OCD Counselling in Melbourne

OCD affects approximately 3.6% of Australians in any 12-month period (ABS 2020-22), with an average onset around age 19 (Swinburne University). Around 3% of Australians will experience OCD in their lifetime (QBI). Obsessive-compulsive disorder is widely misunderstood. It’s not about tidiness or wanting things in order. OCD involves intrusive thoughts — unwanted, often disturbing thoughts that the mind produces involuntarily — and compulsions: behaviours or mental rituals performed to reduce the distress caused by those thoughts. The gap between the public perception of OCD and the lived reality is enormous, and it keeps many people suffering in silence.

What does OCD actually look like?

The tragedy of OCD is that the compulsions provide temporary relief but ultimately make the obsessions worse, trapping the person in a cycle that can consume enormous time and energy. Common presentations I work with at my Carlton, Melbourne practice include:

• Contamination OCD — excessive washing, cleaning, or avoidance of perceived contaminants
• Harm OCD — intrusive thoughts about harming yourself or others, despite having no desire to do so
• Relationship OCD — persistent doubt about whether you truly love your partner, or whether the relationship is “right”
• Pure O — primarily obsessional OCD with mental rather than visible compulsions (rumination, mental checking, reassurance-seeking)
• Checking and counting — repetitive checking of locks, appliances, or the need for symmetry and precise numbers
• Religious or moral OCD — intrusive blasphemous or morally distressing thoughts that feel utterly contrary to your values

Intrusive thoughts in OCD often feel ego-dystonic — utterly contrary to the person’s actual values. A loving parent has thoughts about harming their child. A devout believer has blasphemous thoughts. The presence of a disturbing thought does not mean you want to act on it. It means you have OCD. Understanding this distinction is often the first moment of genuine relief for people who have been carrying these thoughts in secret shame.

How is OCD different from normal worry?

Everyone has unwanted or intrusive thoughts occasionally. The difference with OCD is the intensity of the distress these thoughts cause, the repetitive rituals performed to neutralise them, and the significant time and energy consumed by the cycle. People with OCD often spend hours each day on compulsions — visible or mental. The anxiety is not proportionate to any real threat; the person usually knows this, which adds frustration and shame to an already painful experience.

What does OCD counselling involve?

At my practice in Carlton, inner Melbourne, I work with OCD using an approach that combines:

• Understanding the OCD cycle — how intrusive thoughts trigger distress, which drives compulsions, which temporarily relieve the distress but reinforce the pattern
• Developing a different relationship to intrusive thoughts so they lose their power to compel
• Gradually reducing compulsive behaviours at a pace that feels manageable
• Exploring the deeper psychological themes — around certainty, control, responsibility, and perfectionism — that often underpin OCD

OCD is closely linked with depression and anxiety, and these often need to be addressed alongside the OCD itself. Many people with OCD also experience significant relationship strain, as the compulsions can be difficult for partners and family members to understand. I work with both the individual and, where appropriate, their close relationships.

Sessions are self-funded at $120. No referral is needed. Message me on WhatsApp or book online.