ALL CONDITIONS I TREAT

I specialize in helping adults with OCD, anxiety disorders, and body-focused repetitive behaviors. Explore the conditions I work with below to learn more about what you're experiencing and how therapy can help.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

OCD can make you feel like you can't trust your own thoughts, feelings, memories, or instincts.

You may experience intrusive thoughts, unwanted images, doubts, or urges that feel frightening, disturbing, or completely out of character. In an attempt to get relief or certainty, you may find yourself doing compulsions. Examples of common compulsions include checking, hand-washing, avoiding, researching, seeking reassurance, mentally reviewing, or repeating things in your head.

OCD can take up hours of your day and interfere with relationships, work, school, and the things you value most.

I have experience working with many different presentations of OCD, including:

  • Contamination OCD

  • Harm OCD

  • Sexual or taboo thoughts

  • “Just right” OCD and perfectionism

  • Religious and moral scrupulosity

  • Superstitious OCD

  • Relationship OCD

  • Health anxiety/OCD

  • Somatic OCD

  • Real-event OCD

  • False-memory OCD

  • And many others

I use Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help people break free from the cycle of obsessions and compulsions.

OCD therapy isn't about getting rid of every unwanted thought or finding absolute certainty.

Therapy can help you stop letting OCD control your life and find relief.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Do you spend a lot of time worrying about work, relationships, health, finances, or what might go wrong?

Maybe your mind constantly jumps from one worry to the next. You may have trouble turning your thoughts off, find yourself seeking reassurance, or feel tense, restless, or on edge much of the time.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) involves persistent, difficult-to-control worry that can interfere with your everyday life. Even when things are going well, it can feel difficult to relax because your mind is already preparing for the next problem.

Therapy can help you understand your patterns of worry and learn new ways of responding to anxious thoughts and uncertainty. I use CBT, exposure therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help clients reduce avoidance, build confidence in their ability to cope, and spend less time feeling controlled by anxiety.

You don't have to wait until you feel completely certain or worry-free to start living the life you want. Therapy can help you make more room for the things that matter to you and learn effective skills to cope when you’re overwhelmed.

Social Anxiety Disorder

Do you avoid speaking up in meetings, making phone calls, attending social events, or meeting new people because you're afraid of being judged?

Do you replay conversations afterward, worrying that you sounded awkward, said the wrong thing, or embarrassed yourself?

Do you want deeper friendships or relationships but find that anxiety keeps getting in the way?

If so, you may be experiencing social anxiety disorder. Social anxiety can make everyday interactions feel overwhelming and can leave you feeling isolated, self-conscious, or stuck on the sidelines of your own life.

The good news is that social anxiety is highly treatable. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and exposure therapy have been shown to be effective in helping people face their fears, reduce avoidance, build confidence, and reconnect with the people and activities that matter to them.

I use CBT, exposure therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help people with social anxiety understand their anxiety, face difficult situations at their own pace, and build a life that feels more meaningful and connected.

If social anxiety is keeping you from living the life you want, reach out to learn how therapy can help.

Specific Phobias

Many people don't like things like bugs, flying, needles, or vomiting. But when fear becomes intense enough that you avoid certain situations or feel unable to do things you want or need to do, you may be experiencing a specific phobia.

Specific phobias can cause intense anxiety when you encounter (or even just think about) the thing you fear. You may find yourself avoiding certain situations, seeking reassurance, or developing rigid routines to help you feel safer.

Common specific phobias include:

  • Fear of animals or insects, such as spiders, bugs, or dogs

  • Fear of heights, storms, or water

  • Fear of needles, blood, or medical procedures

  • Fear of flying, elevators, or enclosed spaces

  • Fear of vomiting (emetophobia)

  • Fear of choking

  • Fear of driving

I have experience helping people with emetophobia (fear of vomiting), insect phobias, fear of flying, fear of driving, and other specific phobias.

