Services

 

Individual psychotherapy:  Once weekly psychotherapy, with or without family member as adjunct.

 

Intensive psychotherapy:  Double sessions, 2- 5 times per week, for 1-3 weeks.  Intensive therapy may be chosen based on the number and severity of symptoms, on whether someone comes from out of town or out of the country, and on how rapidly one wants to make progress.

 

Individual Coaching: Once weekly coaching, 30-60 minutes.

 

 

Populations Served:

Adults, Adolescents, and Children

 

Treatment Approaches:

Evidence-based treatments are used, primarily Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approaches, e.g., exposure and response prevention, challenging of cognitive distortions, habit reversal therapy and strategies based CBT for body-focused repetitive behaviors, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

Exposure and response prevention (ERP), used for treating OCD and anxiety disorders, involves having individuals confront triggers for anxiety, starting with lower anxiety triggers, working up a hierarchy to more challenging triggers, and asking them not to engage in rituals or avoidance.  The individual experiences anxiety, and with uninterrupted exposure, one experiences anxiety fading, or habituating.  ERP essentially retrains the brain to have no anxiety, or minimal anxiety in response to these triggers.  The bottom line is, ERP removes the disorder from controlling one’s life and allows one to lead a life more of one’s choosing.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, considered the third wave of CBT, is used as an adjunct to other CBT approaches.  ACT involves using mindfulness techniques, aimed at having an objective awareness of anxiety producing thoughts, or other feelings and reactions.  It advocates having a willingness to experience one’s thoughts, feelings, and reactions, without attachment to having to eliminate them.  Increasing tolerance of these reactions substantially decreases suffering.  ACT also aims to help individuals identify their values and to live more in alignment with these values, less deterred by their anxiety disorders.

In all cases, the patient is a strong collaborator in treatment planning.

Medications can often be helpful in conjunction with therapy to treat the disorders that Dr. Perrin treats.  When they are recommended, Dr. Perrin can make referrals to psychiatrists familiar with these disorders, who can prescribe needed medications.