Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Break the Loop. Reclaim Your Life.
OCD Thoughts Don’t Have to Run Your Day
Therapy is often the foundation of depression care. Approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), interpersonal therapy, and psychodynamic therapy help identify unhelpful thought patterns, process difficult emotions, and build coping skills. Psychotherapy can be used on its own for mild to moderate depression or alongside other treatments for more severe cases.
What Is OCD?
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a long-lasting condition that can affect people from every background, at every age, and it has nothing to do with willpower. OCD causes a person to experience recurring, unwanted intrusive thoughts (obsessions), engages in repetitive behaviors or mental acts (compulsions), or both.
Obsessions might center on themes like contamination, harm, symmetry, or intrusive taboo thoughts. You may not even agree with the obsession or want to focus on it, which is often part of what makes them so distressing.
Compulsions, like triple or quadruple-checking, washing, counting, or repeating phrases, are usually an attempt to reduce the anxiety the obsessions cause or to prevent some feared outcome. Like obsessions, you may know deep down that the connection doesn’t really make sense, but the compulsion is too strong to ignore.
Common Symptoms of OCD
OCD symptoms typically begin in late childhood or young adulthood, though they can start at any age, particularly in response to a traumatic event. It’s common for OCD to occur alongside depression or anxiety, and it can be difficult to diagnose because some of its symptoms overlap with these conditions.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder symptoms fall into two categories that typically work together:
Obsessions
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Fear of contamination from germs, dirt, or chemicals
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Fear of accidentally harming yourself or someone else
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Intrusive violent, taboo, or disturbing thoughts that feel completely out of character
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A need for symmetry, order, or things to feel “just right”
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Persistent doubt (e.g., locking the door, turning off the stove)
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Unwanted thoughts about religion, morality, or relationships
Compulsions
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Excessive washing or cleaning
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Repeated checking (locks, appliances, texts, actions)
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Counting, tapping, or repeating actions a specific number of times
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Arranging or ordering objects until they feel “right”
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Mentally reviewing events, praying, or silently repeating words or phrases
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Seeking reassurance from others repeatedly about the same worry
These symptoms of OCD are often time-consuming, taking up an hour or more per day, and cause real distress or disruption to work, relationships, and daily routines.
How Do I Know If I Have OCD?
It’s perfectly normal to have occasional intrusive thoughts or double-check things once in a while. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder takes these thoughts and compulsions further, until they are persistent, distressing, and time-consuming, often interfering with your ability to function normally.
Ask yourself:
Do you have recurring thoughts that feel intrusive, unwanted, or hard to control?
Do you feel driven to perform certain behaviors or mental rituals in response to those thoughts?
Do these thoughts or behaviors take up an hour or more of your day?
Have you noticed yourself avoiding certain situations because they trigger obsessions?
Do these patterns cause significant distress or get in the way of work, relationships, or daily life?
If several of these resonate, it may be beneficial to speak with a mental health professional. A clinical evaluation is the clearest way to know what’s going on and what will help.
OCD Treatment Options
OCD is a highly treatable condition, even when symptoms have been present for years. Our team works with you to build a plan tailored to your specific obsessions, compulsions, and history.
Medication Management
Medication, typically antidepressants known as SSRIs, is a well-established treatment for OCD, often used alongside Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy for the strongest results. Our clinical team evaluates your symptoms and history to determine whether medication makes sense for you and, if so, helps find the right option and dose. OCD often requires higher doses of these medications than are typically used for depression, along with patience, and it can take longer to see full benefit than with other conditions. Regular follow-up visits help us monitor your progress and adjust your plan as needed.
Psychotherapy (Exposure and Response Prevention)
ERP therapy, a specialized form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, is considered one of the most effective treatments for OCD. It involves gradually and safely facing the situations or thoughts that trigger obsessions, while resisting the urge to perform the accompanying compulsion, thereby helping retrain the brain’s response over time. ERP is often effective on its own and can also be paired with medication or other treatments for more severe or treatment-resistant OCD.
Help for OCD Is Here
At Advanced Psychiatry, we understand that OCD can feel isolating, and that reaching out often means talking about thoughts you’ve never said out loud. Our clinical team approaches every evaluation with care and without judgment, taking the time to understand your specific compulsions, obsessions, and history before building a treatment plan around you.
You don’t need to have your symptoms figured out or perfectly explained to reach out. You just need to be willing to take the first step; we’ll help with everything after that. Contact us today to schedule an evaluation and start finding relief from the loop.