OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

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CD Therapy in San Jose, CA

You Don't Have to Believe Every Thought Your Mind Produces

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) can be exhausting. You may spend hours analyzing thoughts, checking, seeking reassurance, avoiding situations, or performing rituals to reduce anxiety.

One of the most difficult parts of OCD is that the thoughts can feel incredibly real or important—even when another part of you recognizes that they don't make sense.

At Pathwise Behavioral Health, I provide therapy for OCD for adults and teens in person in San Jose and throughout California via telehealth. Treatment can help you understand the OCD cycle and develop a different relationship with intrusive thoughts and anxiety.

What Is OCD?

OCD involves unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images, urges, or fears called obsessions, along with behaviors or mental rituals called compulsions.

Compulsions aren't always visible. They may include:

  • Checking

  • Washing or cleaning

  • Repeating actions

  • Counting

  • Reassurance seeking

  • Researching

  • Avoiding triggers

  • Mentally reviewing events

  • Comparing

  • Analyzing thoughts

  • Trying to "prove" something isn't true

OCD can take many forms, including contamination fears, relationship OCD, harm-related OCD, religious or moral OCD, health concerns, sexual-orientation OCD, perfectionism, and other presentations.

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is one of the primary evidence-based treatments for OCD.

ERP involves gradually and intentionally approaching situations, thoughts, or feelings that trigger anxiety while learning not to engage in compulsive responses.

The goal isn't to make you feel anxious forever. Instead, ERP helps you learn that anxiety and uncertainty are uncomfortable but manageable—and that you don't have to perform compulsions to get through them.

Therapy Is Collaborative

ERP should not feel like someone is throwing you into your worst fear.

We work collaboratively to understand your OCD, establish goals, develop skills, and create a treatment plan that is appropriate for you.

Your treatment may also incorporate CBT, mindfulness, DBT skills, or other approaches when appropriate.

What If My Thoughts Are Scary?

Intrusive thoughts can be frightening, disturbing, or completely inconsistent with your values.

Having an intrusive thought does not mean you want to act on it, and a thought is not the same thing as an intention.

Therapy can help you stop treating every thought as something that needs to be analyzed, solved, or neutralized.

Begin Breaking the OCD Cycle

OCD can consume significant amounts of time and energy, but effective treatment is available.

If you're looking for OCD therapy or ERP in San Jose or throughout California via telehealth, schedule a consultation to discuss your concerns and treatment goals.

You don't have to spend your life trying to achieve 100% certainty.

Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to learn more.