Living through the cycles of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) can feel like a living hell. DC Talk Therapy provides OCD therapy that allows you to break free from these cycles.
Using scientifically proven, evidence-based approaches like Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), we’ll help you get your life back.
Sophie Bauer, LICSW, specializes in OCD therapy. Ms. Bauer is a graduate of the International OCD Foundation’s Behavioral Therapy Training Institute program. She has had tremendous success helping those with OCD.
Call us at (202) 588-1288 or email us at info@dctalktherapy.com to get started.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) occurs when a person gets caught in a cycle of obsessions and compulsions.
Obsessions are unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images or urges that trigger distressing feelings. Compulsions are behaviors, or rituals, that people engage in to try to get rid of the obsessions.
While all of us have unusual or irrational thoughts from time to time, not all of us obsess over them. People with OCD can’t help but think about these thoughts, worry about them, and obsess over them. In order to find relief, they act in ways that help them feel safe or less anxious.
For example, you might wash your hands over and over to avoid contamination or you may text your friends multiple times to seek reassurance from them. The relief you feel from compulsions becomes habit-forming, which leads to a difficult-to-break cycle.
For OCD therapy in DC, call us at 202-588-1288 or email us at info@dctalktherapy.com.
OCD therapy can help you:
Ms. Bauer primarily utilizes evidence-based Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) with her OCD clients. ERP is considered by many to be the gold standard in treating OCD.
The exposure part of ERP refers to practicing confronting the thoughts, images and situations that heighten our anxiety. The response prevention component refers to making a choice not to do a compulsive behavior once the anxiety or obsessions have been triggered. In other words, you will learn to tolerate your anxiety when obsessions arise without engaging in compulsions.
In addition, Ms. Bauer uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
OCD therapy may be helpful if intrusive thoughts, reassurance-seeking, checking, washing, avoidance, or mental rituals are interfering with your daily life.
No. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is done gradually and collaboratively. Your therapist will help you build a step-by-step plan so you can practice tolerating anxiety without relying on compulsions, while moving at a pace that feels manageable.
Yes. Many people with OCD experience unwanted thoughts that feel violent, taboo, moral, religious, sexual, or deeply upsetting. OCD therapy helps you better understand these thoughts, reduce fear around them, and respond in healthier ways.
Many people benefit from ERP and CBT, while others find that medication is a helpful adjunct. Your therapist can discuss treatment options and coordinate with a psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse practitioner.
The length of OCD treatment depends on many factors, including symptom severity, the types of obsessions and compulsions involved, and how consistently ERP skills are practiced between sessions. That said, many clients begin to notice progress 1-2 months into treatment.
For OCD therapy in DC, call us at 202-588-1288 or email us at info@dctalktherapy.com.
