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Therapy for OCD

​In-person therapy in parts of Middle Tennessee, including portions of Sumner and Davidson counties, and virtual therapy across Tennessee.

OCD can be exhausting, confusing, and isolating. Many people with OCD are not just dealing with anxiety in a general sense. They are dealing with intrusive thoughts, fears, images, or doubts that feel sticky and alarming, along with urges to check, repeat, avoid, confess, neutralize, or seek reassurance.
 

OCD often becomes a cycle. A thought or doubt appears, anxiety rises, and a ritual brings temporary relief. Then the cycle returns. Over time, OCD can take over an enormous amount of energy and peace.
 

At Clearly Aware Psychotherapy, OCD therapy is aimed at helping you change your relationship to that cycle. That may include Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Internal Family Systems (IFS) and MBCT/CBT along with other supportive approaches depending on your needs.

OCD may include

  • intrusive thoughts that feel upsetting or unwanted

  • compulsive checking, repeating, counting, or arranging

  • reassurance-seeking from others or from your own mind

  • contamination fears and washing rituals

  • fear of making a mistake, causing harm, or being morally bad

  • mental rituals such as reviewing, praying, or trying to get certainty

  • avoidance of situations that trigger obsessive doubt

Therapy may include

  • Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

  • IFS (Parts) work with Protective and Overwhelmed parts of psyche

  • CBT-informed work for patterns that reinforce OCD

  • mindfulness and present-moment awareness (MBCT)

  • support for shame, secrecy, and exhaustion tied to OCD

The goal is not to push you into overwhelming experiences without preparation. The goal is to work collaboratively so OCD has less control over your life.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is OCD just anxiety?

  • OCD is related to anxiety, but it usually has a more specific pattern involving obsessions, compulsions, or both.

What if my OCD is mostly mental?

  • That still counts. Many compulsions happen internally through reviewing, checking memory, or trying to get certainty

Do I have to start exposures immediately?

  • No. Good ERP is collaborative and paced.

You do not have to keep fighting intrusive thoughts and compulsive patterns alone.

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