Full Course Description

What Isn’t OCD

Intrusive thoughts, repetitive behaviors, avoidance, reassurance-seeking, moral concerns, or rumination…

Most clinicians land on the same conclusion: it's OCD.

Sometimes they're right. But often only partly. And sometimes something else entirely is driving the presentation.

If you don’t know what you’re working with therapy can stall—or miss the mark completely.

Join Jon Hershfield to enhance your diagnostic skill, pinpoint what's driving your clients’ presentation and set the stage for effective treatment.

You'll walk away ready to:

Differentiate OCD from anxiety, trauma-related, personality, and neurodevelopmental conditions
Ask targeted questions that cut through diagnostic uncertainty
Spot when compulsive-looking behaviors aren't OCD rituals at all
Know when to modify, combine, or set aside standard ERP

Program Information

Objectives

Differentiate OCD from psychiatric disorders that present with overlapping symptoms and behavioral features.
Identify assessment strategies and clinical questions that distinguish obsessive-compulsive symptoms from superficially similar presentations.
Develop treatment plans that appropriately prioritize, adapt, or integrate ERP with other evidence-based interventions when OCD is not the primary clinical concern.

Outline

What Makes OCD, OCD?

Core diagnostic features of obsessions and compulsions
Ego-dystonic thoughts relative to insight, uncertainty, and the function of rituals
Mental compulsions, reassurance-seeking, and avoidance
Common misconceptions about OCD

When It Looks Like OCD But Isn't, But It’s Pretty Close

Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Illness Anxiety Disorder
Panic Disorder
Social Anxiety Disorder
Specific Phobias
Body Dysmorphic Disorder

When It Looks Like OCD But Isn’t, But it Really May Matter a Lot

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Mood Disorders
Eating Disorders
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
Borderline Personality Disorder
Psychotic Disorders
Substance Use Disorders

OCD Subtheme Symptoms and What to Consider Diagnostically

Contamination
Harm
Sexual
Religious
Moral
Relationship
Sensorimotor
Just-Right

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychologists
Registered Psychotherapists
Case Managers
Psychiatrists
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners
Physician Assistants
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 01/25/2027

“Pure O”

When clients describe relentless intrusive thoughts with no visible compulsions, clinicians are often left uncertain about what they're seeing—and how to treat it.

Is it truly obsessions without rituals? A distinct subtype? Or something else?

Drawing on decades of research and clinical work, Dr. David A. Clark cuts through the confusion on “Pure O” and separates what we actually know from the myths…

…then provides you the tools, step-by-step instruction and case illustrations you need to work through the feared self, thought-action fusion, ego-dystonicity, and more.

You’ll leave this training ready to:

Correct the misconceptions that lead treatment astray
Know why and when conventional ERP may be contraindicated
Use CBT interventions that target the specific features of pure obsessions

Program Information

Objectives

Understand the limits of conventional CBT for OCD and know when alternative cognitive interventions are needed to boost treatment effectiveness.
Identify and formulate a treatment plan for pure obsessions based on an enhanced cognitive conceptualization of obsessive thinking.
Offer tailored cognitive interventions of the critical processes responsible for the persistence of harm/aggression, sexual, and moral/religious obsessions.
Build reliance into your treatment program based on the normalization of unwanted intrusive thinking and the inherent contradiction in mental control effort.

Outline

What is Pure O: A Misnomer for Obsessions without Overt Compulsions
What Makes Pure Obsessions so Difficult to Treat
Obsessional Subtypes: Harm/Aggression, Sexual, and Moral/Religious
Identifying the Critical Processes Driving Pure Obsessions
Working with the Mental Control Paradox
Targeted Cognitive Interventions for:

The Feared Self

Misinterpretations of Doubt

Ego-Dystonicity

Fear/Beliefs About the Control of Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts

Research, risks and limitations

Target Audience

Counselors 
Social Workers 
Marriage & Family Therapists 
Psychologists 
Registered Psychotherapists 
Psychiatrists 
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners 
Physician Assistants 
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 01/25/2027

ACT for OCD

When clinicians focus primarily on reducing unwanted thoughts, feelings, and urges they can fall into OCD's central trap: the harder you fight a thought, the tighter its grip.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy offers you an evidence-based framework to help clients change their relationship with OCD and respond more flexibly to obsessions, uncertainty, distress, and compulsive urges.

