The OC Anxiety Center is primarily known for the treatment of anxiety disorders, and in particular OCD, panic, and specific phobias.  While treatment for other anxiety disorders fall well within the realm of OCAC, a number of similarly treated issues are also addressed.  Trichotillomania (hair pulling), BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder, the belief that...

Getting through school refusal

With the beginning of a new school year, the OC Anxiety Center has seen more children with school refusal come in through our doors. “School refusal” is a general term with a myriad of causes. Is it a fear of embarrassing oneself in front of others, a dislike of academics, a bully at school, or panic disorder? These are just a few possible causes for ...

A common frustration for many people who have an anxiety disorder is that well-meaning friends, family, and unfortunately even professionals give the advice of “When you get anxious, you just need to relax.” This might be accompanied by suggestions to...

The “new” buzzword in treatment is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), even though it’s been around for decades. Many general providers now list as one of their modalities of treatment as CBT, and when looking for a psychologist a good question is “Are you a cognitive behavioralist?” Note that the question isn’t...

We often hear from our patients, “I’ve seen several psychologists before, but none of them of have been helpful until I started working with the Anxiety Research Center. Why doesn’t everyone do what you are doing?”