Counseling for OCD in Rockville Centre

If your brain won’t stop serving up disturbing, unwanted thoughts that you can’t seem to shake, and if you find yourself doing the same things over and over just to feel safe, in control or to make the anxiety stop, you may be dealing with OCD.

What is OCD?

OCD involves intrusive thoughts (obsessions) that create intense anxiety, followed by repetitive behaviors or mental rituals (compulsions) that temporarily reduce that anxiety. The thoughts can be about anything – harming someone, contamination, making mistakes, or something happening to people you love. Even though these thoughts might be disturbing, irrational, or feel completely out of sync with your values, you still find them impossible to ignore. Your compulsions might be visible (checking, washing or arranging) or mental (counting, repeating phrases or seeking reassurance). However, what all forms of OCD share is the loop: anxiety builds, you perform a compulsion, and the relief you experience is only temporary.

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Causes and Triggers

OCD develops from a combination of factors, including genetic predisposition, differences in brain structure or function (especially related to threat detection and impulse control), and environmental stressors. It often starts in childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood.

Triggers vary but can include responsibility for others’ safety, uncertainty about important decisions, or situations that activate your specific fears. The actual trigger is less important than the meaning your brain attaches to it and the pressure you feel to “neutralize” it through compulsions.

Stress, lack of sleep and major life transitions can make symptoms worse.

OCD can feel relentless but it’s also highly treatable.

In therapy, you’ll learn how to recognize obsessive thoughts for what they are (just thoughts, not real threats), resist compulsive responses and sit with the discomfort without giving it power over you.

You’ll rebuild trust in your own mind and reclaim the time and energy OCD has taken from you.

therapeutic approaches

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the gold standard for OCD treatment. It involves gradually facing your fears without doing the compulsions, which teaches your brain that the anxiety will pass without the ritual. It sounds terrifying, but it works. You’ll learn that you’re stronger than your obsessions and that the uncertainty you fear is survivable. Over time, your brain learns that the feared outcome doesn’t happen (or isn’t as catastrophic as you imagined), and the anxiety loosens its grip.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Cognitive strategies help you challenge the distorted beliefs that fuel the obsession-compulsion cycle. It’s often used alongside ERP.

Mindfulness-Based Therapies: These help you relate differently to intrusive thoughts (acknowledging them without reacting) and reduces the urgency you feel to control them.