In this session ABCS Fellow and recognized ACT trainer and author of ACT in Practice, Dr. DJ Moran shows you how.

You’ll leave this session ready to:

Shift the goal of treatment from reducing anxiety to increasing willingness and flexible responding
Use ACT tools to help clients reduce ritualized avoidance and engage more fully in exposure work
Help clients recognize compulsions as short-term relief strategies and choose values-based action instead

Program Information

Objectives

Identify the six ACT processes and describe how they relate to OCD treatment.
Explain how ACT can help clients respond differently to obsessions, anxiety, uncertainty, and compulsive urges.
Describe how ACT can be used with exposure and ritual prevention to support flexible, values-based behavior.

Outline

How ACT targets psychological flexibility in the presence of obsessions, anxiety, uncertainty, and compulsive urges
The six ACT processes and how each applies to OCD treatment
Compulsions as short-term relief strategies and how ACT helps clients choose values-based action instead
Practical ACT strategies clinicians can use with OCD clients
ACT-consistent exposure to help clients learn that obsessions, uncertainty, anxiety, and urges can be present without compulsive responding
Shifting the goal to increasing willingness and flexible responding
Video demonstration - ACT in action with a client presenting with compulsive behavior
Research, risks and limitations

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychologists
Registered Psychotherapists
Case Managers
Psychiatrists
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 01/25/2027

Scrupulosity

OCD can turn faith into fear.

But it’s easy to get it wrong with these clients.

If we reassure or push too hard we can inadvertently feed the OCD cycle, pathologize normal faith practices or have clients challenging their beliefs instead of the OCD cycle.

Join Amber N. Pilkington LPC-S for the assessment tools, adapted exposure and response prevention, ACT, metagcognitive and inference-based strategies you need to get treatment right.

You’ll leave this training ready to:

Distinguish scrupulosity from healthy religious devotion, religious trauma perfectionism, and moral injury
Stop unknowingly reinforcing religious compulsions with reassurance
Adapt treatment so it targets the disorder without targeting the faith

Program Information

Objectives

Characterize scrupulosity as a subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder and the reasons it is frequently underrecognized in clinical settings.
Differentiate scrupulosity from healthy religious devotion, religious trauma, obsessive-compulsive personality traits, moral injury, and generalized anxiety, using ego-dystonicity, distress, and functional impairment as diagnostic markers.
Apply ERP and adjuncts including ACT, metacognitive and inference-based strategies with scrupulous clients.

Outline

How the “respect gap” leads to underdiagnosis
Scrupulosity vs. healthy religious devotion or religious trauma
Adapting exposures for blasphemous thoughts, guilt and moral distress
Inference-based CBT: I might have sinned” vs. evidence-based reasoning
ACT interventions to build acceptance of spiritual uncertainty
Metacognitive targets: beliefs about the significance of intrusive thoughts
Research findings, risks, and treatment limitations

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Marriage and Family Therapists
Addiction
Counselors
Physicians
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners
Case Managers
Chaplains and Pastoral Counselors
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 01/25/2027

OCD on the Autism Spectrum

When OCD co-occurs with autism spectrum disorder you’re working with overlapping features, communication differences, and rigid thinking patterns that can blur diagnostic lines…

… and complicate well-established interventions.

You need more than your standard playbook.

Join Dr. Caleb Lack as he helps you untangle the complexities and gives you the tools you need to deliver more effective, individualized care.

You'll leave this training ready to:

Tell OCD rituals apart from autistic routines—and target the right symptoms
Adapt ERP for autistic clients: adjust your language, pacing, and approach
Work with sensory needs and rigidity instead of against them

Whether you're working with children, adolescents or adults, this session will help you improve outcomes for one of the most challenging populations in OCD care.

Program Information

Objectives

Describe most common patterns of comorbidity in youth and adults with OCD.
Describe how comorbidity impacts functioning and treatment outcomes for those with OCD.
Describe treatment modifications needed when treating someone who has comorbid OCD and autism spectrum disorder.

