I have a natural interest in treating OCD since it runs in my family. Because of that familiarity with OCD, I see the person first, not just the disorder. OCD is a brain based disorder that causes the individual to overreact to certain thoughts or triggers. We all sometimes think peculiar thoughts, but someone with OCD has a thought which gets stuck and repeats itself. (Ever think of swerving your car off the bridge? Most people have. Someone with OCD may have that thought hundreds or thousands of times and it tortures them until they find a ritual that seems to make it stop.) People with OCD are not crazy but the disorder can make them and their families miserable.
I like working with OCD because it is generally so responsive to treatment and because the field is progressing with new strategies all the time. I have specialized training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). I am also familiar with using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which some people find easier to manage. See the FAQs for more information about how I work with OCD.
Getting Started
The BEST website is the IOCDF at: http://iocdf.org/
Try reading:
Brain Lock: Free Yourself from Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior by Jeffrey M. Schwartz
The Man Who Couldn’t Stop: OCD and the True Story of a Life Lost in Thought. (2016) by David Adam.
The OCD Workbook: Your Guide to Breaking Free from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. (2010) by Bruce M. Hyman and Cherlene Pedrick.