Treatments & Therapies at the Center for Anxiety and Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (OCD)

The goal of the Center for Anxiety and Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (OCD), led by Dr. Patrick McGrath, is to help people who experience anxiety face their fears and learn to manage future stressors. Through our day hospital program we can teach you to manage your anxiety so you do not need to use avoidance, distraction, or rituals to help you get through anxiety provoking situations.

During your initial assessment, our highly trained program staff will develop a personalized treatment plan with you. We offer a full range of complementary services that include:

• Individual therapy
• Group therapy
• Family therapy
• Medication education

Interventions

Our therapists are trained in using Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP),  the most effective and evidence-based therapies for anxiety. We can help you restructure your thought patterns to lower your fear and help you once again enjoy life.

• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) The goal of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy is to assist you in identifying your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are related to the events you find anxiety provoking. Once you can identify these areas, specific interventions can be designed to alleviate your anxiety by helping you challenge these areas. The interventions challenge thoughts or behaviors with the goal of reducing your feelings of anxiety.
• Cognitive Restructuring Cognitive restructuring, a component of CBT, challenges the specific thoughts you experience during anxiety. For example, if you have an elevator phobia you might say that you will die if you get on an elevator. Cognitive restructuring examines that thought for the evidence that supports or refutes it. The goal of this process is to get you to experience more accurate and beneficial types of thinking than the fear-based thinking you currently use.
• Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy (ERP) is designed to have you challenge the events that cause anxiety instead of avoiding them, seeking reassurance, or performing rituals. For example, if you have an elevator phobia, the goal of ERP is to get you riding an elevator instead of avoiding it. This is done in a stepwise process, where small steps are made toward the goal.

The goal of CBT and ERP is to teach you new ways to cope with your environments so that you no longer avoid your fears, but learn how to effectively challenge them. Coping techniques training helps you develop tools that you use to handle difficulties in your environment. Many individuals with anxiety use coping techniques that are not effective long-term, although they may provide immediate relief of anxiety. For example, avoiding a ride on an elevator, which is a means of coping, may keep you from feeling anxious right now, but it also makes you more likely to avoid riding the elevator the next time. Developing healthy coping skills will improve your reactions to events that cause anxiety.

If you have another condition, in addition to obsessive compulsive disorder, we will coordinate services with other treatment teams within the hospital to ensure you get the best care.

Free Confidential Assessment & Referrals

A counselor is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and we are committed to prompt attention.