OCD Institute at McLean

About this program

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) can cause unwanted thoughts and time-consuming rituals that interfere with daily life.

The Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Institute (OCDI) provides specialized care for children and adults with OCD and related disorders. Opened in 1997 as the country’s first residential treatment program for OCD, the OCDI remains a leader in clinical care and research.

Mass General Brigham is a leader in mental health and psychiatric care, with McLean Hospital serving as a world leader in care, research, and education.

For more information or to make a referral, please call 617-855-2776 (adults) or 617-855-4660 (children).

Part of Mental Health and Psychiatric Services

Our programs are ideal for individuals with moderate to severe or treatment-resistant OCD and its most common co-occurring disorders such as major depression and anxiety disorders.

Our adult program is most appropriate for individuals ages 18 and older. Our program for children and adolescents, OCDI Jr., is best suited for ages 12 to 18.

Adult residents’ average length of stay is six to eight weeks. At OCDI Jr., most commonly, youth stay for 2 months in residential care. The OCDI is covered by most health insurance providers, but self-pay is possible.

We primarily use two methods to treat OCD. Exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy allows individuals to gradually face their obsessional cues in order to build confidence with triggers and ultimately inhibit future compulsive responses.

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) promotes a willingness to accept and address, rather than avoid, difficult thoughts and emotions and may reduce barriers to other forms of treatment. These treatment approaches are proven to help individuals struggling with OCD, anxiety, and related disorders.

Educational services are also available for children and teens to help our young patients keep up with schoolwork during their time at the program.

The OCDI for adults is located on McLean’s historic Belmont campus, while the child program is located in nearby Arlington. The programs offer a pleasant and peaceful environment that is conducive to helping patients focus on their treatment.

Our expert staff specialize in OCD and related mental health disorders and are devoted to improving the quality of life of patients and their families. Our 24-hour care also includes available emergency psychiatric and medical personnel.

Treatment approach

The Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Institute takes a robust approach to patient care. We use evidence-based models, family-focused therapy, and cutting-edge treatments.

Staff focus on creating a customized treatment plan for each individual based on his or her specific symptoms, the severity of the symptoms, and other coexisting psychiatric diagnoses. We work in close partnership with patients and their families and emphasize patient self-motivation.

Treatment plans regularly include a combination of individual and group therapies, a variety of behavioral therapies, and medication that help patients manage their symptoms and transition back to their daily lives.

Our core treatment is exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy. Patients practice ERP in two ways: through coached sessions with trained staff and through self-directed practice that helps them build confidence using these skills in real-life situations.

In order to customize the best program for each individual to help ensure success, we also incorporate other approaches, tools, and techniques that enhance motivation. These can include elements of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), two behavioral therapies that focus on thoughts and actions.

Upon admission, each patient receives a clinical assessment and completes an array of objective measures. These assessments are administered by our OCDI Office of Clinical Assessment and Research.

We use the information to establish a treatment plan that incorporates the best therapies and strategies for addressing the patient’s symptoms, meeting challenges, and setting goals.

By establishing a critical baseline of symptoms, we can also track progress throughout the duration of treatment and even after patients have returned home. OCD takes many forms. Consistent reevaluation allows us to monitor our patients’ gains.

With permission from the patient, we make use of the data we collect clinically to answer important questions about OCD and how to best treat it.

Having a team devoted entirely to clinical assessment and research is invaluable, as it helps us better serve our patients and continually improve our program while we search for new and innovative ways to treat OCD.

Residents and partial hospital (day program) patients follow the same structured schedule, a combination of group, family, and individual therapy targeted at reducing the severity of the patient’s symptoms and providing the individual with tools to prevent relapse.

The schedule is designed to engage patients in their treatment. Each day is carefully planned with ample time for self-focus and group work and to maintain the important balance between work and leisure.

Each patient works with a behavioral therapist (a licensed psychologist or social worker) several times a week. The therapist develops a plan that serves as a guideline for staff to ensure quality and consistency in treatment. The plan identifies obsessions, compulsions, and avoidance behaviors, provides a menu of exposures for staff to implement, and recommends special instructions for each patient.

Patients meet with a psychiatrist weekly, or more frequently if required, for medication management. The nursing and counseling staff are also certified in medication administration.

In general, group therapy focuses on helping patients become more open and willing to participate in treatment. Groups also include topics like decreasing behavioral symptoms; increasing normalized family, work, and social functioning; and improving access to education and support.

Through group therapy we teach skills in areas where people with OCD typically have deficits, including becoming more fully engaged in treatment by learning mindfulness, scheduling, social skills, and goal setting.

There are also a wide assortment of groups pertaining to specific symptoms that allow patients to learn key interventions for their individual diagnoses.

The specifics of the day’s schedule vary from day to day so that on a weekly basis group therapy covers a wide range of topics including mindfulness, motivation, cognitive behavior therapy, expressive therapies, and more. We also incorporate both didactic and skills-based groups, as well as activity therapies.

Research shows that expressive therapies such as music and art improve clinical and behavioral outcomes, reduce stress and anxiety, and give patients a better sense of well-being.

