Specialist Psychological Interventions for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Twelve Neuroscience provides specialist assessment and psychological interventions for adults with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Interventions are individually formulated, with Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) forming the central approach.
London · Online
Understanding Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) involves recurring intrusive thoughts, images, urges or doubts, alongside behaviours or mental acts performed to reduce distress, prevent a feared outcome, or achieve a sense that things feel complete or “just right”.
Compulsions can include checking, reassurance seeking, washing, repeating, arranging, mental reviewing or attempts to achieve certainty. Although they may provide temporary relief, they can reinforce the obsessive-compulsive cycle.
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) involves approaching situations, thoughts, sensations or uncertainties that trigger obsessive-compulsive responses while reducing or preventing the compulsions that would usually follow.
The aim is not simply to reduce anxiety, but to create opportunities to learn that intrusive thoughts, uncertainty and discomfort can be experienced without needing to resolve, neutralise or control them through compulsive behaviour.
Exposure exercises are individually designed around the person’s fears, predictions and compulsive responses, including both overt and mental compulsions.
When OCD Involves Incompleteness or “Not Just Right” Experiences
Not all obsessive-compulsive experiences are primarily driven by fear or anxiety. Some people describe a strong sense of incompleteness, internal tension, or that something is “not just right”.
This can lead to behaviours being repeated until they feel correct, symmetrical, complete or resolved. Assessment focuses on what is driving the behaviour, helping determine how the psychological intervention should be structured.
When OCD and Tic Overlap
OCD and tic disorders can overlap in ways that make individual behaviours difficult to classify. A repetitive action may be influenced by an obsessive fear, premonitory urge, sense of incompleteness or “not just right” experience, or a combination of these.
Assessment considers what precedes the behaviour, what the person is trying to achieve, and what happens when they resist it. This can help distinguish tic-like and compulsive processes.
Where symptoms overlap, psychological intervention can be individually formulated using elements of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and Habit Reversal Training (HRT) where appropriate.
Assessment
Assessment focuses on understanding the person’s intrusive experiences, compulsions, avoidance and the processes maintaining them. Where relevant, this also includes tic symptoms, premonitory urges and repetitive behaviours.
Assessment can be completed in person in London or online and is used to develop an individual formulation and determine how psychological intervention should be structured.
About Dr. Patel
Dr. Dipesh Patel is a HCPC-registered Practitioner Psychologist with specialist experience in behavioural interventions for tic disorders and obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
He works within the Tourette Syndrome Service at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN) and is completing a PhD at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, investigating behavioural interventions for people experiencing co-occurring tic disorders and obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
His clinical approach draws on behavioural psychology and neuroscience, with a particular interest in understanding the relationship between urges, intrusive experiences, compulsions and repetitive behaviours, and using this understanding to develop individually formulated interventions.
Appointments
Appointments are available in person in London and online. If you would like to discuss whether an assessment may be appropriate, please get in touch.
