OCD therapists in Paisley, Scotland
Browse OCD therapists in Paisley, Scotland, United Kingdom. Compare credentials, specialties and therapeutic approach. Contact a therapist to learn more.
OCD
Heather Macfarlane
Registered Psychotherapist, Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist
OCD is a complex, overwhelming condition but there are proven techniques to help reset your brain and thought patterns to let go of those compulsions because continuing to give in to them only pulls you deeper down. I can provide and understanding, supportive environment for you to tentatively take the steps to challenging those obsessions and compulsions once and for all.
17 Years Experience
Online in Paisley, Scotland (Online Only)
OCD
John Burkin
Licensed Professional Counsellor, LPC, LMHC, LPCC, LCPC, CPL, Registered Member MBACP
Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders are an area I have specialized in for many years. I relate to the challenges clients face as many of the difficulties are ones I have faced myself over a lifetime. Symptoms from tics to intrusive, non-stop thoughts to compulsive acts are familiar. There are proven ways for us to quiet these challenges and I am ready to assist. Depending on the severity and disturbance you are experiencing I may recommend in concert with therapy you consider a psychiatric evaluation to consider whether a medical doctor determines if medication management is indicated as this would be outside my scope.
15 Years Experience
Online in Paisley, Scotland (Online Only)
OCD
Sara Aicart-Pendlebury
Art Therapist, Human Givens Practitioner (HG.Dip.P), Member of Human Givens Institute, IFS therapist Levels 1&2, Narm Practitioner
OCD is a highly upsetting condition in which a sufferer experiences powerful, intrusive and distressing thoughts or images, usually connected with an imagined disastrous event (perhaps that one’s son will die in a car crash), and devises one or many rituals designed to reduce or ward off that event or make reparation for having the ‘bad’ thought. Usually, the more the rituals are carried out, the more the thoughts recur, requiring yet more rituals.
The condition first occurs because of raised stress levels, often as a result of trauma, physical illness, worry, fear, lack of sleep, some personal setback or crisis, or even a fright. People who develop the compulsion to wash their hands, and who often end up spending many hours a day in this activity, may first have experienced a generalised anxiety about their health or safety and then focused on a fear of germs. The bottom line is that some important emotional need is not being met. That’s why the human givens approach, which focuses on helping people in distress find healthy ways to meet their emotional needs, is so successful.
Rituals can be extremely varied and numerous, may involve walking across a room a certain way, picking up cutlery a certain way, counting or clapping a set number of times, etc, and have to be carried out in exactly the right way, otherwise the whole sequence must be begun again. Yet many sufferers are amazingly resourceful in hiding their condition.
What happens in OCD is that a primitive part of the brain, called the amygdala, which is our emotional alarm system, starts to associate the thinking of the OCD thought with danger, setting a stress reaction in train which leads the sufferer to carry out the ritual to avert the danger and reduce the stress. Sufferers are convinced that something dreadful will happen if they don’t complete their rituals, however many times they are required to do them. When they are caught up in this thinking and carrying out the rituals, they are in a trance state, just like a dream. And, just as our dreams seem totally real and believable to us when we are in them, so the trance state of OCD is equally compelling and believable to sufferers. They are, therefore, absolutely terrified about stopping their rituals.
It is essential to help a sufferer see that they are separate from the OCD – a lot of people choose to call it ‘the bully’, as a means of starting to see it as something outside of themselves. This helps them take a step back and begin to identify OCD thoughts (“if I don’t make and re-make the bed 10 times immediately, my daughter will be abducted on her way home from school”) as very different from normal thoughts. To help them to resist performing the rituals associated with the intrusive thoughts, they need to have distracting activities prepared, which they can launch into instantly – for instance, singing, dancing to music, doing the ironing, calling a friend, taking a walk; the activities need to be varied, so that a new ritual isn’t established.
The more that the OCD sufferer does not carry out the ritual after experiencing the thought, and realises that nothing terrible does happen, the more the rational part of the brain can override the nervy messages from the amygdala. As time goes on, and the messages continue not to be acted on, the thoughts start to fade and stop altogether.
This is not easy for sufferers to put into practice, of course, because they believe so strongly in the power of the ritual. Human givens practitioners use an effective technique to help resolve trauma, if one exists. They also use techniques to encourage them, while deeply relaxed, to visualise themselves, as if on a TV screen, experiencing the frightening thought but not carrying out the appeasement ritual and calmly doing something else instead, such as making a cup of tea or doing the washing-up. Going through this, in a calm state, in the imagination helps instruct the brain to respond this way in reality.
Just as important, human givens practitioners help sufferers identify what is lacking in their lives (it is quite common, for instance, for sufferers to have ceased to have a social or work life, because the rituals are so demanding) and help them to get their needs met in fulfilling ways.
17 Years Experience
Online in Paisley, Scotland
OCD
Dr Pointer | OCD Specialist
Psychologist, BSc (Hons), M.St. (Oxon), PsychD (Surrey), Dip CBH. C.Psychol AFBPsS HCPC reg.
I experienced OCD from an early age, & have since recovered. I would like to help you recover from OCD, too.
24 Years Experience
Online in Paisley, Scotland (Online Only)
OCD
Psykhe Psychotherapy
Registered Psychotherapist, RP, MACP
Each therapist has their own specialties, and we focus on connecting you with the clinician whose experience best fits your needs. Therapy may involve developing coping strategies, processing past experiences and childhood patterns, and cultivating greater self-compassion and emotional well-being.
8 Years Experience
Online in Paisley, Scotland (Online Only)
OCD therapists in Paisley, Scotland Statistics
OCD therapists in Paisley, Scotland average 15 years of experience and charge around ¤152 per session. 100% offer online sessions. The top treatment approaches are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) (58%), Integrative Therapy (52%), and Psychodynamic Therapy (39%).
Average years in practice
15 Years Experience
Average cost per session
¤152
Accept insurance
45%
Offer sliding scale
45%
Gender ID
| 56% |
Female |
|
| 41% |
Male |
|
| 3% |
Gender Fluid |
|
Session Type
| 58% |
In Person and Online |
|
| 42% |
Online Only |
|
Top Treatment Approaches
| 58% | Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) |
| 52% | Integrative Therapy |
| 39% | Psychodynamic Therapy |
| 39% | Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) |
| 35% | Behavioral Therapy |
| 32% | Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) |
| 32% | Person-Centered Therapy (Rogerian) |
Ages Served
| 97% | Adult |
| 71% | Young Adult |
| 58% | Senior |
| 58% | Teen |
| 26% | Children |
Client Focus
| 61% | Women |
| 55% | LGBTQ+ |
| 42% | Men |
| 39% | Asian |
| 39% | Black / African American |