We offer a holistic balance of expressive therapies, run by a team of expressive therapists who specialize in mental health care.

As a component of treatment, we take our residents on community outings, such as outdoor recreation, movie theaters, shopping, and museums to practice newly acquired skills.

Through this service, we create a supportive learning environment in which children can continue their studies and earn school credit during their stay.

The priority of family therapy is to provide education about OCD that best supports the patient’s home life. This can mean working to stop accommodating behaviors, which are very common in the families of people with OCD.

Families also learn more helpful responses to a patient’s symptoms in the home environment. This close alliance and education of the family system significantly helps the patient transition back home successfully once treatment is over, and also helps to reduce the likelihood of relapse.

Each patient is assigned to one of the program’s independently licensed family therapists who facilitates weekly family sessions and works with the patient and family to create an aftercare plan.

It is the expectation that incoming adult patients identify at least one person in their life to engage in the treatment, be it a family member or a friend.

Parents and caregivers of OCDI Jr. patients are required to be active partners in treatment.

Therapists meet with parents to help them become coaches in their child’s treatment to assist with applying skills and the transition to home and school environments. Sessions are conducted over the phone with family or significant friends who don’t live in the area.

Toward the end of treatment, parents are invited to come and spend a week at OCDI Jr. to learn needed skills to help their children transition home and maintain the gains they have made.

Partial hospital program

The OCDI offers a day (partial hospital) program for individuals who do not require 24-hour care yet need more structure than is available in outpatient treatment.

This level of care is appropriate for patients whose symptoms do not interfere with their ability to travel to the program and who are able to successfully manage their symptoms while at home.

Many of our adult partial hospital patients have completed our residential program and are in need of less intensive treatment.

OCDI Jr. also offers a partial hospital program with three treatment tracks:

• Stand-alone services for families seeking only partial hospital treatment
• Step-down programming for patients who have been in the OCDI Jr. residential program
• Assessment and preparation for transition to residential care

Patients within the partial hospital program attend the same structured schedule and individual and group therapy sessions as residents while spending their evenings at home practicing the skills they have learned during the day.

The emphasis of the day program is to provide a sufficient level of stability for the patient to be able to gradually leave treatment.

The partial hospital program operates daily, Monday through Friday.

Admission

The OCD Institute is suitable for children, teens, and adults ages 12 and older with moderate to severe or treatment-resistant OCD and its most common coexisting disorders. This includes major depression and anxiety disorders, such as social anxiety, specific phobias, panic attacks, and separation anxiety.

The OCDI is appropriate for those who could benefit from intensive residential or partial hospital (day program) care.

Our program may not be appropriate for individuals who have certain active co-occurring difficulties:

Eating disorders: Individual must be medically stable and at a stable, healthy weight and

Substance addictions: Individual must be sober for 3 months; If using alcohol or THC excessively, the individual must refrain prior to admission; drug/alcohol use, including medical marijuana, is not permitted while in program

Suicidality and self-harm: Individuals are assessed on a case by case basis, but may require a period of stability prior to treatment if they are exhibiting suicidal or self-injuring behaviors

For further information about our program or to make a referral, please contact our admission staff: 617-855-2776 (adults) or 617-855-4660 (children).

Cost

The OCDI is covered by most insurance providers. For individuals without insurance coverage, private-pay options may also be available. OCDI Jr. accepts both insurance and self-pay.

We understand that navigating the insurance system can be challenging, which is why we assist prospective patients to help determine eligibility. We welcome your questions and concerns and have a dedicated staff to help you.

McLean Hospital accepts Medicare, Massachusetts Medicaid, and many private insurance and managed care plans. More information on insurance providers accepted by McLean Hospital may be found here. You may also find it beneficial to review patient billing and financial assistance information.

Staff and associates

Working in close partnership with patients and families, our clinicians create and provide tailored treatment plans and high-quality care that meets each patient’s needs. Our expert clinical team includes board-certified psychiatrists, licensed psychologists and family therapists, licensed social workers, registered nurses, certified teachers, and expressive therapists.

Our clinicians have experience working with patients from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds from across the country and around the world.

Our staff members are trained in assessing and treating complex OCD and related conditions through exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).

All counselors receive specific training in working with patients who live with OCD and other anxiety disorders. They are also trained in general crisis prevention/intervention, CPR, and group leadership skills. Our team of well-trained and compassionate clinicians foster an environment to help our patients to succeed.

Accommodations

The adult residential and day program is located in East House, one of several historic buildings on McLean’s Belmont campus. The program offers a pleasant and peaceful environment that helps patients focus on their treatment.

For our residential patients, accommodations and amenities are designed to provide a home-like environment. This allows patients the chance to work on real-life challenges.

Our facilities offer comfortable bedrooms, a fully-equipped kitchen, common areas for groups, a laundry area, and access to a fitness facility with state-of-the-art equipment and certified staff.

OCDI Jr. is located on our Arlington campus. At our dorm-like facility, we provide cutting-edge treatment delivered in a sensitive and nurturing manner. Amenities include wireless internet access, fitness and recreation, and comfortable, light-filled rooms.