Do you have OCD but you are confused about what to do to get the proper help? Do you have a family member who struggles with OCD, but you are confused about how to help them? Or maybe you have tried to get help in the past and it seems like nothing helped? If this is you, then keep reading!
How to Find Someone Who Specializes in OCD.
The first person I spoke to, who was a licensed psychologist, told me the only way to get over OCD was to take medication. He said I could read all the books I wanted, but the only thing that would help would be medication. This is not true! Decades of research is clear….medication alone is not the approach.
Research shows that people can deal with OCD without medication. Some need to add medication, but medication does not work for everyone. We are all different. Your treatment must be tailored to your individual needs. There is no “one size fits all approach” but there are things that need to be done and you give yourself, or your loved one the best chance for success when you find someone who specializes in OCD and will create an individualized plan just for you.
Ask Your Therapist These Questions When You Have OCD
- How much experience do you have treating OCD?
- They should say that they have a lot of experience with OCD. This can be specific training in school or during their current practice. But they need to have a lot of specialized OCD experience.
- How much experience do you have with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for OCD like Exposure with Response Prevention (ERP) or Inferenced-based Cognitive Behavior Therapy (ICBT)….it should be noted that you will find many more therapists who use ERP as it has been around the longest and has the most data regarding OCD treatment but ICBT has shown a lot of promise and has definitely been shown to help alleviate symptoms. In the future I am hopeful it will be shown as effective as ERP.
- This answer should be the same as question one.
- Will you give me homework and a detailed plan to follow, or will we mainly just meet and talk about things?
- This answer must be that they will give you homework and a specific plan. Proper OCD recovery will require doing homework outside of treatment.
Traditional talk therapy is not what you need to treat OCD. To get the best results you need to find someone who has experience with OCD, and ERP or ICBT. Treatment needs to look through one of these lenses. You will also need someone who will help create a plan specific to your needs. That means homework outside of your sessions. More on that later.
Degrees To Consider For Your Therapists
When you start looking for someone to help you, there will be multiple options. You may find someone who is a psychologist (PhD or PsyD); this means they have a doctorate degree in psychology. You may find a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT), or a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW); these both have master’s degrees. While the psychologist has more education, more is not always better. The most important thing is finding someone who specializes or has extensive experience with OCD, and ERP or ICBT.
How To Make a List of Questions for Your Therapist
When you select people to meet with, make sure that they are a good fit for you. When you finally meet with them, make sure you don’t just focus on telling them your problems, pay attention to how they respond to you. This is a commitment and you must make a connection.
Here was my list:
- Someone with experience treating OCD, and specifically my subtypes.
- Someone who was positive and supportive.
- Someone who would act like my coach and teach me what to do.
- Someone who would give me homework and things to do outside of therapy.
- A male.
Make your list and follow it! Yours will be different and that is fine! But make sure that you pay attention to see if they have what you are looking for.
You may not know what you are looking for. That is fine. Just find someone who has the three things I mentioned above: experience with OCD, ERP, or ICBT. Just because someone has a degree does not mean they will help you and the first person you visit may not be the one for you. The first person I saw had years of experience and a lot of degrees but had I listened to him, it would have done more harm than good!
Stay Strong,
Jonathan