Treatment often involves exposure therapy, which helps you gradually face feared situations in a supportive and intentional way rather than continuing to avoid them. I also use CBT and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help you respond differently to fear and move toward the things that matter to you.

For people with a blood, injection, or injury phobia who experience a tendency to faint, I also teach applied tension, a technique that can help reduce the likelihood of fainting during exposure.

You don't have to organize your life around avoiding what you fear. Therapy can help you feel more confident and free to do the things that matter to you.

Panic Disorder

Panic attacks can feel terrifying. Your heart may race, you may feel dizzy or shaky, sweat, experience chills or hot flashes, feel nauseous, or have trouble catching your breath. You may also worry that you're going to lose control, pass out, die, or somehow lose touch with reality.

After experiencing a panic attack, it's understandable to do whatever you can to prevent it from happening again. You may start avoiding places, activities, or situations where you've had panic before.

Over time, this avoidance can make your world feel smaller. Some people become afraid to leave home, drive, travel, exercise, or go places without someone they trust. This can sometimes lead to agoraphobia, or a fear of being in situations where escaping or getting help might feel difficult.

The good news is that panic disorder is highly treatable. Therapy can help you understand what's happening during a panic attack, reduce your fear of physical sensations, and gradually return to the activities you've been avoiding.

I use CBT, exposure therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help people overcome panic. One type of exposure I use is called interoceptive exposure, which involves safely practicing physical sensations similar to those experienced during panic so that they become less frightening.

You don't have to spend your life trying to prevent the next panic attack. Therapy can help you regain confidence in your body and your ability to handle anxiety.

Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs)

Do you find yourself pulling your hair, picking your skin, biting your nails, or engaging in another repetitive behavior even when you want to stop?

Body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs) are repetitive behaviors focused on the body that can feel difficult to control. They may happen when you're stressed, bored, focused, or even without you realizing you're doing them.

BFRBs can be frustrating and distressing. They can cause damage to your skin, hair, or nails and may leave you feeling embarrassed, ashamed, or stuck in a cycle that is difficult to break.

I use Habit Reversal Training (HRT) and the Comprehensive Behavioral Model (ComB) to help you understand when and why your BFRB happens and develop practical strategies for responding differently.

Treatment focuses on identifying your individual triggers and patterns, increasing awareness of the behavior, and developing alternative ways to respond to urges.

If you're struggling with a BFRB, you're not alone and you don't have to rely on willpower alone to change the behavior.

Check out my blog to learn more about BFRBs and Habit Reversal Training (HRT).

Health Anxiety

Do you find yourself frequently worrying that something is seriously wrong with your health, even when doctors have reassured you that you're okay?

Maybe you're afraid of having a heart attack or other medical emergency, developing cancer, or having a serious or terminal illness. You may notice a sensation in your body and immediately wonder, What if this is something dangerous?

With health anxiety, normal or everyday physical sensations can begin to feel threatening. A racing heart, headache, stomach sensation, muscle twitch, or feeling of dizziness may trigger a cycle of fear and uncertainty.

You may find yourself:

  • Googling symptoms or researching illnesses online

  • Asking loved ones, doctors, or other people for reassurance

  • Checking your body repeatedly for signs of illness

  • Monitoring your heart rate, breathing, or other physical sensations

  • Scheduling medical appointments or seeking repeated testing

  • Avoiding activities because you're afraid they could cause a medical emergency

  • Constantly scanning your body for changes or new symptoms

These behaviors can provide temporary relief, but the anxiety often comes back, and you may find yourself needing to check or seek reassurance again and again.

Health anxiety is treatable. I use Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help you break out of the cycle of fear, checking, researching, and reassurance seeking.

Treatment isn't about convincing yourself that nothing bad could ever happen. Instead, therapy can help you learn to tolerate uncertainty, respond differently to physical sensations and anxious thoughts, and stop letting the fear of illness control your life.

If you're spending significant time worrying about your health or constantly checking for signs that something is wrong, therapy can help you feel less controlled by health anxiety and get back to living your life.