Do You Need a Therapist?
A question that I see commonly asked on OCD help forums and social media communities is: do I need a therapist to recover from OCD? Whether due to the cost of treatment, availability (or lack thereof) of qualified professionals, or even the perceived social stigma of “having to get help for a mental illness,” many people seem reluctant or unable to get a therapist to help them recover from OCD. Hence the question - is a therapist really required?
It’s a bit of a complicated topic, which is why I wanted to dedicate a blog post to it. No, a therapist is definitely not required. Many people (including myself!) have recovered from OCD without seeing a therapist. Can a good therapist be helpful and beneficial on your OCD recovery journey? Absolutely, and if you can find a knowledgeable and qualified professional, they are worth their weight in gold. But - and here is a big caveat - seeing an unqualified therapist, or someone who is not specialized in treating OCD, can actually make your disorder worse - so be very careful when selecting a professional for treatment.
Let’s explore each of these topics:
Firstly: in my opinion, while a therapist can definitely be helpful when recovering from OCD, they are absolutely not a requirement. As I stated, I myself recovered from OCD without seeing a therapist. The great thing about today’s online world is that there are so many resources available to you (often for free!) which will help you learn about OCD. In turn, once you understand how OCD works, you can then begin teaching yourself about things like Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) and Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help you develop the skills you will need to recover from OCD.
On my blog, I have an entire page dedicated to helpful resources which were instrumental in my own OCD recovery journey, and which I’ve no doubt will help others too. Of course, these resources are just the tip of the iceberg - there are hundreds and thousands of other podcasts, youtube videos, social media platforms, websites, blogs, etc… created by people who have experienced and recovered from OCD, and are now trying to pass on their knowledge to help others. Including my own blog! The whole purpose for this blog is to help others learn from my experience in recovering from OCD, and hopefully give you the tools, skills, and knowledge that you need to beat this disorder.
So, I would say: educate yourself. Understand how OCD works - you must know your enemy in order to beat it. Learn from others’ experiences. And then, begin implementing the skills taught through ERP and ACT, and practice them consistently and patiently. Recovering from OCD by yourself, without a therapist, takes a lot of willpower and dedication - but it is entirely possible, so if you are unable to see a therapist for whatever reason, don’t fret. You can find all the tools you need here on this blog and on countless other resources online.
But - let’s say that you are able to see a therapist. That’s fantastic! A great OCD specialist can really help guide you on the recovery process and provide much needed structure to your ERP and ACT practice, especially when you are first starting out. However - and this is crucial - finding the right OCD therapist is absolutely paramount. In my experience, OCD is a highly specialized anxiety disorder that requires a very specific skillset to treat. If you see a generic therapist or psychologist, odds are they may not have the right experience to help you, and seeing them could end up being a waste of time and money. In the absolute worst case, an unqualified therapist or mental health professional may actually make your OCD worse by inadvertently doing things like providing reassurance or trying to logically explain why your obsessions aren’t true, which only feeds the disorder.
That is why it is so critical to find a good therapist who is specialized in OCD and ERP/ACT. And ideally, the therapist themselves would have experienced OCD and recovered from it. This is because, in my opinion, unless someone has truly lived with OCD and experienced the obsessions, compulsions, and rumination, they can’t truly understand how it works and hence, how to treat it. Just reading about OCD in a textbook isn’t a sufficient baseline to qualify someone as an OCD treatment specialist. This makes it extremely difficult to select a good therapist, because oftentimes the supply of true OCD specialists is extremely limited, and they are often booked up with appointments for months in advance! However, there are some services and OCD clinics that now provide virtual, online, or telephone based sessions, so if you don’t have an OCD specialist you can physically see in your city, this is an option. However, I do firmly believe that it is important to take your time to research and choose a true, qualified OCD specialist, rather than just selecting the first general therapist or psychologist that you find on Google.
I hope this blog post helps provide some perspective to those of you who are considering seeing a therapist, or wondering if it is worth the time and money. My intent is not to discourage you from seeing a therapist - in fact, if you can find a good and qualified OCD specialist, they are the best and fastest way to recover from this terrible disorder! But - and this is a huge caveat - if you do end up seeing a professional, it is critical that you verify they are truly specialized in treating OCD with ERP and ACT. A general therapist or psychologist may be unhelpful at best, and at worst, may even exacerbate your OCD. And, if you are unable to see a therapist for whatever reason, then I hope this blog post provides some encouragement that recovery is possible on your own - there are a plethora of resources online, for free, and this blog is one of them! And even if you are seeing a therapist, the material on this blog (and the helpful resources that I’ve listed) can still be great supplementary material to your OCD recovery journey.
Eric