In April of 2018 Houston OCD Program psychologists Jen Sy, Ph.D., Angela Smith, Ph.D., and Chad Brandt, Ph.D., accompanied by summer residential counselor intern Keith Klein, M.A., presented on OCD treatment at the Anxiety and Depression Association of America annual conference in Washington D.C. Their talk, entitled “Challenges in Treating OCD with Co-Occuring ADHD” was attended by other mental health … Read More
The Houston OCD Program Blog
An Open Letter About OCD
There are a lot of misconceptions about OCD accompanied by many instances of misuses of the term in the media which can lead to invalidating and diminishing the experiences of those who actually suffer from the clinical disorder. Prompted by Khloe Kardashian’s recent ‘Klo-C-D’ campaign, a brave OCD-sufferer shares her personal and candid account of her own experiences of the … Read More
Houston OCD Program completes the first week-long spring break intensive program!
By: Lauren Esworthy, MA, LPC This year, the Houston OCD Program launched its first Brief Adolescent Intensive Outpatient Program (AIOP) over the week of Spring Break. The Brief AIOP offers the opportunity for teenaged clients to participate in intensive therapy without getting behind on schoolwork. All participants attended the Program from 10am-12:30pm the week of spring break. Each day, the … Read More
OCD and Social Anxiety
By: Jennifer Sy, Ph.D. Meeting new people, whether for friendship or dating, is often very intimidating. It can be especially intimidating when you have symptoms of OCD, and is often one of the areas people “get” to work on once OCD symptoms have improved. Here are some reasons that people with OCD often also experience anxiety about making new friends … Read More
2018 BTTI Training in Houston
Specialty OCD Training in Houston! The Behavior Therapy Training Institute (BTTI) was recently sponsored by the Houston OCD Program in January 2018. It is an intensive 3-day training that 28 clinicians from around the United States attended to learn a specialized evidence-based treatment intervention for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). This treatment, Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), is truly the gold … Read More
Effective Goal Setting for 2018
By Ally Frankovich The new year is here! This is the time of the year when many people reflect on the past year and feel energized and motivated to make great plans for the year ahead. However, commonly many new year goals are abandoned and forgotten by the end of January. There are various reasons why we fail to accomplish … Read More
Holiday Anxiety and Perfectionism
By Melissa Fasteau, Psy.D It’s that time of year again where instagram and facebook have posting after posting with smiling faces, decorated Christmas trees, and beautifully arranged candlesticks in de-waxed chanukiot. All of these photos display family and friends’ enjoyment and glee around the holidays, but something inside mismatches the holiday cheer expressed in those photos. Uh-oh, all of the … Read More
Holidays and Sleep
By Simon Lao, B.S., Happy holidays from your friends at the Houston OCD Program! The holiday season can be a wonderful time of the year. Kids are excited to have a break from school and many families are preparing to travel, attend or host family gatherings, explore evening activities (e.g., Zoo lights, New Year’s celebration) and countless other holiday traditions. … Read More
How Children React to Stressful Events
Children’s Reaction to Stressful Events Posted by Chad Brandt, Ph.D At any age children are susceptible to psychological effects of natural disasters or other traumatic events. Local tragedies such as Hurricane Harvey and national tragedies such as the Las Vegas shootings have a psychological impact on adults, but at almost any age children are able to understand stressful events and … Read More
Selective Mutism
by Ivy Ruths, Ph.D By 12 to 13 months, most infants will have already uttered their first words and by five years of age, children can understand more than 2,000 words. This is the average developmental trajectory for language development; however, in very rare cases a child that has established these milestones and can communicate perfectly well through spoken language, … Read More