Treatment Approaches

Effective therapy focuses on understanding the patterns that keep symptoms going.

Many people arrive feeling stuck in cycles of intrusive thoughts, anxiety, avoidance, reassurance seeking, or emotional shutdown that seem impossible to interrupt. Others struggle with symptoms that do not fit neatly into a single diagnosis. These patterns may appear as OCD, anxiety disorders, tic disorders, eating concerns, trauma-related responses, or family dynamics that have gradually settled into rigid patterns.

Some individuals have already tried therapy but continue to feel stuck. In these situations, treatment often becomes more effective when we shift the focus from the symptom itself to the patterns that are maintaining it.

In therapy, we look closely at how certain behaviors, thoughts, and responses may unintentionally reinforce anxiety over time. By identifying the function these patterns serve, patients can begin to respond in new ways that gradually weaken the cycle.

My work draws from several evidence-based behavioral and cognitive approaches. These models provide practical tools for addressing OCD, anxiety disorders, tic disorders, and related conditions where avoidance, reassurance seeking, and reinforcement patterns play an important role.

Functional Analysis

Much of my work is guided by functional analysis, a framework used across behavioral and third-wave therapies to understand the patterns that maintain symptoms.

This process-focused approach helps distinguish when similar symptoms may be functioning in very different ways across conditions such as OCD, anxiety disorders, trauma responses, or body based concerns.

Functional analysis examines how thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and environmental responses interact over time. In particular, it focuses on the function of a behavior. Many behaviors that seem confusing or irrational begin to make more sense when we understand what they are trying to accomplish.

For example, compulsions, avoidance, reassurance seeking, or emotional shutdown often serve the function of reducing anxiety, escaping uncertainty, or preventing a feared outcome.

This can include situations where people experience disturbing intrusive thoughts about harm, morality, or sexuality that feel completely inconsistent with their values.

By identifying the patterns that reinforce these behaviors, treatment can become much more precise.

This approach allows us to select strategies that directly target the cycle maintaining the problem rather than applying the same technique to every situation.

Many of the treatment models I use, including ERP, ACT, I-CBT, and behavioral approaches for tics and anxiety, work most effectively when guided by a clear understanding of how these patterns function in a person’s life.

Functional analysis is especially helpful in complex situations where symptoms overlap across OCD, anxiety, trauma responses, body-based symptoms, food-related avoidance or rigidity, and family dynamics.

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

ERP is the most well supported treatment for obsessive compulsive disorder.

ERP helps people gradually face the thoughts, sensations, or situations that trigger anxiety while learning to resist the behaviors that keep the cycle going. Over time the urge to respond to the thought begins to lose its grip.

ERP is also useful for many anxiety disorders and phobias where avoidance has gradually narrowed a person’s life.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT focuses on building flexibility in how a person responds to difficult thoughts and emotions.

Instead of trying to eliminate anxiety or achieve certainty, ACT helps people learn how to continue moving toward what matters in their lives even while uncomfortable thoughts or feelings are present.

ACT often works alongside exposure based treatment.

Inference Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT)

I-CBT is a cognitive model developed specifically for obsessive compulsive disorder.

This approach helps people recognize when doubt is being driven by imagined possibilities rather than evidence in the present moment. By learning to identify these reasoning patterns, people can step out of the mental loops that often drive compulsive behavior.

SPACE and Family Based Work

Anxiety and OCD often affect the entire family system.

Over time, reassurance patterns, accommodations, and avoidance can become part of daily routines. While these responses are usually attempts to help, they can unintentionally strengthen anxiety.

The SPACE model (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) helps parents learn how to reduce these accommodations while supporting their child in building tolerance for distress.

This approach can still move treatment forward even when a child or teen is reluctant to participate in therapy.

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

CPT is an evidence based treatment for trauma related difficulties.

Traumatic experiences can lead to powerful beliefs about safety, trust, responsibility, or self worth. These beliefs can sometimes keep people stuck in cycles of guilt, shame, avoidance, or hypervigilance.

CPT helps people examine these patterns and develop more flexible ways of understanding the event and its impact. As these patterns shift, many individuals experience reductions in trauma related distress and greater freedom in their daily lives.

In situations where trauma and anxiety patterns overlap, CPT may be integrated alongside behavioral approaches to address both the learning patterns and the beliefs that keep symptoms stuck.

Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT)

CBIT is an evidence based behavioral treatment for tic disorders and Tourette’s syndrome.

This approach helps individuals become more aware of tic patterns and develop strategies that reduce the frequency and impact of symptoms while improving overall functioning.

Additional Clinical Approaches

Depending on the situation, treatment may also incorporate elements of dialectical behavior therapy, trauma informed approaches, family systems work, behavioral strategies for ARFID and food related avoidance, and parent consultation or family support.

These approaches are used when they support the primary goal of helping people step out of the patterns that keep symptoms stuck.

A Note on Treatment

No single model works for every situation. Effective therapy requires understanding how symptoms function within a person’s life and selecting strategies that address those patterns directly.

The goal of treatment is not simply to reduce symptoms, but to help people regain flexibility, reconnect with their values, and move forward with greater freedom.

Getting Started

If anxiety, intrusive thoughts, or related patterns have been interfering with your life, effective treatment is available. Many people seek help after struggling with these experiences for years, and meaningful change is possible.

To inquire about services, please complete the contact form so we can learn more about your situation and determine whether treatment may be a good fit.