making any medical or therapeutic decisions.

Help is Near

Traveling for OCD treatment can be stressful but also extremely rewarding when you or your loved one is able to finally receive the help that is needed. There are so many facilities that are able to offer specialized OCD treatment and it is important to find one that is the right fit even if it is not nearby.

Source

The International OCD Foundation. (2022). Retrieved 29 July 2024, from https://iocdf.org

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