OCD Counseling Page

What is Perinatal Psychotherapy?

What is Perinatal Psychotherapy?

Perinatal psychotherapy is a form of mental health counseling designed to help women during the perinatal period, including pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum phase. This type of therapy focuses on addressing the various emotional and mental health challenges that can arise during this time, from anxiety and depression to the life transition of parenthood. The primary goal is to help women navigate the complex emotional and psychological changes that come along with being a parent. Not only are you managing the physical and emotional demands of pregnancy, but you are also planning for the major life change that comes along with the birth of a child.


Perinatal therapy is especially important because many women experience increased vulnerability during the perinatal period. Of course, pregnancy and childbirth comes along with physical demands, but there is also potential for emotional difficulties, such as postpartum depression or anxiety. A perinatal therapist at Anchor Therapy can give you a safe and supportive space to explore your emotions, process past trauma, and successfully manage the stress of transitioning from pregnancy to parenthood. Perinatal counseling can also benefit women experiencing fears about pregnancy or childbirth, those with mental health disorders, and/or parents struggling with the emotional demands of having a newborn.

How to Break the Cycle of Obsessive Thoughts

How to Break the Cycle of Obsessive Thoughts

Have you ever experienced the same thoughts over and over again? Do you dwell on these thoughts, and the negative feelings that come along with it? The repetitive, often negative aspect of thought rumination can contribute to feelings of anxiety and depression, as well as worsen existing conditions.


Rumination is when you feel stuck in a cycle of negative thoughts. Rumination is an obsessive form of thinking that includes excessive, repetitive thoughts or themes that conflict with other mental activity, according to the American Psychological Association (APA). Although thought rumination typically occurs for individuals with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), anyone can struggle with obsessive thinking. 


Rumination can transform worry into a habit or a way of life. Obsessive thinking can be a hard cycle to break, but it is possible! Continue reading this blog to learn how to break the cycle of obsessive thoughts.

What conditions may be treated with CBT therapy near me?

What conditions may be treated with CBT therapy near me?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, often simply referred to as CBT, is a type of structured talk therapy that is structured and goal-oriented. Mental health professionals, from psychologists to psychotherapists and counselors, use CBT to treat or manage a range of mental health conditions and/or emotional concerns. 


If you are someone who is starting off in your journey of trying to find a therapist near you, you likely have come across CBT therapy. For support in this journey, read “How to Find the Best Therapist Near Me.” CBT is often referred to as the gold standard of mental health counseling as it is one of the most common and best-studied forms of mental health therapy.

How to Cope with Postpartum OCD

How to Cope with Postpartum OCD

While many of us have heard of the baby blues and Postpartum Depression (PPD), there are other mental health challenges that women can face after birth. For more information, check out our blog “The Difference Between Baby Blues and Postpartum Depression.” 

One of the lesser known mental health disorders women experience after birth is Postpartum Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Postpartum OCD is similar to OCD that any other child, teen, adult, or senior citizen else can experience, but it also involves thoughts and behaviors specifically about your newborn baby. 

You do not have to struggle with Postpartum OCD on your own. If you believe you are struggling from Postpartum OCD, it is recommended to seek the support of an OCD specialist as soon as possible so you can get the professional care you deserve.

6 Ways to Understand and Support a Parent With Mental Illness

6 Ways to Understand and Support a Parent With Mental Illness

Mental Illness is something that is still extremely stigmatized and misunderstood. This could be because people aren’t educated and aware of how certain mental disorders function. It’s understandable though, in the sense that it’s hard to understand mental illness when we may not experience it ourselves. Even though you may not be able to empathize with certain mental illnesses and disorders, you can still try your best to understand them. Awareness is extremely important! 

Parents can already be hard to understand from the point of view of a child - even if you’re a teen or an adult. On top of that, parental mental illness can be incredibly challenging to navigate. Mental illness sometimes can get in the way of the proper parenting that a child needs - even if unintentionally. Connecting with a parent and trying to understand the hows and whys of their behavior can really make the home environment more comfortable.

3 Ways to Overcome Health Anxiety

3 Ways to Overcome Health Anxiety

If you have health anxiety, you have an irrational and obsessive worry that you have a serious medical condition. Health anxiety takes other names, such as hypochondria and illness anxiety. Overall, healthy anxiety is marked when you have an imagination of physical symptoms of an illness.

In other cases, you may misinterpret minor or normal bodily sensations as symptoms of a serious disease. Even if medical professionals reassure you that you do not have an illness, you may have a hard time believing them and trusting their professional advice.

How to Cope with Relationship OCD using CBT and ERP

How to Cope with Relationship OCD using CBT and ERP

Relationship obsessive-compulsive disorder, also referred to as R-OCD, is a subtype of OCD. It is characterized by ongoing intrusive thoughts and uncontrollable behavior regarding the unpredictability of a relationship. If you have R-OCD, it is likely that you experience recurring doubts about one or more relationships in your life, even if there is evidence present or not that supports those thoughts. 

Many people with R-OCD feel like, no matter what they do, they cannot get rid of their doubting thoughts. You may worry that you are stuck in the wrong relationship. Or maybe you find yourself questioning everything about your partner. Soon enough, your unrelenting obsessions and compulsions about your relationship can take over and cause you to self-sabotage. If you want to learn how to manage your R-OCD effectively, keep reading!

How Counseling Can Help You Break OCD Habits

How Counseling Can Help You Break OCD Habits

If you struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), you may feel like you are living in a vicious cycle of thoughts, feelings, and rituals. One helpful way to try to stop the cycle is to break OCD habits by changing or delaying your rituals. Unfortunately, breaking OCD habits on your own can be extremely hard. Therefore, an OCD therapist can help assist you in this process.

For example, let us say that you have an unpleasant thought that randomly “pops” into your head. This uncomfortable thought could be something like shouting something inappropriately in public. If you fasten unhelpful meanings to a thought (e.g., in our specific example, you could be thinking “I am someone who is not socially graceful”), that will only lead to more anxiety. When you get anxious, you may begin to look for any methods to tame your spiraling thoughts.

When you have OCD, the ways in which you attempt to lessen your anxiety may vary. For instance, you may obsessively check in with your friends and family to ensure that you do not lose your social connections and that, in fact, you are socially graceful. You may feel the need to check in on your loved ones a set number of times throughout each day or at specific times. Thus, it is the continuous cycle of OCD.

While these strategies can help in the short-term to lessen anxiety, you will only need to do them more and more often because your “bad” thoughts appear more frequently when you try to push them away. This can easily lead to you feeling trapped because you do not know what to do if you do not use some sort of coping skills or strategies. Your life can begin to feel controlled by your “bad” thoughts and your constant need to control them.

Do I Have A Social Media Addiction?

Do I Have A Social Media Addiction?

We’ve all heard it before- social media seriously impacts your mental health. But how does it do so? The constant news can be conflicting. Some reports claim that social media can be an amazing tool for networking and connection, bringing people together like never before. On the other hand, other sources tell us of the detrimental impact social media can have on our mental health, advocating for temporarily disabling your social media accounts and limiting screen time.

Human beings are social creatures. We need connection to other people to thrive and grow to our fullest potential. The strength of those relationships can have a big impact on your happiness and overall mental health.

Everything You Need to Know About CBT for PTSD

Everything You Need to Know About CBT for PTSD

Most people know about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as shell shock. You may be experiencing debilitating nightmares or find yourself being over-reactive. PTSD is commonly attributed to the military community. While PTSD in veterans is a common occurrence, you do not have to be in the service to have PTSD.

PTSD symptoms can impact anyone. PTSD is a type of anxiety disorder that occurs after a deeply scary or intimidating event. You do not even have to be directly involved in the event for you to experience PTSD. That is to say, the pure shock of the event can be so large that you have a difficult time living a normal life.

How to Manage OCD Intrusive Thoughts with CBT

How to Manage OCD Intrusive Thoughts with CBT

Do you struggle with intrusive thoughts? Do they seemingly pop into your head from thin air? You might be grabbing a coffee or commuting to work when, all of a sudden, an unwanted thought pops into your head. It can be a bizarre image or a crazy thought. You are left questioning that thought or perhaps you think about it obsessively and start to become anxious.

The thought could be harmless, like doing something embarrassing in a social setting, or it could be more harmful, such as a tragedy happening to your family members or other loved ones who you would never want to harm. If you struggle with this, please take comfort in knowing that you are not alone.

If you struggle with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), you can experience intrusive thoughts regularly and you may be looking for a way to stop them in their tracks. These thoughts are automatic which may make you feel like you do not have control over them. This only worsens your stress levels and may even lead you to cope in unhealthy ways.

Everything You Need To Know About Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Everything You Need To Know About Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy, often referred to as CBT, is a therapy technique that can help you transform your behavior by altering your thought patterns. In Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), you can learn how to identify and change harmful or alarming thought patterns that have a negative effect on your behavior and emotions. The automatic negative thoughts that you experience have a damaging impact on your mood. By engaging in behavioral counseling and becoming aware of negative thinking, you can respond to difficult situations more effectively and precisely.

Through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), your thoughts are:

  • Identified

  • Challenged

  • Replaced with more positive, practical thoughts

6 Ways To Handle Intrusive Thoughts

6 Ways To Handle Intrusive Thoughts

An intrusive thought is something that we all experience from time to time. An intrusive thought is when you have an unwanted and involuntary thought, image, or idea that is upsetting or distressing pop into your mind. Some people realize that these thoughts are not based on reality and they can easily brush them off and move on to a next thought. While others have a hard time dealing with these intrusive thoughts and find themselves in a destructive thought loop. Most people find these types of thoughts disturbing and spend a lot of time questioning their reality because of it. Intrusive thoughts are more common and frequent for someone who experiences depression and/or anxiety. Below are some ways that you can handle these intrusive thoughts if they do come into your mind and disrupt your thinking.

5 Ways To Calm Your Anxiety

5 Ways To Calm Your Anxiety

As a psychotherapist in downtown Hoboken, NJ I see a lot of clients who experience anxiety. I help kids, teens, young adults (20’s and 30’s year olds), and parents with anxious feelings. Anxiety can present in different ways including agitation, nervousness, feeling on edge, obsessive/repeated thoughts, rapid speech, and/or trouble relaxing. The most common thing my clients want to know is how to relax. While I specialize in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) I can also help clients feel physically more relaxed as they work on decreasing their overall anxiety. Below are 5 different ways you can try to relax and find calmness.

10 Ways to Self Diagnose an Anxiety Disorder

10 Ways to Self Diagnose an Anxiety Disorder

Do you find yourself feeling anxious, nervous, identify as "type A", or feel you have OCD? Do your friends, family, or others tell you that you are too "wound up"? Is it possible for a child to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder?