Sadly, I've worked with a lot of people who have told me they've tried therapy in the past and it hasn't been helpful. There are many reasons for this. You may have been misdiagnosed or treated for the wrong disorder. You may have received a less effective form of treatment or received treatment from someone who was not very skilled. Perhaps it was an interpersonal issue that prevented you from feeling connected to your therapist. Or maybe it just wasn't the right time for you to fully participate in therapy. Whatever the reason, it's important to talk through this with your next therapist so you can determine what needs to be different moving forward. I’ve found that most people who make an effort to engage in exposure therapy do make progress and see a reduction in their symptoms. In fact, I’ve witnessed many people make life changing progress in therapy.

Exposure therapy is misunderstood by many people, even other therapists. Some people have a misconception that exposure therapy is extremely distressing and that most people are too fragile to be able to tolerate it.. It is known that exposure therapy temporarily increases anxiety, but what many people fail to recognize is that people with OCD, anxiety disorders, and trauma are already experiencing distress. The kindest thing we can do for people living with these issues is to offer a fast, effective treatment that will help decrease distress and anxiety in the long-term.  

Therapy is a big investment, both in terms of the time commitment and financially. There are never any guarantees, but your therapist should be able to lay out a reasonable plan for your treatment so you know what to expect. Once you've established what symptoms you want to work on and what goals you'd like to set (usually in the first few sessions), you should begin working on learning skills and applying them. You should start seeing results within the first few weeks or months. If you aren't seeing results, then it's time to reevaluate treatment with your therapist. It's okay to ask questions if you're feeling like therapy isn't moving as fast as you'd like. Also, you have a responsibility to make therapy effective as well. Good therapy will involve some work in between sessions, and generally the more involved you are with your care the better your results will be.

Of course! I emphasize that I treat pure OCD because I want to create a safe space for people to talk about those concerns, but I very much enjoy working with people with any type of OCD. After all, therapy really isn't about treating someone's symptoms so much as it's about working with another person on a common goal. I have many years of experience working with folks on contamination concerns, doubting/checking, symmetry/"just right", health anxiety, and other subtypes of OCD.

In addition to OCD, I have many years of experience working with people with anxiety disorders and trauma. For anxiety disorders, I utilize exposure therapy along with more common CBT strategies (e.g., thought challenging). When working with people with trauma, I tend to use prolonged exposure therapy along with CBT.

My fee is $200 for a 50-55 minute session.

I am not in any insurance networks. I am able to provide a Superbill that can be submitted to your insurance company for reimbursement through your out-of-network benefits. If you want to determine how much your insurance will cover for an out-of-network provider, you would simply need to contact them and ask whether you have out-of-network benefits, the amount of your deductible and whether out-of-network claims would count toward your deductible, and the process for submitting claims. Most people find that once you make this phone call, the process is fairly straightforward, and once your deductible is met you may be reimbursed usually anywhere from 50-80%. Click here to download a list of questions to ask your insurance company.

The No Surprises Act states that you have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate of what your services may cost.

Please click here to view a copy of Pure OCD Therapy's Notice of Privacy Practices.