From Fear to Freedom

A Three Week Intensive OCD Recovery Program

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder knows no age or class distinctions. In fact, many people with high intellectual development and great achievements suffer from OCD.

OCD enslaves its victims, enmeshing them in a stifling web of intrusive thoughts and urges. There are various methods and protocols to break this vicious circle.

Last Resort Program

From Fear to Freedom integrates two of the best approaches to OCD treatment:

• Prologned Exposure and Response Prevention Protocol developed by Edna Foa, PhD, author of Stop Obsessing!
• Four-Step Method developed by Jeffrey M. Schwartz, MD, author of Brain Lock

From Fear to Freedom is an intensive program. For three weeks you will dedicate all your energy, willpower, attentiveness, and trust to achieving freedom from obsessions and compulsions. If you come ready to abolish the OCD, your medical team will be ready to work with you.

The program is individually tailored to your specific needs and conditions. You work one-on-one with a highly trained therapist who will guide you and--when necessary--drag you through every step of the process. You will be treated, monitored, and taught by a highly motivated and trained team of experts in psychopharmacology, psychiatry, and cognitive behavioral therapy.

The Four Steps

Step 1: Relabel
Recognize the intrusive thoughts and urges as due to OCD.

Step 2: Reattribute
Realize that the intensity and intrusiveness of the thought or urge is caused by OCD; it is probably due to a biochemical imbalance in the brain. Remember, "it's not me, it's the OCD."

Step 3: Refocus
Work around the OCD thoughts by focussing attention on something else, at least for a few minutes. Do not give in to a compulsion.

Step 4: Revalue
Do not take the OCD thought at face value. It is not significant in itself

More about the Four Steps...

Prolonged Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy

As we train you to identify OCD-related behavior, exposure and response prevention is designed to break up the maladaptive associations between anxiety, obsessions, and the performance of compulsions in an attempt to get relief from the anxiety.

• We teach you to stay in an OCD situation until discomfort decreases.
• We help you concentrate on targeted situations and guide you through each and every one of them.
• We repeat the exposures daily using stimuli specifically prepared for you until your distress significantly dissipates.
• We increase your mindful awareness by training you to self-monitor and record your rituals.

Three Weeks... Three Essential Components

Diagnosis

• Evaluation, using scientifically validated rating scales, including the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS) and other clinical tools
• Information Gathering
• Assessment

Treatment

• Exposure and Response Prevention
• Four Step Work
• Homework

Relapse Prevention Program

• Applying the Tools

Developed Exclusively for the Westwood Institute by

Eda Gorbis, PhD, MFCC
Clinical Director
Vice-President, Clinical Advisor & Director of Professional Training
OC & Spectrum Disorders Association

More about Dr. Gorbis...