5 Tips When Selecting An OCD Therapist
Make sure you like your therapist.
This is probably obvious. Still, it’s really important. Research shows that the quality of the therapeutic relationship is one of the most important factors in benefiting from therapy. So, if something about your therapist doesn’t feel quite right, trust your gut and, at the least, try a minimum of one other therapist to see what it’s like.
Ensure your therapist is an OCD specialist.
Supportive counseling or traditional talk therapy can be helpful for many mental disorders but, instead of helping, can make OCD worse. OCD treatment requires specialized treatment. The most common specialized treatments for OCD include: Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy (ERP), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Inference-Based Cognitive Behavior Therapy (I-CBT), and Metacognitive Therapy (MCT). These treatments require specialized knowledge, which usually means specialized training. To make sure your therapist is an OCD specialist, you can ask questions like:
· What form of treatment do you use when working with clients with OCD?
· What is the evidence that this treatment is effective in treating OCD?
· What training do you have that relates to working with clients experiencing OCD?
· How many individuals with OCD have you worked with and how frequently do your clients achieve response and remission?
3. Do your OCD homework (and make sure you work with your therapist in assigning it)!
Effective OCD treatment almost always requires completion of at-home-practice (homework). Imagine working out under the guidance of a personal trainer once a week but never going to the gym at any other time and eating far too many unhealthy foods in-between training sessions. Would the gym sessions with your trainer help? Sort of. But your out-of-session behavior will get in the way of the improvements you want to realize. It’s the same with OCD.
This isn’t just common-sense advice. It’s been researched. When researchers examine why some people don’t improve while participating in OCD treatment, researchers have found that one of the biggest causes for lack of improvement is not completing OCD homework.
4. Make sure your therapist doesn’t become a form of reassurance.
Reassurance is when you ask someone if they believe you’re in danger or at risk. Many of us with OCD ask those close to us to reassure us. Questions like, “Are you sure the door is locked?”; “Are you sure I didn’t say something terrible when we were out?”; “Are you sure this isn’t cancer?” etc.
It can feel wonderful to finally connect with a therapist who “gets” OCD and understands what you’re going through. And a normal part of treatment is coordinating with your provider to ensure that the fears you experience are part of your OCD and not realistic threats. Unfortunately, sometimes therapists can slip into being sources of reassurance for their clients. Some of the signs that you and your therapist might be slipping into reassurance seeking include:
· Directly asking your therapist if you’re in danger or if you’re going to be OK
· You spend most of your sessions reviewing your recent OCD triggers without participating in active treatment (e.g., exposures, cognitive restructuring, etc.)
· When reviewing your OCD triggers with your therapist, you go into ever more detail to make sure your therapist “perfectly” understands
5. Avoid the temptation to choose the lowest-cost option.
Unfortunately, mental health treatment, and especially OCD treatment, is usually a significant investment. So, it’s understandable to seek the lowest cost therapist available. All too often, though, I’ve worked with clients who found a less expensive therapist but ended up not making progress, sometimes for years. Skillful OCD therapists aren’t all that common and they regularly charge higher than average rates. However, they should also help you make quicker and more robust OCD treatment gains. In the long run, a skilled OCD therapist will not only reduce your OCD symptoms but, compared to less effective and longer treatment, save you money.
What’s next?
Although I’m not currently taking new clients, there are many OCD specialists who are! My go-to recommendation is for clients to use the IOCDF directory.
Although I can’t personally vouch for all the providers within this directory, all the professionals within this directory know enough about OCD and the importance of specialized OCD treatment that they’ve gone through the steps to get listed with the IOCDF.
If you have any trouble, or you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to send me an email (william@williamschultzcounseling.com)!