Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Selective Mutism (PCIT-SM)
This research-based approach to treating selective mutism involves parents being coached by a therapist to use specific skills to help encourage their child to speak. Parents are an integral and essential part of treatment and helping their child use their “brave voice” with new people.
Habit Reversal Training (HRT) and the Comprehensive Model for Behavioral (ComB) Treatment of hair-pulling and skin-picking
Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors, such as hair-pulling (trichotillomania) and skin-picking (excoriation disorder) require specialized treatment. HRT and the ComB model have been shown to be effective in helping people to reduce their hair-pulling and skin-picking habits. Treatment begins with a careful assessment of the various emotional, cognitive, and environmental factors that may influence a person’s behavior. Treatment then involves developing a comprehensive list of strategies that a person can use when they have the urge to complete their habit.
Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT)
CBIT is a behavioral therapy specifically designed to help those with Tourette Syndrome and tic disorders reduce the frequency and severity of their tics.
CBIT consists of three main components:
- Working together to help you become more aware of your tics and the urge to perform a tic.
- Developing a “toolbox” of competing responses. A competing response (sometimes called an incompatible behavior) is a behavior that cannot be performed at the same time as the tic. For example, if a person’s tic involves a sniffing through their nose, a competing response may be learning to take slow deep breaths in response to the urge to tic. You can’t take deep breaths and do your tic at the same time!
- Making changes in your day-to-day life and activities to help reduce the likelihood of tics.
OTHER AREAS OF PRACTICE
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
What is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)?
OCD is a psychological disorder in which a person experiences
Obsessions are intrusive and unwanted thoughts, images or urges. These obsessions are intensely uncomfortable, upsetting, and anxiety-provoking. Compulsions are behaviors that someone believes that they “have to” do with the goal of lessening the anxiety and discomfort associated with their obsessions. This cycle of obsessions and compulsions can become so time-consuming and upsetting that it can cause significant impairment in a person’s day-to-day life. A person with OCD sometimes is able to recognize that the thoughts and behavior patterns they are engaging in are not “logical”, but frustratingly, are not able to stop themselves.
OCD can affect people of all ages. There are generally two periods in life when OCD symptoms are most likely to develop. These are between the ages of 8-12 and between the late teen years into early adulthood.
Although OCD can be extremely challenging, the good news is that OCD is very treatable. The gold-standard treatment for OCD is called Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). ERP involves working with a therapist to gradually confront the things that you are avoiding, while not completing the compulsions that normally keep one stuck in the cycle of OCD.
Anxiety Disorders
- Social phobia
- Selective mutism
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Specific phobias
- Panic disorder
- Separation anxiety disorder
Hair-pulling and skin-picking
Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs) include hair-pulling (trichotillomania) and skin-picking (excoriation disorder).
Tourette Syndrome/ Tic disorders
Tics are involuntary repetitive behaviors such as movements and vocalizations. While many tics are mild, they can sometimes interfere with a person’s daily functioning. Medical treatments are available, including medication. Behavioral treatment is helpful in teaching people to manage their symptoms.
