OCD Clinic Community West

OCD is a debilitating condition that consists of irrational or excessive fears and concerns that become obsessive and manifest as intrusive, unwanted, disturbing thoughts, images or impulses. These obsessions are accompanied by repetitive and time-consuming mental and behavioral acts called rituals or compulsions that are done to prevent bad things associated with the obsessions from happening. Avoidance is the third component of OCD, which involves deliberately staying away from things, people and places that trigger or worsen obsessive fears and concerns, or to avoid the risk of some dreaded event. At Community West we conduct a thorough assessment to determine the severity of a person’s OCD using the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale. We then formulate a treatment plan using exposure and response prevention (ERP) as the main therapy for OCD. ERP is considered the gold standard treatment for OCD and has been shown by research to be the most effective treatment for the disorder. ERP works by helping people with OCD learn to tolerate the distress associated with their intrusive thoughts while refraining from engaging in the compulsions that are a part of their OCD. There is a group of anxiety disorders that respond to exposure and other CBT approaches that are effective for OCD and related disorders. At Community West we treat the following anxiety disorders with cognitive-behavioral interventions: Social Anxiety Disorder, School Avoidance or Refusal, Panic Disorder, Specific Phobias, Agoraphobia, Separation Anxiety Disorder.