Outline

Common comorbid disorders in OCD
How comorbidity impacts functioning and treatment outcomes
Treatment modifications to ERP
Coping statements
New routines vs. flexibility
Incorporating special interests
Case study of comorbid OCD & ASD treatment in a late adolescent male
Research, risks and limitations

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychologists
Registered Psychotherapists
Case Managers
Psychiatrists
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners
Physician Assistants
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 01/25/2027

Taboo Topics in OCD

These are among the most distressing and misunderstood presentations in clinical practice…

…unwanted thoughts of harming a loved one or themselves, violent images they can't shake, even taboo sexual obsessions.

They're enough to make even a seasoned clinician freeze—unsure whether you’re looking at a symptom or a warning…

Join Dr. Ashley Smith for the clinical tools you need to help your clients break free.

You’ll walk away feeling ready to:

Differentiate obsessions from true risk of harming others, suicide or paraphilic interest
Address suicidal, harm, pedophilic, and sexual obsessions openly and without shame
Use in vivo, imaginal, and interoceptive exposures for taboo content
Stay grounded when the content is graphic, disturbing, or hits close to home

An OCD obsession misread as intent can end in an unnecessary hospitalization or a shattered therapeutic bond…

…making this a critical training for anyone working

Program Information

Objectives

Accurately conceptualize and educate patients on intrusive thoughts of taboo topics.
Differentiate suicidal/homicidal obsessions from suicidal/homicidal ideation.
Design exposures to effectively treat obsessions of a violent or sexual nature.

Outline

OCD Foundations to Set the Stage

Studies on the content of thinking in people with OCD
Why content of obsessions is irrelevant
The OCD bubble concept

Let’s Talk about Taboo Topics: Suicidal, Violent, Sexual, and Religious Obsessions

How taboo obsessions actually present—and what the research tells us
Debunking myths on intrusive taboo thoughts: What they are and aren’t
Ego syntonic v. dystonic thoughts: differentiating between obsessions and fantasies
Assessing risk: Distinguishing from genuine suicidal/homicidal ideation
Taboo topics gone wrong: Tales from the trenches
Helping patients and loved ones understand taboo intrusive thoughts
Clinical pitfalls to watch out for

ERP for Taboo Topics

Designing in vivo, imaginal, and interoceptive ERPs for taboo themes
Ethical and developmental considerations and concerns
Interactive ERP design practice
Research, risks and limitations

Target Audience

Counselors 
Social Workers 
Marriage & Family Therapists 
Psychologists 
Registered Psychotherapists 
Case Managers 
Psychiatrists
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners
Physician Assistant
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 01/26/2027

Relationship OCD

"Is this the right person?" “How do I know for sure?”

When clients ask these questions they feel so reasonable.

But if you don’t recognize Relationship OCD you can reinforce the very things that keep the obsession-compulsion cycle spinning.

Join Dr. Sonia Greaven and learn how to recognize Relationship OCD, sidestep common therapeutic missteps and treat it with evidence-based approaches.

You'll leave ready to:

Tell the difference between Relationship OCD and genuine relationship red flags
Spot the reassurance seeking, checking and avoidance that keep ROCD alive
Deliver ERP and ACT interventions that target the doubt without feeding it

Program Information

Objectives

Identify common presentations of Relationship OCD and explain how obsessional doubt, reassurance seeking, and mental compulsions maintain symptoms.
Differentiate Relationship OCD from normative relationship concerns, attachment-related anxiety, and other clinical presentations.
Apply evidence-based ERP and ACT interventions that target overt and covert compulsions while reducing therapist accommodation.

Outline

How to distinguish ROCD from “normal relationship anxiety”
Helpful assessment measures
Identifying unusual ROCD presentations
Exposure and Response Prevention
ACT values-based interventions
Working with partner/loved ones
Identifying covert compulsions
Therapist pitfalls
Case illustration of ROCD treatment in adult female
Research, limitations, and future directions

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychologists
Registered Psychotherapists
Case Managers
Psychiatrists
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 01/26/2027

Perinatal OCD

The constant breathing checks? Looks like new-parent vigilance. The reassurance-seeking? Looks like anxiety.

The intrusive thoughts about harming the baby? They don't mention those.

