OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) Therapy

OCD Therapy in NYC, Hoboken, Montclair, and Online

OCD Therapy in NYC, Hoboken, and Montclair, NJ.

OCD often gets minimized or misunderstood, treated like a quirk about tidiness instead of what it actually is, intrusive thoughts that feel dangerous, horrific, against your morals/values, or disgusting, and compulsions that show up to manage the anxiety those thoughts create. Most people I work with have been carrying this alone for years before they ever say it out loud to anyone, including a previous therapist.

What Your OCD May Look Like…

OCD presents differently from person to person, and many people don't recognize their own experience as OCD until they see it named clearly. Common presentations include:

  • Intrusive thoughts about harming someone you love, even though you have no desire to act on them

  • Contamination fears: excessive handwashing, avoiding certain objects or surfaces, or feeling "unclean" in a way that doesn't resolve

  • Checking behaviors: locks, appliances, texts/emails you've sent that you repeat well past the point of certainty

  • Intrusive sexual or violent thoughts that feel completely at odds with who you are, followed by shame or fear about what they mean

  • Relationship OCD (ROCD): persistent doubt about whether you love your partner, or whether the relationship is "right"

  • Moral or religious scrupulosity, excessive guilt or fear of having done something wrong or sinful

  • Mental rituals, counting, praying, repeating phrases silently — that aren't visible to anyone but take up significant mental space

How I Actually Work

I'm trained in ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention), which is the evidence-based standard of care for OCD, and I use it directly in treatment, alongside CBT. ERP involves gradually and deliberately facing the thoughts and situations that trigger anxiety, while resisting the compulsion to neutralize that anxiety. It's structured, it's specific to your particular obsessions and compulsions, and it works.

Alongside that structured work, I also pay attention to the relational patterns underneath the OCD: what role the compulsions have played for you, what they've been protecting you from, and how shame has kept this hidden. Understanding that context doesn't replace ERP. It makes ERP land better, because you're not just being asked to tolerate distress in the abstract; you're doing that work inside a relationship where you've actually been able to say the thought out loud and be met with understanding, not alarm.

What You Can Expect in Therapy

Treatment starts with a thorough intake, including a standardized assessment like the Y-BOCS (Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale) to measure the severity and specific nature of your obsessions and compulsions. This gives us a real baseline, not just a general sense that things feel bad, but a clear picture of what's happening and how much it's affecting your life.

From there, we talk honestly about your current tolerance for distress and where you're actually starting from, because ERP asks you to sit with discomfort on purpose, and pushing too fast, too soon backfires. We build the exposure hierarchy together, starting where you can genuinely handle it and moving up from there at a pace that's challenging but realistic for you.

I'll also be honest with you about this part: ERP works, but it requires real willingness on your end. This isn't treatment I can do to you; it's treatment we do together, and it asks you to engage with things that feel uncomfortable, even when part of you wants to avoid it. We'll talk openly about your readiness for that before diving in, and I'll meet you exactly where you are, but going in with genuine willingness to do the work is what makes ERP actually effective.

Once we're moving, sessions combine active exposure work with clinical check-ins on your symptoms and progress, plus specific between-session assignments when you're ready for them. We'll track your progress concretely using the same measures we started with, so you can actually see the shift, not just hope it's happening.