Let’s start with a story. 

It was 2018 and my grandma just passed away.

I just got out of a long-term relationship and I was about seventy pounds heavier than ever before.

I was at rock bottom. 

After some tough conversations with my doctors and parents, I came to the conclusion that I needed another layer of OCD treatment—specifically, in-patient treatment at the OCD Institute (OCDI) at McLean Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. 

So, I gave them a call and started the intake process. 

That began with me getting referrals from my doctors at the time (they had to fill out a Provider Referral Form). I then filled out a 23-page form that asked about everything from general information and doctors to medications and symptoms.

Once I sent that back to them, I scheduled a call with someone on their Admissions Team. 

We basically talked about the form I just sent and any questions they had. From there, they took it offline to determine if I met the criteria for admission. 

I did and set a tentative date to get started: December 2, 2019.

If you’ve read one of my first articles, you know I didn’t end up going—I found Dr. Wadsworth and started doing exposure response therapy (ERP) with her. 

Thankfully, that was enough to get me through my darkest days. 

That said, I still went down a rabbit hole on the OCDI, what it was all about and what I’d be doing there. 

I came to the conclusion that it was a shame that it took me so long to become aware of such a place.  

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the OCDI nor is this medical advice.

What’s the OCD Institute (OCDI)? 

The OCD Institute (OCDI) opened in 1997 as the country’s first residential treatment for OCD. Today, the OCDI remains the leader in the advancement of clinical care and research for obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, offering people suffering from OCD and related mental illness who haven’t found success with less intensive forms of treatment. 

The OCDI combines a variety of treatments, including ERP and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to alleviate the symptoms of OCD. The typical treatment length is between 30 and 60 days. 

Treatments Offered at the OCDI

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT forces you—in a gentle way—to embrace your thoughts and feelings rather than fighting them.

Imagine yourself leaning against a door to prevent a rogue wave, i.e., your thoughts from crashing through.

By standing in front of the door, you’re preventing your thoughts and feelings from taking over. ACT is the act of stepping away from the door and letting the water flow in. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is the most well-known type of therapy. Also called talk therapy, CBT can help you become aware of your thinking so you can respond in a more favorable way. 

For example, if you’re struggling with uncontrollable thoughts, CBT could help you ​​identify different ways to react to them and stay grounded. 

While CBT can be an effective way to tackle OCD, studies show that certain forms of it may not be effective at treating OCD, including “thought stopping” (essentially the exact opposite of ERP) and cognitive therapy (or the Socratic method).  

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

ERP is a type of therapy that exposes you to the very situations and thoughts that make you anxious. 

For example, if someone is suffering from contamination OCD, ERP could manifest as that person using a public restroom or going through the self-checkout lane at a grocery store without the need to wash up afterward or perform some other anxiety-easing behavior.

ERP is widely accepted as the first line of defense against OCD. 

According to a 2019 study in PMC, “Since ERP was recognized as a viable treatment for OCD, a large body of literature has supported its efficacy. Early studies demonstrated its superiority in reducing patients’ OCD symptoms relative to relaxation therapy, anxiety management, or a wait-list condition. 

Family Therapy

Family therapy aims to improve treatment outcomes by including family members and addressing disruptions, dysfunction and symptom accommodation.

Family therapy can be especially helpful when treating OCD due to the fact that family members may not realize they’re enabling someone to perform rituals, and thus, feeding their OCD. 

In fact, more than 95% of OCD patients’ families accommodate the patients’ rituals with reassurance, participating in compulsive behaviors, waiting for ritual completion, or avoiding OCD triggers.

Group Therapy

Group therapy involves people meeting to talk about their problems, commonly under the supervision of a therapist or some other medical professional. 

During group therapy, people dealing with similar illnesses—in this case, OCD—meet to discuss symptoms, strategies, etc. 

The selling point of group therapy is that it involves peers who are going through something similar, and because of this, may be beneficial to treatment and healing. 

Habit Reversal

Habit reversal is a type of behavior therapy in which you learn new responses to a stimulus and stop responding to a previously learned one. 

Typically used to reverse behaviors such as overeating and smoking, habit reversal can also help people suffering from OCD by helping them identify other ways to respond to obsessive thoughts without giving in to the ritual. 

Prescribe Medication

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. In addition to all of these methods, there’s a foundation of medication involved. 

To learn more about the OCDI’s treatment approach, visit their website.  

Additional OCD Resources

• OCDI: Patient Resources & Support
• International OCD Foundation
• Lauren Wadsworth, PhD, ABPP
• OCD Workbook: Your Guide to Breaking Free from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder