CBT For Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Online OCD Therapy

Breaking the OCD Cycle with Evidence-Based, Compassionate Therapy

Living with OCD can feel exhausting and isolating. Intrusive thoughts arrive without warning, and the urge to respond to them – through rituals, checking, reassurance-seeking, or mental compulsions – can take over hours of your day. Even when part of you knows the fear is out of proportion, the anxiety can feel too powerful to ignore.

OCD therapy at Wyke Therapy uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) with a specific focus on Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) – the gold-standard, evidence-based treatment for OCD. Together, we work to understand the cycle keeping OCD going and begin to break it, gradually and at a pace that feels manageable for you.

Therapy is offered online, providing a private and accessible space where you can engage with this work from the comfort of your own home. The aim is not to eliminate all uncertainty, but to reduce the grip OCD has on your life and help you feel more free to live it.

Book a free 15 minute consultation to see how I can help.

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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

OCD can show up in ways that feel deeply distressing and difficult to talk about. You may experience intrusive thoughts that feel shocking or unwanted, an urge to repeat certain behaviours until things feel “right,” or a need to carry out rituals to manage rising anxiety. Even when part of you recognises that the fear may be out of proportion, the pull to respond to it can feel impossible to resist.

At Wyke Therapy, OCD is treated using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) with a specific focus on Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) – the gold-standard, evidence-based approach for OCD. Therapy can help you understand how OCD works, why it keeps returning, and how to begin breaking the cycle in a structured, supportive, and compassionate way.

Understanding the OCD Cycle

We begin by making sense of how OCD works for you – the obsessions, the anxiety they create, and the compulsions that follow. Understanding this cycle is the first step towards changing it.

ERP Therapy

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) helps you gradually face feared thoughts or situations without relying on compulsions. Over time, your brain learns that anxiety can be tolerated without the need to respond to it.

Reducing OCD’s Hold

The goal is not to eliminate all uncertainty or discomfort, but to reduce the grip OCD has on your daily life – helping you reconnect with the things that matter most and feel more in control.

How Therapy Can Help with OCD

OCD is maintained by a cycle that can feel very hard to break on your own. An intrusive thought or situation triggers anxiety, and a compulsion – whether a physical action, a mental ritual, or seeking reassurance – offers temporary relief. But that relief reinforces the idea that the compulsion was necessary, which makes the obsession more likely to return and the urge to respond to it stronger.

Therapy helps you interrupt this cycle gradually and safely. Rather than trying to suppress or argue with intrusive thoughts, ERP helps you learn to sit with uncertainty and discomfort without acting on compulsions – so the anxiety naturally reduces over time and OCD loses its power.

Through OCD therapy, you can learn to:

  • Understand the OCD cycle and why it keeps repeating.
  • Recognise compulsions, including mental rituals and reassurance-seeking.
  • Use ERP to face feared thoughts and situations at a manageable pace.
  • Reduce the distress triggered by intrusive thoughts.
  • Build tolerance for uncertainty and a stronger sense of control.

CBT and ERP for OCD

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is one of the most well-researched approaches available for OCD. It helps you understand the connection between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, and begins to loosen the hold that OCD has on how you think and act.

Within CBT for OCD, Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the core technique. ERP is not about forcing you into distressing situations unprepared. It is a carefully planned, collaborative process – working together to build a gradual hierarchy of challenges that helps your brain and nervous system learn that intrusive thoughts do not have to be acted upon, and that discomfort can be tolerated without disaster following.

Online Therapy for OCD

Online OCD therapy allows you to access evidence-based support from your own home, at a time that works for you. For many people, being in a familiar and private space can make it easier to engage openly with difficult thoughts and the work of therapy.

Sessions are held online, giving you a flexible and accessible route to treatment without the need to travel or attend a clinic in person.

Types of OCD Therapy Can Help With

OCD can take many different forms. Therapy can help with contamination fears, harm-related intrusive thoughts, “just right” urges, checking behaviours, the need for symmetry or order, scrupulosity, and health or relationship-focused OCD.

Whatever form your OCD takes, the focus is always on understanding your experience and working together to reduce its impact in a way that feels safe and achievable.

