IFS for OCD
Melissa Mose, MFT.
IFS Consultation: Working with OCD and Highly Anxious Protectors
While obsessive-compulsive disorder is extremely treatable, is a notoriously difficult diagnosis that many clinicians struggle to work with effectively. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is considered the standard for treating OCD, but many clients and therapists seek a more compassionate approach to treatment. As a Level 3 trained and Certified IFS clinician and the President of OCD SoCal, I have developed an integrative method to treat OCD and related disorders within a compassionate and non-pathologizing IFS framework.
Increase your IFS skills and confidence when working with OCD
Work with your own Therapist Parts to build more creativity, compassion, curiosity, and courage into your practicE
Build connections and gain feedback from other IFS clinicians and colleagues
Improve competency in working with severe OCD and related disorders
Experience and/or witness the model through role play practice with Melissa
Get your IFS, OCD, and related questions answered by an expert in both domains
Upcoming Groups
INTERNAL FAMILY SYSTEMS
The Internal Family Systems (IFS) model is based on the concept of multiplicity of mind—that there is a fundamental multiplicity to how our minds work. That’s what leads people to say things like “part of me wants this, but another part of me wants that.” The family systems perspective of IFS effectively helps people develop harmonious relationships among their various internal “family members” or parts.
IFS therapy proceeds through a person’s many parts with the goal of healing and developing a balance between and among them, so that the person can live the most fulfilled and meaningful life possible.
OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER (OCD)
Obsessions are unwanted intrusive thoughts, images, urges or sensations that occur on a regular basis. Compulsions are repetitive behaviors people use to try to gain relief. But while compulsive responses work briefly to help a person feel better, the inevitable return of obsessions requires further compulsive actions, creating a vicious cycle—Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
Approximately 2–3% of the U.S. population has OCD: 1 in 40 adults, 1 in 100 children and teens. Because OCD presents in a wide variety of subtle, if debilitating manifestations, many people never get help; others receive treatment that reinforces the disorder, making it worse instead of better. The good news is that OCD is extremely treatable when it is recognized and handled appropriately.
IFS FOR OCD
Evidence from the past 20 years has shown that OCD responds well to conventional treatments including specific forms of cognitive-behavior therapy with exposure and response prevention (CBT with ERP) as well as pharmacotherapy with serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs). However, a substantial number of patients (between 25% and 40%) show little or no improvement with these treatments, and many people will not or cannot participate. ERP requires that clients resist their compulsive behaviors as a way of learning that they can become comfortable with the anxiety and that causes their obsessions—a process that may not be well tolerated by individuals who also have a history of trauma. For those and other reasons, a substantial subset of OC clients need a softer way to approach their fears in therapy.
IFS for OCD uses a compassionate, trauma-informed, integrative, and non-pathologizing IFS framework to heal the factors that fuel obsessive and compulsive behaviors. IFS for OCD is effective because it avoids the common therapy pitfall of just talking about symptoms; rather than being analyzed, understood, or explored, OCD requires the kind of present-moment, therapeutic encounter that is the hallmark of IFS therapy.
I have developed an approach that brings together the deep healing of IFS and the effective components of conventional exposure therapy. I call this approach Self Led- ERP where ERP stands for Encounter and Relate to your Parts (SL-ERP). With compassion and curiosity, we can help parts that obsess and do compulsions trust Self to lead the way.