Anxiety
Help with worry, tension, and racing thoughts.
Telehealth counseling throughout Florida
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Intrusive thoughts and the urge to make them go away can be exhausting. You are not alone in this.
OCD can involve unwanted, distressing thoughts and repeated behaviors or mental rituals that feel hard to stop. Counseling can help you better understand this cycle and work, at a pace that feels right, toward responding to it differently.
Understanding OCD
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) involves obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images, or urges that cause significant distress or anxiety. Compulsions are behaviors or mental acts a person feels driven to do to reduce that distress or prevent something feared from happening.
Intrusive thoughts are common, and having them does not mean you want them or agree with them. In OCD, these thoughts feel urgent and important, and they can take up a great deal of time and energy. Compulsions may be visible, such as checking or washing, or happen entirely in your head, such as reviewing, counting, or mentally neutralizing a thought.
OCD often follows a cycle: an intrusive thought brings distress, a compulsion brings temporary relief, and the relief teaches the brain that the thought was dangerous, so the distress returns, often stronger. Understanding this cycle is an important first step.
Common experiences
OCD looks different for everyone. Some common experiences include:
- Unwanted thoughts or images that feel disturbing and hard to dismiss
- Checking, cleaning, arranging, or repeating actions until they feel “right”
- Mental rituals, such as reviewing events, counting, or replacing a “bad” thought
- Seeking reassurance from others, or searching online for certainty
- Avoiding people, places, or objects that trigger obsessions
- Short-lived relief after a ritual, followed by renewed doubt or distress
How counseling can help
Counseling can help you understand how OCD works for you and begin responding to it in healthier ways.
Understanding the Cycle
Learn how obsessions, compulsions, and relief reinforce each other, and how this plays out in your own life.
Relating Differently to Thoughts
Practice noticing intrusive thoughts as thoughts, without treating them as facts or emergencies.
Reducing Reassurance and Avoidance
Explore how reassurance seeking and avoidance keep the cycle going, and consider small, manageable changes.
Coping With Distress
Build skills for tolerating uncertainty and discomfort as you respond to OCD in new ways.
Our approach
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Understanding the thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that keep the OCD cycle going.
ACT-Informed Approaches
- Making room for uncertainty and uncomfortable thoughts while choosing actions based on your values.
Mindfulness
- Observing intrusive thoughts with distance and curiosity rather than urgency.
DBT-Informed Approaches
- Distress tolerance skills for riding out urges without acting on them.
Skills We May Practice
- Noticing and labeling intrusive thoughts
- Tolerating uncertainty
- Delaying or reducing reassurance seeking
- Self-compassion when OCD is loud
What to expect
We begin by understanding how OCD shows up for you, how much it affects your daily life, and what you would like to change. You will not be asked to face your fears before you are ready; any changes are discussed and agreed on together.
Talking about intrusive thoughts can feel uncomfortable or embarrassing. Counseling is a nonjudgmental space, and you can share at your own pace.
Getting started
Reach out by phone or email to talk about what you are looking for and whether working together feels like a good fit. Ready to get started? Schedule an appointment online.
Currently offering online counseling throughout Florida, with in-person appointments at our Sarasota office starting in December 2026.
Wondering how online sessions work? Read how telehealth counseling works. Questions about cost or coverage? See insurance and fees or the frequently asked questions.
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Depression
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Mood Disorders
Support for ongoing changes in mood and energy.