Upcoming group
Disentangle: an I-CBT skills class for OCD
I found that I was going over the same 12-module therapy protocol with a bunch of OCD clients, and I figured it would be more efficient for me, and more cost-effective for my clients (+ normalizing to meet other people struggling with OCD), if we did it as a group. Here’s what I-CBT and the class can do:
Teach you how to spot OCD’s tricks and cheats, and understand the differences between reasonable and obsessive doubt
Create a practice space for de-fusion exercises to reduce rumination
Give you concrete tools to help you sense reality & decrease absorption in your imagination
I ran one full 12-week cycle of this class in early 2024, and it was the best hour of my workweek. If you’d like to join the next cycle, which will be forming in early 2025, send me a note at emily@emily-star.com to hear about next steps.
New Adult Cohort starting late Jan 2025
Likely time: Wednesdays @ 5 pm (please get in touch even if this does not work for you - an alternate group time may be offered)
Virtual for folks based in DC, Md, or Pa.
All potential members must complete an intake session to be admitted to the group.
Investment & Important Notes
One on one Intake for group is required - $175
12-session group is $900 ($75 per session), with first six sessions charged upon formation of cohort, and next six sessions charged after 6th meeting.
Sliding scale spots are available for folks with demonstrated financial need, please email emily@emily-star.com to discuss
This class is not for clients with active eating disorders that involve restriction, or with active alcohol and substance use disorders
Why Not? As I-CBT involves mainly cognitive interventions, clients who are chronically underfed or in altered states may not be able to get the most out of their class experience, and I don’t wish to set them up for feeling as if they’ve failed. I am happy to provide referrals to more appropriate programs for such clients, and/or explore individual treatment options that may be available.
Superbills are provided for all attended sessions; superbills are not available for any sessions that are missed.
YBOCS (self-report version) and ICQ assessments must be completed prior to intake session - these will be sent via email and should take no more than 1 hour to complete on own.
Weekly hw is a substantial part of treatment; if hw is not able to be completed outside of group meetings, it may be best to proceed with learning I-CBT individually.
Are you struggling with intrusive doubts, getting stuck in imagined outcomes for things that haven’t happened (but they might!!!), and/or annoying yourself with repeated checking and reassurance-seeking?
Maybe you think that there’s no way to stop doing what OCD tells you to do, because your worries feel so real. But what if you could learn to recognize the thought patterns that keep OCD going, see more clearly that you don’t have to participate in compulsions to keep yourself and your loved ones safe, and disentangle from OCD’s grasp?
Handling OCD requires unlearning - I-CBT can help you peel back the layers of old logic and make new choices.
Since so many folks with OCD also have generalized anxiety, we’ll talk about tools to help you face fears, even when things are uncertain, in a structured and step-by-step way. But we’ll mainly be focused on techniques that can make life feel easier, and not forcing ourselves to do things that feel needlessly hard.
If someone with OCD feels like something (leaving the house, driving a car, going on a date) is very very hard, especially if it’s something they used to be able to do, they are probably inferentially confused – they’re putting a whole lot more emphasis on remote possibilities than probabilities. Inference-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT) can help them stop falling into OCD’s traps. They might not need to imagine themselves getting into a car crash or dying or accidentally hurting someone else – their imaginations are already active enough – to heal. They might just need to learn how OCD narratives get constructed, learn how to sense what’s happening in reality vs their imaginations, and move towards their valued actions.
Like many OCD therapists, I started learning canva so I could bring the terminology of I-CBT to life visually - I really want folks to be able to see their thoughts ‘leaping’ from where their obsessions start, to where they get reinforced.