OCD & ERP Therapy for Women
Specialized Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) Therapy for OCD, Intrusive Thoughts, & Compulsions in St. Louis, Missouri and Illinois.
When your thoughts feel distressing, overwhelming, and all-consuming and you feel unable to stop responding to them
What if the thoughts that scare you the most are actually a symptom of OCD—not a reflection of who you are?
Many women live with OCD for years without realizing it.
They find themselves trapped in a cycle of intrusive thoughts and compulsions. They spend hours seeking reassurance, mentally reviewing conversations, checking, researching online, avoiding situations, or trying to make unwanted thoughts disappear.
The more they try to feel certain or make the thoughts go away, the stronger OCD becomes.
You don't have to stay stuck in that cycle.
ERP therapy can help you break free.
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Many women with OCD are initially told they have anxiety because their compulsions aren't always visible. Instead of repeatedly washing their hands or checking locks, they may spend hours mentally reviewing conversations, seeking reassurance, researching online, replaying memories, or trying to "figure out" whether their fears are true.
Because these rituals happen internally, OCD can easily be mistaken for generalized anxiety.
An accurate diagnosis is important because OCD responds best to specialized treatment, including Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), rather than reassurance or simply trying to reduce anxiety.
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OCD often begins with a thought that feels urgent, frightening, or impossible to ignore.
"What if I left the stove on?"
"What if I contaminated my baby?"
"What if I hit someone while driving?"
"What if this intrusive thought means something about me?"
Unlike ordinary worry, OCD rarely responds to reassurance.
Even after checking, washing, researching, mentally reviewing, or asking someone else for certainty, the relief is usually temporary before the doubt returns.
If this sounds familiar, help is available.
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Checking doors, appliances, or locks repeatedly.
Feeling responsible for preventing something bad from happening.
Washing, cleaning, or sanitizing far beyond what feels reasonable.
Constantly seeking reassurance from others.
Experiencing distressing intrusive thoughts you don't want.
Mentally replaying conversations or events.
Avoiding situations because they trigger uncertainty.
Feeling like things need to feel "just right."
Knowing your fears seem irrational—but still feeling unable to stop.
WhyWork With Joanna
OCD is frequently misunderstood, especially in women. Many of the women I work with have spent years believing they simply have anxiety, are "overthinkers," or need to try harder to control their thoughts.
My approach combines Exposure and Response Prevention—the gold-standard treatment for OCD—with relational psychodynamic psychotherapy. ERP helps reduce the cycle of obsessions and compulsions, while psychodynamic therapy offers a deeper understanding of the emotional patterns, relationships, and life experiences that shape how you relate to yourself and the world around you.
My goal is twofold: to help you break free from OCD's grip while developing a deeper understanding of yourself. Together, we'll work toward reducing compulsions, increasing your tolerance for uncertainty, and helping you reclaim the parts of your life that OCD has taken from you.
Common Reasons Women Seek Therapy for OCD
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Checking OCD
Repeatedly checking appliances, locks, driving routes, text messages, or other situations to prevent harm or gain certainty.
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Contamination OCD
Fear of germs, illness, chemicals, bodily fluids, or contaminating yourself or others through everyday activities.
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Harm OCD
Distressing fears of accidentally or intentionally harming yourself, your baby, or someone else—even though these thoughts are unwanted and upsetting.
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Relationship OCD
Persistent doubt about your relationship, reassurance seeking, questioning your feelings, or fearing you're with the wrong partner.
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Responsibility OCD
Feeling excessively responsible for preventing harm, making mistakes, or ensuring nothing bad happens to yourself or others.
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Perinatal/ Postpartum OCD
Intrusive thoughts, checking, avoidance, and compulsions that develop during pregnancy or after childbirth.
Common Questions About OCD & ERP Therapy
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While both involve anxiety, OCD is characterized by unwanted obsessions and repetitive compulsions aimed at reducing distress or gaining certainty.
A comprehensive evaluation can help determine whether you're experiencing OCD, an anxiety disorder, or both.
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Intrusive thoughts are unwanted, repetitive thoughts, images, or urges that can feel disturbing or frightening.
They are common in OCD and do not reflect your character, values, or intentions.
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Mental compulsions are invisible rituals used to reduce anxiety, such as mentally reviewing events, seeking certainty, replaying conversations, counting, praying, or trying to "figure it out."
They can keep the OCD cycle going just as much as visible compulsions.
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ERP is the gold-standard treatment for OCD. It involves gradually facing feared thoughts or situations while resisting the compulsions that usually follow, helping your brain learn that anxiety can decrease without seeking certainty.
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Reassurance may reduce anxiety briefly, but it reinforces the OCD cycle by teaching your brain that certainty is necessary.
Over time, this often leads to needing more reassurance rather than less.
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Yes. Pregnancy and the postpartum period can be times when OCD first appears or becomes more intense. Many women experience intrusive thoughts during this time, and specialized treatment can help.
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Many people experience significant improvement with Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy.
Some also choose to combine therapy with medication, depending on their symptoms and preferences.
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Yes. I provide virtual Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy for women throughout Missouri and Illinois experiencing OCD, intrusive thoughts, and compulsive behaviors.
REASONS TO BOOK
REASONS TO BOOK
You’re drawn to therapy that goes beyond symptom relief—a space with a curious, reflective, and empathetic therapist who helps you uncover the unconscious origins of your thoughts, feelings, and relational patterns, and understand how they continue to shape your present experience.
CLINICALLY TRAINED
DEEP, INSIGHT-ORIENTED APPROACH
Therapy can be challenging work, and having a skilled, clinically trained therapist by your side makes all the difference. After transforming my own career from attorney to therapist, I completed several years of advanced clinical training at both the St. Louis and Chicago Psychoanalytic Institutes. This depth of training allows me to look beyond symptoms alone, helping you understand the underlying patterns that keep you feeling stuck.
I am also clinically trained in ERP, which is the gold standard treatment for OCD.
WARM AND APPROACHABLE
Starting therapy can feel vulnerable. My goal is to make the process feel approachable by creating a space where you feel comfortable being yourself, asking difficult questions, and exploring what matters most to you.