Perinatal OCD is easy to miss, easy to mislabel, and far more common than most clinicians realize.

Join Gina Abbondante, co-founder of the OCD Training School, as she shows you how to recognize perinatal OCD behind its disguises, distinguish it from postpartum depression and anxiety, and adapt and deliver the evidence-based treatment these clients need.

You'll walk away ready to:

Spot the presentations of perinatal OCD that can be easy to miss
Assess and differentiate perinatal OCD from postpartum depression, anxiety, and other look-alike conditions
Adapt ERP, Metacognitive Therapy, and Inference-Based CBT for OCD to work with pregnant and post-partum clients

Program Information

Objectives

Assess contributing risk factors to developing Perinatal OCD.
Appraise at least one differential diagnosis for which Perinatal OCD is often mistaken.
Differentiate between evidence-based treatment options for OCD that can be applied with the perinatal population.

Outline

Contributing risk factors to developing Perinatal OCD
Differentiating perinatal OCD from:
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Postpartum depression
- Psychosis
Evidence Based OCD treatments and adaptations for perinatal OCD:
- Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
- Metacognitive Therapy
- Inference-Based CBT for OCD
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Research, risks and limitations

Target Audience

Counselors 
Social Workers 
Marriage & Family Therapists 
Psychologists 
Registered Psychotherapists 
Psychiatrists 
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners 
Physician Assistants 
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 01/26/2027

Interference-Based CBT (I-CBT) for OCD

What if the key to effective OCD treatment wasn’t needing clients to tolerate uncertainty?

I-CBT targets the faulty reasoning process that fuels obsessional doubt at its source rather than focusing on confronting fears through exposure.

It’s effective, evidence-based and giving therapists a whole different way to treat OCD—shifting the focus from confronting feared outcomes to addressing the flawed reasoning that makes those fears feel real in the first place.

Join the founders of the OCD Training School to expand your treatment toolkit so you can help clients recognize and dismantle the "obsessional doubt" narrative, restore trust in their senses, and break free from the OCD cycle.

You’ll learn how to:

Pinpoint specific thinking traps that pull clients away from reality and into doubt
Help clients rebuild confidence in their own senses and move them away from imagined possibilities
Integrate concrete I-CBT strategies into your practice—no exposure required

Whether you're new to I-CBT or expanding your OCD toolkit, this approach gives you a compassionate, effective option for the clients who need it most.

Program Information

Objectives

Describe the relevance of dysfunctional reasoning to OCD and its treatment.
Assess the inferential confusion process in clients.
Apply the treatment target of Inference-based CBT with clients.

Outline

How Inference-based CBT differs from Exposure and Response Prevention
How to assess for the inferential confusion process
Where Obsessional Reasoning happens in the Obsessional Sequence
What is inferential confusion?
The role of imaginal absorption
Apply the treatment target of Inference-based CBT
Research, risks and limitations

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychologists
Registered Psychotherapists
Case Managers
Psychiatrists
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners
Other Mental Health Professionals

Treating OCD and Co-Occurring Conditions

Develop a flexible treatment framework that emphasizes individualized care
Master OCD’s complex web of co-occurring conditions
Blend DBT, ACT and ERP into CBT for powerful, personalized treatment

OCD clients rarely fit into a single treatment protocol …

Your clients often come in with a mix of anxiety, trauma, perfectionism, or personality traits that make rigid treatment protocols miss the mark.

Reality is, rigid conformity to a protocol won’t cut it … therapists like you need the flexibility to see the full picture and adapt your approach to the person in front of you.

… and that’s exactly what you’ll learn in this 1-day live online webinar with Jon Hershfield, MFT, director of the Center for OCD and Anxiety at Sheppard Pratt.

Jon Hershfield’s integrative approach to OCD treatment has been honed over 15 years as a national leader, he knows how to create a framework that helps clients move forward. In this training you’ll learn how to …

Avoid missed diagnosis and overdiagnosis of OCD
Integrative strategies from DBT, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, Radically Open-DBT and more, into approaches you’re already using
Spot the 8 main OCD themes and know which questions to ask for diagnostic clarity
Direct treatment when autism, depression, substance use, borderline and other diagnoses are present

And so much more … Walk away from this training with elevated confidence and training in treating OCD.

