Frequently Asked Questions

What is medical anxiety therapy?

Medical anxiety therapy focuses on treating persistent fears about illness, disease, or physical symptoms. This type of therapy helps individuals manage health anxiety, reduce excessive worry about medical conditions, and build confidence in their body’s resilience. Evidence-based approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are commonly used to address anxiety about health.

What is health anxiety and how do I know if I have it?

Health anxiety involves constant worry about having or developing a serious illness, even when medical reassurance has been provided. Common health anxiety symptoms include frequent body checking, researching illnesses online, and difficulty trusting medical results. If these thoughts interfere with daily life, health anxiety counselling can help.

What is phobia therapy?

Phobia therapy is designed to help individuals safely confront and reduce intense fears of specific objects or situations. Treatment is structured and gradual, helping you regain control without overwhelming distress.

How does exposure therapy work?

Exposure therapy works by helping you face feared situations step-by-step, reducing avoidance and anxiety over time. It is one of the most effective forms of phobia treatment and is widely used in CBT and phobias treatment plans.

Can phobias and anxiety be treated together?

Yes. Many people benefit from integrated treatment for phobias and anxiety, especially when fears overlap with broader anxiety patterns. Therapy addresses both the specific phobia and the underlying anxiety processes.

What is OCD therapy?

OCD therapy focuses on reducing obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors. The gold standard treatment is exposure and response prevention (ERP), a specialized form of CBT. ERP therapy involves gradually exposing you to anxiety-provoking thoughts or situations while preventing compulsive responses. Over time, this reduces anxiety and weakens the OCD cycle.

Neurodivergence and Anxiety Disorders

What kinds of compulsive behaviors can therapy treat?

Therapy can address a wide range of compulsive behavior treatments, including:

  • Checking

  • Reassurance seeking

  • Cleaning or contamination fears

  • Mental rituals

Treatment helps you break these patterns and regain control.

Is ERP (exposure response prevention) appropriate for autism?
Exposure and response prevention helps reduce obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors by gradually facing fears while resisting compulsions. For autistic clients, this process may look slightly different:

Sessions may move at a slower, more predictable pace.
Sensory sensitivities are carefully considered.
Therapy is tailored to distinguish OCD from autism-related routine.

Can ADHD make OCD symptoms worse?

Yes. ADHD can increase difficulty with:

  • Following through on ERP therapy (exposure and response prevention)

  • Staying focused during cognitive behavioral therapy for OCD

  • Managing emotional regulation and frustration

At the same time, OCD can make ADHD symptoms feel more overwhelming due to anxiety and mental fatigue.

How do I know if it's autism or OCD, or both?

Repetitive behaviors can appear similar but serve very different purposes:

  • In OCD, behaviors are linked to fear (e.g., checking, cleaning, reassurance seeking) and are part of a cycle that increases anxiety over time. These often require compulsive behavior treatments like ERP therapy (exposure and response prevention).

  • In autism, repetitive behaviors (often called “stimming” or routines) are usually soothing, enjoyable, or help manage sensory input—not something the person feels driven to do out of fear.

Can someone have both OCD and autism?

Yes, OCD and autism can co-occur. In these cases, it’s especially important to distinguish:

  • Which behaviors are related to OCD and need exposure and response prevention

  • Which behaviors are part of autism and should be supported rather than reduced

An experienced clinician will tailor OCD therapy to respect neurodiversity while still addressing anxiety-driven symptoms.

Why is it important to adapt ERP for neurodivergence?

It can be important to support executive functioning challenges to help ADHD clients access ERP. Supporting executive functioning (especially for ADHD)

For clients with attention differences:

  • Break exposures into smaller, manageable steps

  • Use reminders, structure, and accountability systems

  • Adjust expectations around consistency and follow-through

This makes cognitive behavioral therapy for OCD more accessible and sustainable.