Checking OCD
Therapy for checking that eats hours — locks, switches, messages, memories — and never brings lasting certainty.
Does this sound familiar?
Is the door locked? Is the oven off? Did that message sound wrong — did I offend someone, hit something while driving, make a mistake at work? You check, feel briefly sure, then the doubt seeps back and you check again. Leaving the house takes twenty minutes; arriving anywhere on time has become a negotiation with your own brain.
Checking OCD runs on a cruel irony: the more you check, the less you trust your memory of having checked.
How I treat checking OCD
With CBT and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) — the NICE-recommended treatment — we work on tolerating the doubt instead of resolving it: locking the door once and walking away, sending the message without re-reading it, letting 'probably fine' be enough, the way it is for everyone else.
We start with the checks that cost you least and build from there, at a pace you agree to.
What to expect
A typical course runs 12–16 weekly sessions, with small between-session experiments from early on — that's where most of the change happens, and we design them together around your actual routines.
Common questions
But what if I really did leave the oven on? Everyone occasionally does — and handles it. Treatment isn't about becoming careless; it's about checking once, like people without OCD, and carrying the small uncertainty that follows.
My checking is mostly mental — replaying memories. Is that the same? Yes — mental reviewing is checking without the walking back. It's treated the same way and responds just as well.
How quickly will I see change? Many people notice the first shifts within a few weeks of starting ERP, with a typical course running 12–16 sessions.
Can sessions be in Spanish? Yes — I offer therapy in English and Spanish.
Ready to take the first step?
Send an enquiry and Gisela will be in touch within one working day.