My approach uses ERP to help you gradually face unwanted thoughts, fears and situations without relying on compulsive behaviours or rituals, building confidence and reducing the hold OCD has on your everyday life.
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is a specialist form of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and is one of the most established psychological treatments for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
At the London Psychologist Centre, I use ERP as a central part of my work with children, adolescents and adults experiencing OCD. My work in this area has been recognised through professional awards, including Most Recognised & Respected Psychologist in OCD 2025, alongside my wider psychology awards and more than 140 five-star Google reviews.
OCD typically involves a cycle of obsessions and compulsions. An intrusive thought, image, sensation or doubt creates anxiety or discomfort. The person then performs a compulsion – physically or mentally – or seeks reassurance, avoids something, checks, analyses or ruminates in an attempt to feel safe or certain.
The problem is that although the compulsion may provide temporary relief, it can reinforce the OCD cycle.
ERP works by gradually helping you face the situations, thoughts, feelings or uncertainty that OCD tells you to avoid, while reducing the compulsive response.
Over time, the aim is not simply to “get rid of anxiety”, but to change your relationship with intrusive thoughts and uncertainty so that OCD has less influence over what you do.
ERP can be adapted to many different presentations of OCD, including contamination fears, checking, intrusive thoughts, harm OCD, relationship OCD (ROCD), sexual or religious obsessions, health-related OCD, perfectionism, responsibility fears, reassurance seeking, mental compulsions and rumination.
Importantly, ERP should be individualised. Treatment is not about forcing somebody into frightening situations or simply telling them to stop their compulsions. We work collaboratively and systematically, building confidence and targeting the particular cycle that is maintaining the person’s OCD.
Before beginning therapy, I recommend a comprehensive psychological assessment. OCD can sometimes be confused with generalised anxiety, health anxiety, phobias, trauma-related difficulties or other conditions, and people can also experience more than one difficulty at the same time.
The assessment allows me to understand exactly what is happening, identify obsessions, compulsions, avoidance and reassurance patterns, and formulate a clear treatment plan.
My approach combines ERP, CBT and solution-focused psychological strategies. A particularly important part of treatment is learning how to stop giving intrusive thoughts unnecessary significance – reducing checking, reassurance, analysis and rumination and allowing thoughts to be present without continually trying to resolve them.
The objective is ultimately very practical: to help you get your life back from OCD.
ERP can also be highly effective for younger people when delivered in an age-appropriate and supportive way. Where appropriate, I work with parents to help them understand OCD and recognise ways in which reassurance or accommodation can unintentionally maintain the cycle.
Treatment is collaborative, practical and designed around the individual child or teenager rather than applying a one-size-fits-all programme.
A comprehensive 60-minute psychological assessment is £300 and includes a same-day written report, formulation and recommended treatment plan.
Ongoing psychological therapy is £150 per session.
I have approximately 30 years’ experience in psychology, including senior NHS CAMHS experience, and I am registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
If OCD is beginning to dictate what you think about, avoid, check, ask others about or do each day, effective psychological treatment can help you begin to challenge that cycle.
Contact the London Psychologist Centre to arrange an assessment or discuss ERP treatment for yourself or your child.
Request an Initial Psychological Assessment to discuss your concerns and explore the most appropriate way forward.
