Virtual OCD & Anxiety Therapy in Alaska

OCD is a mental health condition built around two connected parts: obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are intrusive, unwanted thoughts, images, or urges that show up uninvited and cause real distress — often about the last thing a person would want to think about. Compulsions are the repetitive behaviors or mental acts — checking, washing, counting, repeating, seeking reassurance, and more — that a person feels driven to do in an attempt to ease that distress or prevent something bad from happening.

OCD is one of the most misunderstood conditions out there. It's not about being tidy, or particular, or "a little OCD." It's a condition where your brain gets stuck in a loop — generating thoughts that feel urgent, threatening, and deeply personal — and then demanding you do something to make the feeling stop. The compulsion brings relief, but only for a moment. And then the loop starts again.

What makes OCD so difficult is that it tends to target exactly what you care about most — your values, your fears, your love for the people in your life — twisting them into a source of doubt and distress.

OCD isn't always visible

A lot of compulsions happen entirely inside someone's head. From the outside, a person might look like they're just sitting there, staring into space, or going about their day — while internally they're repeating a phrase, counting, replaying a memory, or quietly searching for reassurance. These mental compulsions don't look like anything to the people around you, but they can eat up just as much time and energy as visible rituals like handwashing or checking.

What it can actually look like

OCD shows up in far more varied ways than most people realize. The themes differ from person to person, but the underlying pattern — an unwanted thought followed by a desperate attempt to neutralize it — stays the same. A few of the ways it tends to show up:

• Thoughts about harm. A new parent might picture themselves dropping their baby. A careful driver might have a sudden urge to swerve into oncoming traffic. These thoughts are distressing precisely because they're the opposite of what the person actually wants — and people with this kind of OCD are typically the most cautious, careful people you'll ever meet.
• Doubts about a relationship. A constant, nagging questioning of whether you really love your partner, whether they're truly right for you, or whether you've been unfaithful with no memory of it. The doubt feels urgent and real, and it drives endless reassurance-seeking that never quite settles things.
• Doubts about morality or religion. Relentless questions about whether you're a good or bad person, whether you've sinned or done something unforgivable, or whether you truly believe what you're supposed to believe. Scrupulosity, as this is often called, can turn faith and personal values — things that matter deeply — into a source of constant guilt, doubt, and mental "checking."
• An exaggerated sense of responsibility. Checking the locks again and again out of fear a burglar will get in. Replaying a conversation for the hundredth time, terrified you said something hurtful. The checking never quite produces lasting certainty.
• A need for things to feel exact. Arranging objects until they feel right, rereading or rewriting something until it feels complete, doing things in a specific order or number of times. This isn't a preference for tidiness — it's real distress when that "just right" feeling won't come, sometimes called "Just Right" OCD, which over half of people with OCD experience in some form.
• Contamination. Feeling contaminated by germs, illness, chemicals, or even just a feeling you can't quite name. This often includes a specific fear of accidentally contaminating the people or pets you love most — bringing something home to your kids, making a family member sick, or passing something harmful on to an animal in your care — which can drive excessive washing, avoidance, or reassurance-seeking aimed at keeping them safe.

The hidden struggle

So much of OCD happens privately. Mental compulsions — analyzing, praying, counting, mentally reviewing — are invisible to everyone else but can consume hours of someone's day. Many people become quietly skilled at hiding their symptoms, performing rituals in private or disguising them as ordinary habits.

That invisibility breeds isolation. People with OCD often believe no one else thinks the way they do, and they fear that saying it out loud would lead to judgment or rejection. That fear and shame is often exactly what keeps people from reaching out for years — sometimes over a decade, on average.

The toll it takes

OCD is exhausting. The constant effort of managing intrusive thoughts and resisting or performing compulsions leaves little energy for anything else. People often describe feeling mentally drained, struggling to concentrate at work or in relationships, or losing interest in things they used to love — not because they don't care anymore, but because nearly all their resources are tied up in managing OCD.

None of this makes you dangerous, broken, or beyond help. It makes you someone with OCD — and OCD is very, very treatable.

Anxiety shows up in a lot of different forms — and panic and phobias often travel alongside it. Whatever shape it's taking for you, there's a path through it.

Generalized Anxiety

Intense and excessive worry about everyday life — getting in trouble at work, a friend being upset with you, or making a mistake. These feelings interfere with daily activities, are difficult to control, and are out of proportion to the actual danger, and they can last a long time. Common symptoms include relentless "what if" thinking, difficulty being present, muscle tension, disrupted sleep, restlessness, and a deep need to know how things will turn out.

Panic & Agoraphobia

Panic attacks are sudden, intense surges of fear with physical symptoms — racing heart, shortness of breath, dizziness, chest tightness — that can feel life-threatening even when they're not. When the fear of another attack starts driving your decisions — which situations to enter, which to avoid, how far from home feels safe — that's agoraphobia, and it's very treatable.

Specific Phobias

An intense, persistent fear of a particular object or situation — flying, heights, needles, vomiting, certain animals, storms — that's started shaping your choices. Avoidance is what keeps a phobia alive; the more we can gently face it, the smaller it gets.

If any of this sounds familiar, that's okay. Reach out and we'll figure it out together.

Trauma is not just what happened to you — it's what happened inside you as a result. When the nervous system gets stuck in survival mode, difficult experiences continue to intrude on daily life long after the event itself. This can look very different from person to person, and it can be a single event or a multitude of experiences that lead to trauma.

You may be experiencing trauma-related symptoms if you notice:

• Intrusive memories, flashbacks, or nightmares related to a past experience
• Avoiding people, places, thoughts, or feelings that remind you of what happened
• Feeling numb, detached, or emotionally "shut down"
• Hypervigilance — a constant sense of being on edge or easily startled
• Negative beliefs about yourself, others, or the world ("I am broken," "Nowhere is safe")
• Difficulty trusting others or feeling close to people you care about
• Shame, guilt, or self-blame that you can't seem to reason your way out of

Trauma can come from many experiences — childhood abuse or neglect, accidents, medical events, loss, relationship violence, or chronic stress over time. Your pain is valid regardless of what the event was or how "big" it seems.

Beyond OCD, anxiety, and trauma, I work with a wide range of adult clients navigating life outside of a specific diagnosis — including life transitions, new stressors, and the changes that come with getting older.

Life Transitions & New Stressors

A new job, a move, a relationship changing, becoming a parent, a breakup, a diagnosis — any shift that's upended your sense of footing. You don't need a crisis to justify needing support through a season that feels harder than it should.

Older Adults & Aging

Getting older brings changes that don't always get talked about. Retirement can shake up your sense of purpose and identity. Health changes can bring grief for a body or independence that feels different now. Losing a spouse, close friends, or your usual sense of community can leave you feeling more isolated than you expected.