You Do Not Have to Keep Fighting OCD Alone

OCD can make life feel smaller and more exhausting than it needs to be, but change is possible. With the right support, you can begin to break the cycle, reduce the grip of intrusive thoughts, and rebuild your confidence.

Take the first step today. Book a free 15-minute consultation to see how I can help.

Let’s Talk

Take the first step today. Book a free 15-minute consultation to see how I can help.

Let's Talk

Why online therapy might work for you

Online therapy is just as effective as in-person sessions, allowing you to receive high-quality support wherever you are. Some additional benefits include:

  • Not having to face the difficulties of travelling to a location if you have health issues or disabilities.
  • It takes less time to fit in a session if you have a lack of spare hours in the day and a busy lifestyle.
  • You won’t have any transport issues or need to pay for parking.
  • Flexibility to work around your work hours and other commitments.

How the booking process works

  • Get in touch via email or phone
  • We’ll agree a good time for your free 15-minute online consultation
  • I’ll send you a link for your phone or via MS Teams, whichever you prefer
  • We ‘meet up’ online on the day and time agreed
  • If you are happy to proceed, we’ll book your first appointment
  • 24 hours before your appointment, I’ll send you a payment link or you can pay via the website here 
  • Our therapy sessions begin!

NICE Guidelines

All of the therapy techniques I use, including EMDR and CBT, are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. You can find out more about the framework I work within here.

Read more about NICE Guidelines

Reviews

Michelle adapted to my way of understanding... she was very clear and had a wealth of knowledge. She has given me so many tools to help. 

Great support from Michelle, I can't thank her enough. Thank you for getting me back on track. So grateful. I will miss my weekly sessions. Kind regards xxx

Michelle was amazing. I really connected with her and she helped me through my problems and has made a significant change to my life. Very thankful!

I can't speak highly enough of Michelle Woods. I can only imagine your experience of online CBT is largely due to the person you are paired with and I couldn't wish for a better one than Michelle. Thank you for everything.

Michelle was really good at understanding me and helping me with what I have been through. I understand myself better now. I appreciate her help so much.

Michelle has been incredible! I've never found a therapist so empathetic.

I wasn't very hopeful about starting any kind of treatment or therapy but I have been blown away by the success and effects of the EMDR therapy I received. Michelle put me at ease instantly and explained things to me in a way that really helped me to absorb and feel 100 per cent involved in everything we were doing. I couldn't sing higher praises for Michelle and am so very grateful to her.

Michelle Woods was brilliant. She has helped me no end and made life liveable again.

Michelle was lovely and I felt she really cared about my issues. She was very good at addressing those issues too.

Michelle is honestly the best therapist I have ever been to. She is so understanding and listens to my concerns and goes above and beyond with her help. I cannot praise her enough.

Michelle was fantastic, so easy to engage with, even on our first meeting. She was very accommodating with regard to my health issues. All the techniques and helpful tips she has gone over with me have helped in various ways and has improved my depression and given me ways to deal with it. I couldn't recommend her enough and am sad to say goodbye.

Michelle Woods is a remarkable lady. She has transformed my life in the last 20 weeks. It's taken me 14 years to face the trauma that I went through and Michelle took the time to listen, make me feel safe and to support me with every part of the reliving. There are not enough words to thank Michelle for her work alongside me and I will always remember that the reason I got through this was because of her kindness.

Michelle is one of the loveliest people I have ever spoken to! She has been kind, caring and patient with me and I can't thank her enough for everything she has helped me with.

Michelle was the first therapist that I have really clicked with and she helped me understand and process my mental health effectively. Michelle has been amazing and I cannot thank her enough for the help she has given me over the last few months. I honestly couldn't fault her. Michelle, thank you for helping me realise that life isn't all bad and that I can get up and have a happy day despite my mental health. You are amazing and truly helped me figure out my thoughts. Thank you.

How to Contact Me

I offer a free 15-minute consultation to help you decide if my therapy style is right for you.

Please note: I do not provide crisis intervention. If you are in immediate distress, please contact your GP or emergency services.

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