Purchase now and deliver gold standard, personalized care!

Program Information

Objectives

Distinguish OCD from other conditions that have unwanted thoughts and repetitive behaviors.
Choose cognitive therapy techniques in the treatment of OCD.
Modify exposure and response prevention strategies to specific OCD themes.
Integrate mindfulness concepts in the treatment of OCD.
Identify first and second-line treatments for OCD and related disorders.
Examine the interplay between OCD and other common co-occurring conditions.

Outline

OCD 101: Assessment & Diagnosis Must-Knows

What is OCD? – Assessment and diagnosis
What can look deceptively like OCD but isn’t
Case examples
Potential risks, limitations and ethical considerations

Core Treatments: ERP & CBT

Cognitive therapy for OCD and how it differs from other conditions
- Why the C in CBT matters
- Cognitive distortions in OCD
- The automatic though record for OCD
- The important difference between reframing and reassuring
Exposure and Response Prevention
- The fundamentals of ERP
- Habituation and inhibitory learning
- Targeting the core fear hierarchical
- Effective in vivo, imaginal, and interoceptive strategies

Using Integrative OCD Treatments

The role of mindfulness in treating OCD
DBT, RO DBT, ACT, and other useful add-ons
DBT skills to keep dysregulated patients engaged in ERP
RO DBT skills for breaking out of over-controlled coping strategies
ACT for increasing psychological flexibility and willingness

8 OCD Themes: Questions to Ask for Diagnostic Clarity & Conceptualization

Contamination
Harm
Sexual
Religious
Moral
Relationship
Sensorimotor
Just-right

Treating OCD & Other Conditions

Trauma-based conditions
ASD and other forms of neurodivergence
Mood disorders
Eating disorders
Substance use disorders
Impulse control disorders
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
Borderline personality disorder

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychotherapists
Therapists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Case Managers
Physicians
Nurses
Other Mental Health Professionals

Treating Childhood OCD

OCD in kids doesn’t just look like handwashing or checking – and if you’re not looking for it, you might miss it entirely.

In this fast-moving, high-impact 3-hour training by sought-after presenter Dr. Ashley Smith, you’ll learn how to confidently identify, assess, and treat OCD in children and teens – including the sneaky subtypes and taboo thoughts most clinicians overlook.

Get step-by-step guidance in designing and delivering developmentally appropriate Exposure with Response Prevention (ERP) protocols, and discover how ACT, mindfulness, and parental support strategies can boost motivation, reduce accommodation, and lead to lasting change.

Walk away with the tools to accurately diagnose, break obsessive-compulsive cycles, and help young clients reclaim their lives – even when motivation is low or treatment gets stuck.

Program Information

Objectives

Differentiate pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder from anxiety and related conditions to improve accuracy in screening and assessment.
Choose developmentally appropriate Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) interventions that support regulation, participation, and functional performance in children and adolescents.
Utilize family-centered strategies that reduce accommodation and strengthen treatment adherence across home, school, and community settings.

Outline

Spot It When Others Miss It

Lesser-known OCD subtypes, including taboo intrusive thoughts
The obsession-compulsion loop and the role of uncertainty
Diagnostic pitfalls and how to avoid them

Assessment Tools That Work

CY-BOCs tips, demos, and clinical applications
Free self-report tools for efficient screening
Suicidal thoughts vs. OCD obsessions – key differences

Master ERP – The Gold Standard, Done Right

Exposure protocol design for different ages and stages
Fear ladders vs. all-in approaches – how to choose
In-session exposure tips and troubleshooting guidance

ACT, Mindfulness, and Cognitive Boosters

Values, defusion, and scripting for obsessive thoughts
Cognitive work without reinforcing compulsions
Kid-friendly mindfulness techniques that work

Motivation and Adherence Solutions

Buy-in and follow-through strategies that stick
Parental involvement through SPACE and strategic pressure
Behavior plans that support – not sabotage - treatment

Referral and Medication Guidance

Indicators for higher levels of care
Framing the referral conversation with families
Medication basics, consult timing, and collaboration tips

Target Audience

Counselors
Marriage and Family Therapists
Psychologists
Social Workers
Occupational Therapists
Physicians