OCD & anxiety therapy
Support for OCD, intrusive thoughts, and anxiety
Living with OCD is not simply “being anxious.”
It is living with a brain that experiences uncertainty, responsibility, and threat as urgent — and that responds by scanning, analyzing, rehearsing, correcting, and mentally monitoring in an attempt to feel safe again.
Many of the people who find their way here aren’t just anxious.
They are exhausted by mental loops.
They feel hyper-responsible.
They live with persistent doubt, self-monitoring, and an internal pressure to get it right.
And they often feel very alone with it.
What many people are living with...
If any of these feel familiar, you’re not alone:
• Thoughts that loop no matter how much you analyze them
• A constant pressure to be certain, safe, and morally “clean”
• Fear of being bad, wrong, dangerous, or irresponsible
• Mental checking, reviewing, rehearsing, or neutralizing
• Emotional exhaustion and a longing for inner quiet
• Feeling like you have to manage this alone
You are not broken.
Your nervous system learned to survive inside a very demanding internal climate.
And it can learn new pathways.
OCD is a brain difference, not a personal failure
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is rooted in neurobiological differences in how the brain processes uncertainty, responsibility, and perceived threat.
Intrusive thoughts are not a sign of who you are.
They are a sign of a brain that flags “maybe” as dangerous — and then works overtime to try to neutralize that danger through analysis, reassurance-seeking, checking, rumination, avoidance, or mental correction.
This is why logic alone rarely helps.
This is why “just letting it go” doesn’t work.
And this is why compassionate, specialized treatment matters.
Common OCD presentations I work with
OCD can show up in many forms. Some of the most common patterns I support include:
• Moral and ethical fear loops
• ROCD: Relationship doubt and attachment-based OCD
• Harm and responsibility obsessions
• Health and body-monitoring obsessions
• Existential and philosophical loops
• Religious or spiritual scrupulosity
• Intrusive sexual thoughts
• Rumination-dominant and “mental ritual” OCD patterns
(Some people may experience more visible compulsions. Others experience primarily internal rituals. Both are equally real and equally treatable.)
A depth-Integrated, brain-informed approach to OCD
Effective OCD treatment must work with both neurology and meaning.
My work integrates:
Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP)
We use ERP gently, collaboratively, and in ways that respect your pace and nervous system — including mental ritual prevention and uncertainty tolerance work.
Psychoeducation
Understanding how OCD works reduces shame, fear, and self-blame. This helps externalize the disorder and restores trust in yourself.
Schema & Depth Therapy
We explore the deeper emotional, attachment, and identity patterns that shape how your OCD shows up, including hyper-responsibility, belonging fear, perfectionism, and self-worth themes.
Brainspotting (Optional Brain-Body Work)
For clients who feel stuck in loops or chronic nervous-system activation, Brainspotting offers a non-verbal, body-based way to calm and reorganize deeper brain pathways involved in OCD patterns.
Enneagram-Informed Work
For some clients, Enneagram patterns help illuminate why certain fears, values, or obsessions feel especially charged, adding depth and self-compassion to the healing process.
This is not one-size-fits-all.
Your treatment is shaped around your nervous system, your history, and your goals.
OCD as neurodivergence
Reframing the narrative
At Smart Therapy, we understand OCD not just as a set of symptoms, but as a different way of being in the world. The neurodiversity movement invites us to view these differences as part of human variation, not pathology.
Emerging findings show that OCD stems from distinct neurological processing, with measurable differences in brain structure and function when compared to neurotypical patterns. While the clinical community is still deliberating whether OCD should be formally labeled as “neurodivergent,” many individuals with OCD resonate with this framing, especially when it means embracing themselves rather than fighting against themselves.
By recognizing OCD within the neurodiversity paradigm, we center acceptance, empathy, and tailored support. Our therapeutic approach honors the unique wiring of each mind: supporting not just symptom reduction, but self-understanding and empowerment.
The goal of therapy: Freedom from fear and reconnection with yourself
Therapy for OCD and anxiety isn’t about getting rid of thoughts, because intrusive thoughts are part of the human experience. Instead, it’s about changing your relationship to those thoughts:
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Loosening the grip of fear, guilt, or self-doubt
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Reconnecting with your own values, identity, and authentic self
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Building resilience in the face of uncertainty
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Cultivating greater calm, confidence, and self-trust
therapy can help you move from mental exhaustion to greater peace and freedom.
Online OCD therapy across Ontario
I provide virtual therapy to adults across Ontario, including Kitchener-Waterloo, Toronto, London, Ottawa, and surrounding communities.
If you are living inside constant mental pressure, intrusive loops, or chronic self-doubt — you don’t have to do this alone.
Support is available.
And your nervous system can learn a gentler way to live.
