CBT for OCD and Health Anxiety
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Health Anxiety can be incredibly debilitating, often keeping clients trapped in exhausting cycles of rumination, checking, and avoidance.
This PCI College workshop offers a specialised, evidence-based deep dive into Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) specifically tailored for these complex presentations. By moving beyond generalist approaches, you will gain the clinical precision and therapeutic confidence required to guide clients through exposure-based work, helping them reclaim their lives from the grip of intrusive thoughts and persistent fears.
Who is this course for?
This workshop is designed for counsellors, psychotherapists, and helping professionals who work with clients experiencing the specific, often rigid, patterns associated with OCD and Health Anxiety.
- Counsellors & Therapists: Gain specialised, high-impact clinical tools to work with clients whose anxiety has become “stuck” or severe.
- Helping Professionals: Learn to recognise the specific patterns of OCD and Health Anxiety to provide better support and appropriate referrals.
- Students in Training: Master the fundamentals of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) early to build a strong, clinical foundation.
- Existing Practitioners: Refine your ability to manage the intense therapeutic demands and “treatment resistance” often found in these cases.
What are the benefits of doing this course?
This training helps you transition from general anxiety management to high-precision interventions that directly target the mechanics of OCD and Health Anxiety.
- Clinical Precision: Learn to distinguish between typical anxiety and the specific, rigid mechanisms of OCD and Health Anxiety.
- Exposure Competence: Gain confidence in facilitating Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), the gold standard in treatment for these conditions.
- Breaking Cycles: Equip your clients with the tools to stop “safety behaviours” (like checking or seeking reassurance) that maintain their anxiety.
- Professional Growth: Develop the patience, structure, and clinical firmness necessary to support clients through the challenging work of exposure.
What will you learn?
This course combines deep theoretical insights with practical, step-by-step guidance on how to structure treatment for these conditions.
- Understanding the Mechanisms: Exploring the cognitive processes of OCD and Health Anxiety, including the role of “false alarms” and intolerance of uncertainty.
- Exposure & Response Prevention: The core of the course: learning how to design and facilitate effective exposure tasks that reduce anxiety over time.
- The Role of Safety Behaviours: Identifying and gently dismantling the hidden rituals and checking behaviours that keep the anxiety alive.
- Cognitive Restructuring: Moving beyond the intrusive thought to challenge the belief systems that give the thought its power.
- Practical Implementation: Using case studies and peer exercises to learn how to pace treatment, manage resistance, and maintain the therapeutic alliance.
Course Content
- The nature of Obsessions, Compulsions & Rituals
- The Cognitive Model of OCD
- Underlying Beliefs in OCD
- CBT Interventions for OCD
- The Cognitive Model of Health Anxiety
- The Role of Checking, Reassurance-Seeking & “Doctor Google”
- CBT interventions for Health Anxiety
Eligibility
This is a CPD workshop specifically designed for Counsellors & Psychotherapist or other helping professionals with therapeutic experience and students currently in professional training. BSc Counselling & Psychotherapy students in Years 1, 2, 3 and 4 of their studies are all invited to apply for this CPD workshop.
IT Skills
Students require sufficient IT skills to complete the course.
Additional Entry Requirements
Students can expect to be provided with advice and support concerning any learning difficulties that they may encounter. Any diagnosed learning difficulty, e.g. dyslexia, must be noted on the application.
Fees
Standard Rate: Applies to all non-affiliated participants.
PCI College Graduate: Discounted rate available for graduates of BSc Degree and Postgraduate programmes.
Current BSc/MSc Students & Alumni Members: Preferential rate available. Join our Alumni Group on LinkedIn to access this discount
Course Fees – Republic of Ireland
Course Total