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A child in need of intensive treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has gotten to the point at which troubling thoughts and fears (obsessions)—and the rituals performed to control them (compulsions)—seriously interfere with school performance, family life, and friendships. Intensive treatment can make an extraordinary difference for such a child in a surprisingly short time.

The Intensive OCD Program at the Child Mind Institute, one of the nation's few intensive programs for children and teens with OCD, is a specialized treatment initiative led by psychologist Dr. Jerome Bubrick that combines the most effective features of existing OCD treatment programs to create a unique new model. Dr. Bubrick, who has treated hundreds of children, teens, and young adults with OCD, has designed this program to make state-of-the-art, evidence-based treatment for OCD available up to five hours a day, five days a week, to your child and family.

Among the great advantages of our program is the intensity of treatment available in an outpatient setting. We can very often prevent the hospitalization of a child whose OCD symptoms are severe. And we empower you to make your child's treatment more effective by making you an active participant in the treatment process. Most children make major progress within three to six weeks.

In addition to OCD we also intensively treat other disorders on the OC spectrum, including chronic motor tic, chronic vocal tic, body dysmorphic disorder, hypochondriasis, trichotillomania, and skin picking.

Learn more by reviewing Frequently Asked Questions.

Hallmarks of Our Intensive Program:

One-on-One Treatment Sessions
While most intensive OCD programs combine group therapy, individual therapy, and self-guided work, our program is dedicated exclusively to individual treatment sessions—your child and a clinician working one-on-one in exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP). Research has demonstrated that individualized treatment produces the most improvement in a child's condition-with symptoms diminished or eliminated.

We Create a Treatment Team
If your child has severe symptoms and requires several hours of treatment each week, then we will have two or three clinicians working together to provide the level of care your child needs. They'll communicate with each other so that they know what has happened in your child's previous sessions, and they'll regularly communicate with you. If your child's treatment includes medication, we may bring a child and adolescent psychiatrist onto our team. If your child is having learning difficulties, we may bring one of our neuropsychologists on board from the Learning and Diagnostics Center.

Taking Advantage of New York City
In addition to sessions at the Child Mind Institute, Dr. Bubrick uses the city as an opportunity to do controlled exposures in the real world. We'll take your child out and about in New York City as much as possible. We can ride the subways and busses. We can visit restaurants, playgrounds, and hospitals. Whatever the fear, we can help your child face it in the city.

Mandatory Home Sessions
Dr. Bubrick instituted a required home session after observing that kids who have home sessions often make significantly more progress than those who don't. Home sessions are especially important if your child has a ritual that is performed only in the home-for example, she repeatedly checks how clothes are arranged in dresser drawers-that can't be easily simulated in the clinician's office.    

Mandatory Weekly Parent Sessions
We realize that in many treatment programs, parents simply drop their kids off for therapy and pick them up when it's over. But we don't work that way. We require parent involvement because we know it improves a child's prognosis. We want you to know what your child is doing in one-on-one sessions, and we need you to help your child with homework between sessions. We also meet with you alone to ensure that you have the information you need to help your child and talk to teachers if necessary.

Peer Consultations
When your child begins our intensive program, we'll invite you to meet with a family that has already completed the treatment process. This meeting can be very empowering and comforting for parents and their children. You and your child will have the opportunity to ask questions about treatment while also forming a bond with a family that can relate to your experience.

Our Team

• 
  Jerry Bubrick, PhD

  Senior Director, Anxiety & Mood Disorders Center; Director, Intensive Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders Program
  Child Mind Institute

  
  Jerome Bubrick, PhD, is a nationally renowned cognitive and behavioral psychologist who specializes in the ...

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• 
  Clark Goldstein, PhD

  Associate Psychologist, Anxiety and Mood Disorders Center
  Child Mind Institute

  Clark R. Goldstein, PhD, holds a doctorate in clinical psychology and specializes in the evaluation ...

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