OCD therapy on Cape Cod
You are not your intrusive thoughts — and you do not have to keep living by OCD’s rules.
Start OCD therapy and learn evidence-based tools to break free from compulsions and feel more in control. Available on Cape Cod and virtually across Massachusetts.
Is this what you’re dealing with? Understand OCD
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, can feel exhausting, confusing, and isolating. It is primarily characterized by unwanted intrusive thoughts, images, urges, or doubts that feel distressing, alarming, or hard to let go of.
In response, a person may feel driven to do certain behaviors or mental rituals to reduce anxiety, prevent something bad from happening, or feel “just right.”
OCD is marked by recurring, unwanted thoughts and repetitive behaviors or mental acts that can become time-consuming and interfere with daily life. OCD can show up in many different ways, including:
While OCD may not have a simple “cure,” available treatments like Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) can help you manage symptoms, improve daily functioning, and increase your quality of life.
Why should you start OCD therapy?
You may want to consider OCD therapy when intrusive thoughts, anxiety, rituals, reassurance-seeking, avoidance, or mental reviewing are taking up too much time or getting in the way of your life.
OCD therapy can help when you are:
Spending significant time checking, washing, repeating, confessing, researching, reviewing, or seeking reassurance
Avoiding situations, people, responsibilities, or decisions because of OCD fears
Feeling stuck in doubt, guilt, shame, or fear of uncertainty
Having trouble focusing at school, work, parenting, relationships, or daily routines
Feeling like you need to do rituals “just in case” or to feel safe
Hiding symptoms from others because they feel embarrassing or hard to explain
Feeling frustrated because logic and reassurance only help temporarily
Therapy can help you understand what is happening, identify the OCD cycle, and begin practicing skills that reduce OCD’s control over your life.
Evidence-based approach to OCD treatment
At Proven Relief Therapy, OCD treatment is grounded in evidence-based care. That means therapy is guided by approaches that have been studied, tested, and shown to help people with OCD.
The primary evidence-based psychotherapy for OCD is Exposure and Response Prevention, often called ERP. ERP is a specialized form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, and research shows clearly that ERP can effectively reduce compulsive behaviors, including for people who have not responded well to medication.
OCD therapy may include:
Careful assessment of obsessions, compulsions, avoidance, and reassurance patterns
Psychoeducation about how OCD works and why it feels so convincing
Building a personalized treatment plan and exposure hierarchy
Gradual, supported exposure practice (i.e. confronting fear, getting out of comfort zone)
Skills for reducing reassurance-seeking, checking, avoidance, rumination, and mental rituals
Strategies for tolerating uncertainty and discomfort
Parent or family coaching when OCD patterns are being accommodated at home
Relapse-prevention planning so progress continues outside of therapy
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP): It’s a structured therapy approach that helps you gradually face OCD triggers while resisting compulsions. The exposure part involves intentionally and gradually approaching thoughts, images, objects, situations, or sensations that trigger OCD-related anxiety or doubt. The response prevention part involves practicing not doing the ritual, compulsion, avoidance, reassurance-seeking, or mental behavior that OCD usually demands. In sum, ERP is practicing confronting the anxiety-provoking triggers while choosing not to perform compulsive behaviors once anxiety or obsessions have been triggered.
What can you expect from OCD therapy?
OCD therapy is practical, active, and collaborative. You can expect therapy to focus not only on talking about symptoms, but also on building new ways of responding to OCD in daily life.
In therapy, we will work together to:
The goal of OCD counseling is not to eliminate every intrusive thought. Everyone has unwanted thoughts from time to time. The goal is to help you respond to those thoughts differently, so they become less powerful and less disruptive.
OCD therapy benefits
Less time spent on compulsions
Therapy can help reduce checking, washing, reassurance-seeking, repeating, reviewing, researching, confessing, and other rituals.
Improved ability to tolerate uncertainty
OCD often demands perfect certainty. Therapy helps you practice living with reasonable uncertainty without needing rituals to feel okay.
Reduced avoidance
ERP can help you gradually return to situations, responsibilities, relationships, and activities that OCD has made difficult.
More confidence in handling intrusive thoughts
You can learn that intrusive thoughts are uncomfortable but not dangerous, and that you do not have to respond to every thought OCD throws at you.
Improved daily functioning
As compulsions and avoidance decrease, many of my clients have more time and energy for school, work, family, friendships, and meaningful activities.
Less reliance on reassurance
Therapy can help you reduce the cycle of asking, checking, confessing, or researching to feel certain.
Greater emotional resilience
ERP helps you learn that anxiety and discomfort can be tolerated and that they do not have to dictate your choices.
A clearer path forward
Instead of trying to win arguments with OCD, therapy helps you build a structured, evidence-based plan for changing your relationship with OCD.
Meet Dr. Alex Tice, an experienced OCD therapist
Dr. Alex Tice is a licensed clinical psychologist with more than 10 years of experience helping children, teens, adults, and families work through OCD, anxiety, and related challenges. He specializes in evidence-based treatment for OCD using Exposure and Response Prevention, or ERP, the gold-standard approach for helping you reduce compulsions, face intrusive thoughts differently, and regain control over daily life.
Dr. Tice’s approach is compassionate, structured, and practical. Therapy is not just about talking through symptoms — it is about understanding the OCD cycle, building a clear plan, practicing step-by-step skills, and learning how to respond to intrusive thoughts and urges in a new way. His background includes advanced training in CBT and ERP, research focused on ERP for OCD and generalized anxiety in youth, and experience supervising and teaching evidence-based treatments to emerging psychologists.
H2: Everything you need to know about OCD treatment with us
Payment options
Out-network with insurance. Superbills can be provided for clients to submit for possible out-of-network reimbursement. Payment is due at the time of service. We accept credit cards (including HSA/FSA cards) as well as other online payment methods (e.g. Zelle) for payment.
Cost per session
Initial Diagnostic Evaluation 60 mins – $275
60-minute Psychotherapy session – $275
45-minute Psychotherapy session – $210
Location
Cape Cod, MA – in person sessions available soon!
Virtually across Massachusetts and 44 other states!
You can overcome OCD! Book a free initial consultation on Cape Cod and across Massachusetts
You don’t have to figure this out alone. Book a free initial consultation with Dr. Alex Tice to learn more about treatment options and next steps.
