Paul Kitzmiller, LPCC
Therapist (he/him)
I find it a great privilege to work with people with OCD. I bring a nonjudgmental, easy-going approach to the therapy session. As your clinician, I strive to find the optimum balance between focused and structured treatment and being present and empathic. I understand that the decision to seek treatment is not an easy one, and I applaud your courage for taking this step. Life is not intended to be lived as a hostage to OCD. As someone who has experienced the struggle with OCD personally, I understand the fear, isolation, and shame that can accompany it. I also understand the positive impact that high-quality OCD treatment can provide. Fortunately, OCD is a very treatable disorder.
Some of the kinds of obsessions that my clients might encounter are: “What if I left the stove on?”, “What if I have harmful germs on my hands?”, “What if I ran someone over with my car while driving?”, “What if I am a child molester?”, “What if I impulsively harm a loved one?” This is just a small fraction of the obsessions that my clients might experience daily.
I am a highly trained and experienced cognitive-behavioral therapist. The most effective, evidenced-based treatments for OCD are: 1) exposure and response prevention (ERP), and 2) inference-based therapy (I-CBT). I offer both treatments to my clients, but have increasingly been using I-CBT in my practice over the last couple of years. The goal of I-CBT is to help those with OCD restore trust in themselves, their memory, their senses (e.g. what they see, feel, and hear), and their common sense. My goal is to help you to, ultimately, become your own OCD therapist and get back to living your life. I will equip you with specific, concrete strategies that you will use to address obsessional thinking so that you can live your life without the need to perform time-consuming compulsions.
I enjoy working with people from a variety of backgrounds, including teens to older adults. All of my therapy sessions are via telehealth in order to broaden client accessibility. Please allow me the privilege of joining you in this journey towards an everyday life experience that reflects the individual you really are and not what OCD has suggested.