OCD and Telehealth: A New World
As you can probably tell by my website, I specialize in working with OCD. As of right now, Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the first line treatment for OCD, and to attempt to treat OCD with a therapist without ERP training can be fairly unsuccessful. However, even though we know ERP works for OCD, finding an ERP therapist can be difficult. On top of that, OCD is much bigger than “contamination” or “fear of germs” issues, but we often don’t recognize it unless we see “visible” compulsions. The fact is, OCD affects and can lead to obsessions and compulsions over religious beliefs (scrupulosity), hoarding, excessive responsibility, sex and sexual issues, violence, relationships, and more (see image).
One, I suppose, “good” thing that’s come out of the COVID-19 pandemic is the greater awareness of and access to telehealth. Before the pandemic, I feel like telehealth was seen as this foreign and fearful unhelpful way to do therapy. However, with OCD treatment, telehealth actually opens the door to doing OCD treatment better. With telehealth, we are able to do “exposures” with clients in their home, discuss with family members ways to support the individual with OCD, and have a normal therapeutic session. Some therapists actually prefer to do OCD treatment via telehealth.
All of this to say, if you’ve been wondering if telehealth would be effective for OCD treatment, I want to encourage you to try it out. See if you might find benefit from it with just one session. Furthermore, if you’re living in an area where access to a therapist who has ERP experience isn’t possible in person, consider looking specifically for a therapist you can see via telehealth. If you’re reading this and wondering if you might struggle with OCD or are looking for a therapist but are outside of Nashville, I would be happy to set up a free consultation to discuss what online therapy might look like for you. If you’re in Tennessee, you should be able to see any therapist in Tennessee who does virtual therapy. You can find my contact information on my website, or feel free to email me at RachelHammonsCounseling@gmail.com or text/call to 678-951-7016.
Living with OCD is hard, but it is not hopeless. You are not alone.
