The OCD Guru Personalised OCD Therapy and Counselling to Empower Change
Living with OCD can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to define your life. At OCD Guru, therapy is tailored to you, your experiences, your challenges and the future you want to build without intrusive thoughts calling the shots. Together, we’ll explore practical ways to break the OCD cycle and create lasting change in a way that feels safe, supportive and achievable. Ready to take the first step?
How can I help?
Questions? Here are some you might want to know.
What happens in the first session?
First of all, some questions will be asked to find out a bit about you, for example what you like doing in your spare time and what you think you’d like to do if OCD wasn’t a feature in your life.
Potentially, so long as you find it easy to talk about the things that trigger the intrusive thoughts that occur regularly and the compulsions you do to ‘get rid’ of those thoughts/feelings.
We will discuss a model of the mind and how we believe it works to show you how OCD fits into your way of thinking (thought processing). When you see how this works, it is easier to understand what we have to do to stop processing in an OCD way.
We will briefly discuss the OCD cycle to help you decide where is best for you to break that cycle (there are more ways than one!).
Everyone’s reasons for OCD processing are different so we will make headway into what your beliefs might be that are keeping you using OCD as your go-to coping mechanism.
How many sessions will I need?
The obvious answer is everyone is different, however, many people think that the longer someone has been processing in an OCD way the harder it is to get rid of. This simply isn’t true. Symptom longevity doesn’t necessarily mean more sessions are needed. What does matter is how willing you are to change.
With information it is possible to cease doing all compulsions in one weekend – I did – but learning to sit with the new feelings that come from this action then need to be understood and dealt with.
If you go ‘cold turkey’ on all OCD compulsions, this upsets the mind as you aren’t doing all the things that it believes are keeping you safe, so alarm bells are set off in the mind and get louder and louder…until eventually they get the message that you aren’t listening and give up. A feeling of helplessness ensues. This is when it’s time to build new neural pathways; Learning and teaching yourself how YOU want to react to any forthcoming distressing thoughts.
I’ve had young clients that had only just begun to process in an OCD way and nipping it in the bud is certainly the best option; knowing the route cause of distress helps to close the open loop that kept the recurring thoughts but it isn’t always necessary to know how, why and when OCD began for an individual.
How does online therapy work?
Online therapy can be better for OCDers as they are not having to leave their comfort zone and increases the ability for many more people to get the help they need.
Interestingly, research has shown that some service-users (the latest term for a patient in therapy) will do as they are told during therapy sessions because they want to please the therapist but that the service-user’s mind is covertly saying ‘just do this now whilst we’re under supervision and as soon as we get out of here we can get back to normal’.
When doing therapy online this can be mitigated, for example, if or when an ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention) intervention is needed, the OCDer can be in a place where they actually get triggered, making the experience authentic and more valid than when the exposure is manufactured in a therapy room. This can prevent the mind from pandering to the therapist and the service-user and get the real work done.
Zoom is my own preferred option for working online but we can use FaceTime, WhatsApp Video calling, Microsoft Teams or if you don’t feel comfortable to begging with, we can telephone call or even email or text. It’s just important that if you want to deal with OCD that you reach out and get help – because it is right here for you.
What if I’m not sure it’s right for me?
It’s absolutely fine to be unsure. Starting therapy can feel like a huge step – especially for an OCDer(!) – and it’s totally normal to have questions and doubts. You might even wonder if your struggles are serious enough or if therapy will actually help. You might even feel too ashamed by the intrusive thoughts and feel you couldn’t say them out loud to anyone.
I was one of those people too and have to say it took me a while to open up to my own CBT therapist. It was the best thing I ever did! They helped me to see that my thoughts where actually trying to protect me and not harm me which gave me a totally fresh understanding and made me feel I wasn’t that weird after all – and believe me, my thoughts we probably way worse than yours!! (If we get to know each other, you’ll probably see this for yourself!)
There’s no obligation to choose to do OCD therapy with me, it’s better that you choose someone you bond with, even after a free discovery call with me. And if you start the therapy and decide it hasn’t helped you, then you will get a full refund.
What if I can’t talk about my intrusive thoughts?
A lot of OCD Therapy is learning that thoughts aren’t real so as long as you have a therapist that understands this, you’ll never be judged on what you say. Having said that, you will never be forced to talk about the things you don’t want to, but please know that your intrusive thoughts could never shock me as I know they are only coming into your mind as a warning, reminding you of your worst fears. I also know that you would never dream of actioning them in reality(!) even if, in the extreme, you keep telling yourself that you already might have.
These thoughts can scare you so much that you feel you have no choice but to do things to get rid of them – ANY PERSON WOULD if they believed in the same coping mechanisms and rules that you have put in place for yourself. I’ve been there too and once you see the system you have set up for yourself, it becomes very understandable as to why you keep thinking the way that you do but how to stop that process also becomes clearer.
My services
One-to-One Therapy
FREE 30-Minute Consultation
Online Sessions
Ongoing Support & Resources
Book a chat
Starting therapy can feel like a big step, but it’s also the first move towards change. Whether you’d like a free consultation or one-to-one support, booking is simple and flexible. Together, we’ll create a safe space to help you break free from OCD.
