Specialized Treatment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Living with OCD can feel exhausting. Intrusive thoughts, uncertainty, anxiety, and the urge to perform compulsions can consume enormous amounts of time and energy. You may know logically that your fears are unlikely—or even irrational—while still feeling unable to stop the cycle.
OCD is also often misunderstood. It isn't simply being organized, particular, or liking things a certain way. OCD can involve unwanted thoughts, images, sensations, urges, doubts, checking, reassurance seeking, avoidance, mental reviewing, rumination, and other behaviors intended to reduce anxiety or gain certainty.
The good news is that OCD is treatable.
I provide specialized therapy for adults with OCD using Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Sometimes we may use other modalities when clinically indicated.
What Is ERP?
Exposure and Response Prevention helps you gradually confront the thoughts, situations, sensations, and uncertainty that OCD tells you must be avoided or controlled.
But exposure is only part of the process.
The equally important piece is response prevention—learning to change your relationship with compulsions, reassurance seeking, avoidance, rumination, checking, and other attempts to obtain certainty or make anxiety disappear.
ERP isn't about convincing you that your feared outcome could never happen. In fact, repeatedly trying to achieve absolute certainty is often part of what keeps OCD going.
Instead, we work toward increasing your ability to experience uncertainty and discomfort without allowing OCD to dictate what you do next.
The ultimate goal isn't simply to feel less anxious. It's to become freer to make choices based on your values rather than OCD's rules.
OCD Doesn't Always Look Like OCD
Many people live with OCD for years before realizing that what they're experiencing has a name.
OCD can take many forms, including:
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Contamination fears and washing or cleaning compulsions
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Checking OCD
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Harm-related intrusive thoughts
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Sexual intrusive thoughts
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Relationship OCD (ROCD)
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Sexual orientation OCD
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Religious or moral scrupulosity
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"Just right" OCD
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Health-related obsessions
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Existential OCD
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False-memory OCD
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Sensorimotor or somatic OCD
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Reassurance seeking
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Mental checking and reviewing
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Rumination and other mental compulsions
Some people experience very few visible compulsions. Much of the OCD cycle may happen internally through analyzing, reviewing, monitoring feelings, testing reactions, replaying memories, or trying to solve an unanswerable question.
These mental compulsions can be every bit as disruptive as visible rituals and are an important part of OCD treatment.
What OCD Treatment With Me May Look Like
OCD treatment should be collaborative. I'm not interested in throwing you into your biggest fear on day one.
We'll start by developing an understanding of how your particular OCD operates: your triggers, obsessions, compulsions, avoidance patterns, reassurance seeking, mental rituals, and the ways OCD may be interfering with your life.
Together, we may work on:
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Identifying the OCD cycle
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Recognizing obvious and subtle compulsions
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Reducing reassurance seeking and checking
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Addressing rumination and mental rituals
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Developing exposure exercises
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Practicing response prevention
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Increasing tolerance for uncertainty
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Learning to experience uncomfortable thoughts and feelings without immediately trying to eliminate them
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Reconnecting with activities and relationships OCD has restricted
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Making choices based on personal values rather than fear
ERP isn't about eliminating every intrusive thought. Everyone has unwanted thoughts.
The work is about changing the importance you assign to those thoughts and changing what you do when they appear.
Traditional talk therapy can sometimes unintentionally reinforce the OCD cycle when sessions become focused on repeatedly analyzing the content of intrusive thoughts or providing reassurance that the feared outcome won't happen.
ERP takes a different approach.
Rather than endlessly trying to answer the question OCD is asking, we work on recognizing the OCD cycle, reducing compulsive responses, approaching rather than avoiding triggers, and developing greater willingness to live with uncertainty.
Over time, the question becomes less about "How can I make absolutely sure?" and more about "How do I want to live even when I don't have absolute certainty?"
OCD Alongside Other Concerns
OCD doesn't always occur by itself.
People I work with may also be experiencing anxiety, panic, trauma, body-image concerns, tic disorders, or other difficulties.
When appropriate, I can integrate approaches from my broader clinical training while remaining careful not to turn OCD treatment into reassurance or endless analysis.
I also have particular experience working with men and LGBTQ+ clients, including individuals whose OCD becomes entangled with identity, sexuality, relationships, shame, or intrusive sexual thoughts.
Whatever the content of an intrusive thought may be, therapy is a place where it can be discussed without judgment.
My Background in OCD Treatment
My clinical background is rooted in behavioral and cognitive therapies, and OCD has become an important area of specialization within my practice.
I have completed specialized training in Exposure and Response Prevention through the International OCD Foundation's Behavior Therapy Training Institute (BTTI) and have advanced training in cognitive and behavioral approaches. I'm also a current member of the International OCD Foundation as well as their affiliate site, OCD NJ.
My work with OCD is informed by ERP, CBT, ACT, and contemporary approaches emphasizing inhibitory learning, uncertainty tolerance, and psychological flexibility.
Most importantly, treatment isn't one-size-fits-all. ERP should be adapted to the individual sitting in front of me—not delivered as a rigid protocol. To learn more about me and my background, click here.
Free Monthly Men's OCD Group
In addition to individual therapy, I facilitate a free virtual Men's OCD Group that meets once a month.
The group is designed for adult men living with OCD who want a supportive space to connect with others who understand the experience. Meetings include discussion of OCD-related topics as well as opportunities for members to share their experiences, challenges, and progress.
For some people, simply realizing that they are not the only person dealing with intrusive thoughts, compulsions, uncertainty, or shame can be incredibly meaningful.
Participation in the group is separate from individual therapy, and you do not need to be an individual client in my practice to participate.
Visit the Groups section of my website for current meeting information and registration details. Click Here for More Details.
Online OCD Therapy
Online treatment can work particularly well for OCD and ERP because exposures can occur in the environments where OCD actually shows up—at home, at work, or within everyday routines—rather than being limited to a therapist's office.
When clinically indicated and appropriate, I also offer house calls and in-person exposure sessions, allowing us to work directly in the environments where OCD is interfering with your life. This may include practicing exposures in your home, community, or other real-world settings where triggers and compulsions naturally occur.
Please contact me to learn more about current availability or to discuss whether working together may be a good fit.
Need more resources?
Check out the resources section of my website here.
Or Visit The International OCD Foundation Website here.
Interested in Working Together?
Feel free to visit the rest of my website. Contact me to learn more about OCD and ERP therapy, current availability, insurance, and scheduling a consultation.
About Lenny Gallo
Lenny Gallo is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker providing individual therapy to adults through telehealth in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Florida. His clinical background is rooted in cognitive and behavioral therapies, with specialized training in ERP, CBT, ACT, EMDR, IFS and related approaches.