Intrusive thoughts and repetitive actions can feel inescapable.

I approach the treatment of OCD and obsessive compulsive symptoms from a psychoanalytic perspective. What does this mean? From a psychoanalytic standpoint, people can have different personality or “character” styles, one of which is the Obsessive Compulsive style. Part of the idea here is that we all have personality styles and are prone to use different ways of coping, relating to ourselves and others, and experiencing emotions.

While every person is different, the majority of people with an Obsessive Compulsive style will relate to some of the following qualities: (1) Having a strong sense of “shoulds.” For example, “I should workout today;” “I should go to the grocery store;” “I should call my parents.” (2) Being very focused on “productivity” however one defines productivity. This often times involves staying very busy and generally engaging in lots of actions throughout the day, even if the “action” is spending considerable mental effort trying to think about something. (3) Desiring significant amounts of control in life and having a hard time when feeling out of control. (4) Having a hard time being emotionally vulnerable and/or feeling like there are certain emotions that are off-limits (for example, feeling afraid of one’s anger). (5) Being very self-critical.

In therapy, we can examine these constellations of qualities and try to access underlying feelings and experiences that are contributing to obsessive thinking and compulsive action.

Because people with OCD are often high-achieving and very good and problem-solving, asking for help can feel really difficult. If you relate to this, I would be really happy to have an initial free consultation to further discuss your OCD.