OCD Treatment

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is highly treatable — but it responds best to a specific therapy that many general practices don’t provide. At Clinic Ovis, OCD care is built around exposure and response prevention (ERP), the treatment with the strongest research support for OCD. Inference based cognitive behavioral therapy(I-CBT) is also offered, often in conjunction with ERP and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).

What ERP looks like

ERP is a structured, collaborative therapy. Together with your clinician, you’ll gradually and safely face the situations, thoughts, and triggers that drive obsessions — while learning to resist the compulsions that keep the cycle going. It is challenging work, done at a pace you help set, and it is where lasting change comes from.

Types of OCD We Treat

OCD is one condition that shows up in many forms. The content of the obsession changes from person to person, but the pattern underneath is the same. An unwanted thought or doubt arrives and brings a surge of anxiety. A compulsion, visible or mental, brings brief relief and then teaches the doubt to come back louder. You do not need to fit neatly into one category below, and most people recognize themselves in more than one.

Contamination OCD. Fear of germs, illness, chemicals, bodily fluids, or “spreading” something to others, with washing, cleaning, and avoidance. This type also includes emotional or “mental” contamination, which is feeling dirty after contact with a person, place, or memory.

Checking OCD. Doubt about locks, stoves, appliances, emails, or mistakes, with repeated checking that never quite settles the question.

Harm OCD. Intrusive thoughts or images of hurting yourself or someone else, which horrify the person having them. Compulsions include hiding knives, avoiding loved ones, and mentally reviewing to “make sure” you would never act.

Relationship OCD (ROCD). Relentless doubt about whether you love your partner, whether they are “the one,” or whether a flaw means the relationship is wrong. It comes with comparing, testing feelings, and seeking reassurance.

Sexual Orientation and Identity OCD. Obsessive doubt about one’s orientation or identity that feels urgent and unresolvable, with checking of reactions and mental review.

Pedophilia-Themed OCD (POCD). Unwanted, distressing intrusive thoughts about children in a person who finds them abhorrent. This is OCD and not desire. It is one of the most under-reported types because of shame.

Scrupulosity (Religious and Moral OCD). Fear of having sinned, blasphemed, lied, or been a bad person. It comes with excessive prayer, confessing, and moral checking.

“Just Right,” Symmetry, and Ordering OCD. A sense that something is incomplete or “off” until it is arranged, repeated, or evened out. The driving feeling is often discomfort more than fear.

Health and Illness OCD. Obsessive doubt about having or developing a disease. It comes with body checking, symptom searching, and repeated requests for tests or reassurance.

“Pure O” and Mental Compulsions. OCD where the compulsions are mostly invisible: reviewing, analyzing, arguing with thoughts, neutralizing, and silent reassurance. It is often missed because nothing shows on the outside.

Existential and Philosophical OCD. Looping on unanswerable questions about reality, meaning, consciousness, or death, with a felt need to resolve them before life can continue.

Real-Event and False Memory OCD. Obsessive guilt about something that happened, or fear that something terrible happened and you cannot remember it. It comes with endless mental replay and confessing.

Hit-and-Run and Responsibility OCD. Fear of having caused harm without noticing, such as hitting someone while driving, leaving something dangerous out, or failing to warn someone. It comes with retracing routes and checking the news.

Magical Thinking and Superstitious OCD. A sense that thoughts, numbers, words, or actions can cause or prevent disaster, with rituals done to “cancel” the risk.

Sensorimotor (Somatic) OCD. Getting stuck on automatic body processes such as breathing, blinking, swallowing, or heartbeat, and fearing the awareness will never go away.

Perinatal and Postpartum OCD. Intrusive thoughts about harm coming to a baby, during pregnancy or after birth, in a parent who is frightened by them. It is common and treatable, and it is frequently mistaken for something more dangerous.

Perfectionism and Reassurance-Seeking OCD. Rereading, rewriting, and redoing work, or repeatedly asking others, searching online, or asking AI chatbots for certainty that never lasts.

Related Conditions. We also treat conditions in the OCD family, including body dysmorphic disorder, hoarding, hair pulling, skin picking, and tic-related OCD.