Therapy for Teens
Therapy for adolescents and teens diagnosed with OCD or Anxiety is called Exposure Response Prevention (ERP). ERP is a form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that focuses on changing unhelpful behavior patterns to change the way you think and feel. Throughout therapy, I help you learn the ins and the outs about OCD and anxiety and the various ways symptoms present. With cognitive behavioral techniques, you can become a master at identifying the thought, feeling, and behavioral patterns that maintain the cycles of distressing OCD or anxiety symptoms.
Next, we turn on our scientific minds and put OCD fears to the test. Together, we team up to challenge the OCD and anxiety patterns. You are coached how to experience the distressing thoughts, and face your fears, this is the "exposure" part of ERP. Simultaneously, you resist doing the safety-behaviors or compulsion you would typically do. This is the "response prevention" part of ERP. By embracing the anxiety without trying to fight it, it will naturally ride out. With this formula, you are rewiring the brain and taking power away from OCD thoughts and learning you don't need to respond to them. Essentially, the thoughts and feelings may still be there, but the frequency and intensity of the obsessions weakens and you become free from the need to do rituals. You begin to enter freedom to live the life you want to live.
ERP is a skill set that takes time, practice, and bravery. I believe if we team up, you can conquer your fears and take control back from OCD.