Anxiety & OCD Therapy
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Anxiety & OCD Therapy *
When your mind won't let you move on
Therapy for Anxiety & OCD
Intrusive thoughts, unwanted images, uncertainty, and compulsive behaviors can make everyday life feel exhausting. You may find yourself repeatedly checking, researching, analyzing, mentally reviewing, seeking reassurance, avoiding certain situations, or trying to "figure out" what a thought means—all in an effort to feel certain, safe, or in control.
OCD isn't about having thoughts you don't want. Everyone experiences unwanted thoughts. The struggle comes from the meaning we assign to those thoughts and the cycle of anxiety, doubt, and compulsive responses that can keep OCD going.
Compulsions aren't always visible. They can happen internally through rumination, mental reviewing, self-reassurance, checking your feelings or reactions, comparing, or repeatedly analyzing whether something is "just right." These behaviors may provide temporary relief, but they can ultimately reinforce the OCD cycle.
Breaking the OCD Cycle with ERP
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is an evidence-based treatment for OCD that helps you gradually face thoughts, situations, sensations, or uncertainty that trigger OCD without relying on compulsions to make the anxiety go away.
The goal isn't to eliminate intrusive thoughts or achieve complete certainty. Instead, ERP helps you learn that you can experience uncertainty, discomfort, and unwanted thoughts without needing to check, avoid, analyze, or seek reassurance.
Jessica Richardson, LMHC, NCC provides individualized OCD therapy for teens and adults in Maitland and the greater Orlando area. Treatment may incorporate ERP, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) based on your needs, symptoms, and treatment goals.
You don't have to solve every thought. You can learn to stop letting OCD make the decisions.
When talking it through isn’t enough
You don't have to keep reliving what happened. Sometimes you can understand an experience intellectually and still feel like your mind or body hasn't caught up. And sometimes, simply talking things out can make anxiety and OCD feel more overwhelming—especially when it leads to more analyzing, rumination, or reassurance-seeking. Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) offers a different approach, using guided visualization, bilateral eye movements, and memory reprocessing to help you work through distressing experiences.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy
A memory may continue to bring up anxiety, sadness, fear, anger, shame, or other difficult emotions long after the event has passed. You may find yourself avoiding reminders, feeling triggered unexpectedly, or wishing you could move forward without the experience continuing to affect you.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) is a structured, trauma-informed approach that may help you process distressing memories and experiences in a different way.
Jessica Richardson, LMHC, NCC is an ART-trained therapist providing individualized therapy for teens and adults in Maitland and the greater Orlando area.
How does Accelerated Resolution Therapy work?
ART uses bilateral eye movements, visualization, and memory reprocessing to help you work through distressing experiences.
During an ART session, you are guided to bring a distressing memory, image, emotion, or sensation to mind while following specific bilateral eye movements with your eyes. Your therapist guides you through a structured process of visualization and memory reprocessing, allowing you to work with the experience while remaining grounded in the present.
Rather than repeatedly analyzing or retelling every detail of what happened, ART focuses on helping you process the way the memory is currently experienced—emotionally, physically, and visually.
The process may involve:
Bilateral Eye Movements
You follow your therapist's guided eye movements while focusing on aspects of the experience.
Visualization
You use guided imagery to work with memories, images, sensations, and emotional responses.
Memory Reprocessing
You are guided through a structured process designed to help you experience and respond to the memory differently.
New Associations
As the memory is reprocessed, you may develop a different perspective or emotional response to the experience.
Your therapist remains with you throughout the process, providing structure, support, and guidance while you remain in control of your experience.