Anxiety and OCD Treatment

High-functioning anxiety often hides in plain sight. You may be organized, prepared, and reliable, and still feel like your mind never fully switches off.

How Anxiety Can Show Up

You may recognize some of these:

• Overthinking, replaying conversations, or running through worst-case scenarios
• Perfectionism, fear of making mistakes, or worry about being “found out”
• Over-preparing, double-checking, or seeking reassurance before you can feel settled
• Procrastinating or avoiding tasks, decisions, or situations that feel uncertain
• Trouble relaxing or sleeping, even when things are going well
• Physical tension, a racing heart, or episodes of panic

Why Trying Harder Doesn’t Fix It

When anxiety becomes overwhelming, it is natural to organize your life around trying to prevent it. You avoid what might trigger it, seek certainty before making decisions, and work hard to stay in control. These strategies may help for a while, but they often teach your brain that anxiety is dangerous and must be managed at all costs.

Therapy can help you step out of that cycle.

Rather than focusing only on making uncomfortable thoughts and feelings disappear, we work on understanding what keeps you stuck, changing the patterns that reinforce anxiety, and building your ability to move toward what matters to you, even when uncertainty or discomfort is present.

Treatment for OCD

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) involves unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images, or urges (obsessions) and the things you do to quiet the distress or prevent something bad from happening (compulsions). Compulsions can be visible, like checking or repeating, or mental, like reviewing, analyzing, or seeking reassurance until something feels “just right.”

Many capable, high-achieving people hide OCD well. From the outside, compulsions can look like conscientiousness or attention to detail, while inside they take up hours of time and energy.

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the first-line, most thoroughly researched therapy for OCD. Rather than arguing with intrusive thoughts or trying to make them stop, ERP helps you change how you respond to them, so they lose their power over your day.

What to Expect

We start with an intake and assessment to understand what you’re experiencing and what you want to change. Together we choose the approach that fits you best and set clear goals, so you can see your progress.

Therapy is collaborative and practical. Between sessions, you may practice new skills in your everyday life, because that is where change takes hold. If trauma is part of what you’re carrying, we can address that too. Learn about trauma and PTSD treatment.

Anxiety therapy is available in person in Beaverton and by telehealth for adults throughout Oregon, Washington and Idaho. I’m in network with United, Aetna, Regence and other plans. See insurance and rates.