FAQs about OCD and anxiety therapy

Many people wonder whether what they're experiencing is "bad enough" to come to therapy. If anxiety, OCD or trauma are affecting your daily life, your relationships, work, sleep, or simply stopping you from living the life you want, therapy could help. The earlier you seek support, the easier is (in general) to make positive changes.

1

Do I need therapy?

What happens on the first therapy session?

2

The first session is an assessment session, an opportunity to understand what has brought you to therapy, how your difficulties developed, and what are your goals. We'll then start to build a shared understanding of your difficulties and discuss a treatment plan tailored to your needs.

How many sessions will therapy be?

3

The number of sessions varies depending on your goals and the nature of the difficulties you're experiencing and often, how long these have been present for. Some people benefit from a relatively short course of therapy while others find longer-term work more helpful. We will review progress as we go along.

What are the prices of sessions?

4

Therapy sessions are £95 for a 50-minute appointment.

How often should I attend therapy?

5

I usually recommend starting with weekly sessions, as this helps us build momentum and make a good start. As therapy progresses and you're feeling more confident, we can often move to sessions every two weeks. Beginning with fortnightly sessions can also work, but having appointments less often than that at the start of CBT usually makes it harder to maintain progress, practise new skills between sessions, and get the most out of therapy.

What types of therapy do you offer?

6

I offer evidence-based therapies for OCD and anxiety disorders, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), and Inference-Based CBT (I-CBT) for OCD. The approach we use will depend on your individual needs and preference. Therapy is collaborative, and we will work together to make a decision that suits your needs.

What problems do you help with?

7

I work with adults experiencing:

  • OCD

  • PTSD

  • Health anxiety

  • Generalised anxiety

  • Panic attacks

  • Specific phobias (like fear of vomit - Emetophobia; fear of losing control of bladder or bowels; fear of animals; etc)

  • Social anxiety

Getting started

You do not need to be certain about a diagnosis before getting in touch.

Many people come to therapy because they recognise aspects of OCD, PTSD or anxiety in their experience and want to understand it more clearly.

If it feels helpful, the next step is usually an initial consultation, where we can look at what is happening for you and whether this approach feels appropriate.

From there, we decide together how to proceed.