Hear from one our Note Writers, Karan Lamb, PsyD about four myths that come with being an OCD therapist!
When you are seeking out treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), you may research different interventions that may imply that you will need to do intense tasks to have a successful treatment. You may even watch some cringe-worthy explanations of what treatment practices will include.
I’ve worked in the psychology field for the past 20 years, and specifically with clients that have OCD just as long. Let me clear up some of the myths that I have heard about OCD therapists.
MYTH: OCD isn’t a big deal because everyone has intrusive thoughts and does something compulsive.
NOPE! OCD can be a big deal and it can engulf a person’s life and take them away from engaging in everyday activities. Compulsions and obsessions occur on a continuum from mild to severe symptoms that can take hours to perform to a point of exhaustion. There are studies from Purdon and Clark (1993) that investigated the frequency with which people without OCD experienced intrusive thoughts and they are a phenomenon that all people can have. However, effective treatment must include more than talking about obsessions and compulsions; it includes engaging with the parts of the world that are being avoided, identifying the doubts that are maintaining the OCD cycle, and stopping the repetitive behaviors.
MYTH: OCD therapists enjoy coming up with gross and scary exposures for their clients.
Nope! From my experience, coming up with the interventions in the session must be a collaborative experience based on the client’s goals for therapy. I have met hundreds of clients that want to feel better and are willing to put in effort into their therapy. I will encourage, explain the rationale, and structure the therapy. But the excitement comes from the symptom relief and re-engagement in life, not in finding the most gross video to watch or scariest experiences.
MYTH: OCD therapists do not really understand what their clients are going through.
There are more therapists with lived experience treating OCD, and they are in this field because they know treatment is life changing. Whether your therapist has OCD or not, it is my hope that every person seeking treatment for OCD finds a therapist that listens to them, understands the complex human in front of them, and finds the interventions that will help that client. Over the years, we have identified more evidence-based treatment models that can be applied to OCD. Here are some of the types of therapies: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with exposures and response prevention (ERP), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Inference-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (ICBT – for adults), Metacognitive Therapy (MT), Attentional Training (AT).
MYTH: OCD therapists follow a manual and do the same tasks for each client
Nope! Everyone has different therapy experiences, goals, and OCD themes. Themes fall into specific categories, and all these factors are incorporated in deciding what the therapy will look like and the interventions to be used to help.
Post written by Karan Lamb, PsyD
Not Alone Notes 