Hilary Stein

My passion for therapy started with the first psychology course I ever took, back in high school. Learning about human behavior is my favorite thing. Ever since that class my junior year, it's been my main focus and it has evolved over the years.

At the beginning of my career, the organization I worked for gave me the opportunity to learn more behavioral-based therapies, including treatment for OCD. As soon as I learned the basics of exposure and response prevention and how effective it was, I was sold on becoming an OCD specialist. I started learning more and more and never turned back. ERP is amazingly effective for OCD. I've seen severely impaired folks just find themselves again. Something I hear in session a lot is, 'I want to be who I used to be.' ERP actually allows you not to have to be that person. You can be even better. You can love yourself because of that. It can change your life.

I've done a lot of work with anxiety disorders. I especially like working with perfectionism, because I see it so often in people who live with OCD. I also work with eating disorders and disordered eating behaviors. I am a specialized eating disorder therapist and do behavioral work in that realm. My first career opportunity was in a residential eating disorder setting. We saw a lot of OCD symptoms—intrusive thoughts, preoccupations, and rituals—within the eating disorder population. I love working in both areas.

It's going to be hard. And it's going to be worth it. I will never ask you to do something that I'm not willing to do myself or show you how to do. OCD therapy isn't just on you. I'm there with you, and we're going to do it together.

A lot of people feel that way. From the get-go, know that having intrusive thoughts is normal. Everyone has intrusive thoughts. It's OK that they feel real and really intense, but they’re important to share so we can focus on the strategies that will be most helpful for you to get better. You should also know that I've heard a lot of things in my career. It's very rare that I hear a thought that I haven't heard before. You will never receive judgment from me in any way.