OCD Therapy
OCD Therapy
- Specialist CBT-based OCD therapy provided by an experienced CBT therapist
- Online Video sessions offered to clients worldwide
- Women only service
- UK-based BABCP accredited therapist with extensive experience of working with OCD
What is OCD?
OCD is a serious and debilitating mental health condition that causes the sufferer to get stuck in a cycle of obsessions and compulsions.
Obsessions or intrusions are basically doubts, even when they don’t feel like doubts, that appear in the form of unwanted distressing thoughts, images or urges. The person then responds to alleviate their distress by engaging in compulsions.
Compulsions are mental and/or physical behaviours and depending on the type of OCD may include cleaning, washing, avoiding, repenting, scanning, avoiding, checking, repeating actions, ordering, seeking reassurance from self or others, mentally reviewing or trying to figure things out, attempting to neutralise or get rid of the thoughts etc. These are exhausting and time consuming and can impact the person’s functioning.
What commitment will OCD treatment involve?
Treatment will involve regular weekly sessions and some work to be done in between sessions.
What is the difference between ERP and I-CBT for OCD?
Both ERP and I-CBT are CBT-based OCD therapy approaches but they tackle OCD from a different angle. Both are stand-alone, effective treatments for OCD and are backed by research.
ERP for OCD
In Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), first the client learns how and why giving importance to the intrusive thoughts and responding to them maintains and worsens their OCD. They also learn how this cycle can be reversed. Following this the treatment is focused on deliberate systematic exposures to triggering situations while supporting the client to respond differently rather than with their usual compulsive behaviours. Exposures are planned, gradually built and collaborative to make treatment both manageable and effective. Changing the response eventually changes the beliefs clients hold about the intrusive thoughts and doubts and they eventually don’t feel significant or scary, allowing the client to set free from the heavy burden of engaging with the doubts and get back to living normally.
I-CBT for OCD
Inference-based CBT (I-CBT) helps the client learn through a step by step process of realisation that the obsessional doubts were not based in reality and there was no problem to resolve to start with. Obsessional doubts are seen as arising from a confused reasoning process. ICBT exposes that process along with OCD’s many tricks and cheats until the suffer begins to see the reality with more and more confidence and trust in themselves. Once the doubt illusion is clear there is no need to respond in the usual way.
I do explain the differences in much more detail at the start so that once the your difficulties are assessed we can jointly make an informed choice.
Client’s experience of OCD treatment
“I consulted Dr. Azra for severe OCD. From the start, she was incredibly calm and patient, creating a safe space where she clearly understood the depth of my problem. She helped me deconstruct my obsessive thoughts and compulsions, teaching me the specific techniques needed to manage them.
I cannot thank Dr. Azra enough for equipping me with these lifelong skills. However, I would tell future clients that for therapy to be truly effective, it requires commitment. You must be willing to keep practicing what is discussed in the sessions. It is a collaborative effort, but if you put in the work using her guidance, the results are life-changing. I wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone looking for a highly professional therapist.”
Client from London, 2025