Live With OCD · Charlotte, NC

Face your fears and doubts, and new worlds will open up to you

Specialized OCD and related disorders using evidence-based approaches, tailored to how your symptoms show up.

If intrusive thoughts, constant doubt, or fear-driven behaviors are taking over your life, it can feel exhausting and isolating. Many people worry they should be able to "think their way out" of it, but OCD doesn't work that way.

You're not broken, and you're not failing. OCD follows patterns, and when those patterns are understood and treated properly, things can start to loosen. Relief doesn't come from forcing certainty, it comes from learning how to respond differently.

I'm Anna. I specialize in OCD and related disorders, helping people make sense of what's happening in your mind so it feels understandable and workable again. My approach is structured, compassionate, and focused on real-life change—not just talking about symptoms, but learning how to step out of the cycle.

I provide therapy for teens (16+) and adults in Charlotte, NC, with secure telehealth across North Carolina and South Carolina.

Get Started Learn about OCD therapy
ERP I-CBT ACT CBT
In-person in Charlotte, NC · Telehealth across NC & SC · Ages 16+
Anna Schneiderman, OCD and anxiety therapist in Charlotte, North Carolina
Specialized OCD care: ERP · I-CBT · ACT
NOT TODAY OCD - Anna Schneiderman's approach to OCD therapy showing avoid avoiding message
Why a specialist matters

Why Anna is an OCD specialist

Just as medicine has specialties—cardiology for the heart, dermatology for the skin—mental health has areas of focused expertise. OCD is one of them.

Anna is an OCD specialist because of the depth and focus of her training, consultation, and daily clinical work.

Her specialization is built on extensive education in evidence-based treatments, ongoing participation in consultation groups, and years of focused clinical work. Approximately 70% of her caseload consists of people with OCD and related disorders, which allows her to maintain a high level of skill and familiarity with a wide range of presentations.

Anna is proficient in multiple treatment models and applies them thoughtfully based on the diagnosis and situation in front of her. She uses ERP and I-CBT for OCD, disorder-specific CBT approaches for health anxiety and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), exposure-based and inhibitory-learning approaches for phobias such as emetophobia and fear of driving, and CBT-based approaches for perfectionism. Treatment is selected and adapted based on the individual, not applied uniformly.

Her work is active and structured. Anna always conducts the first exposure with you in session—walking you through what to expect beforehand, coaching you through the experience, and debriefing afterward so the learning is clear and usable. When it's time for exposure homework, you've already done it with Anna first. She provides clear, structured instructions and continues to coach you between sessions as you practice on your own.

If you're feeling unsure about where to turn, overwhelmed by conflicting advice, or tired of approaches that haven't quite helped, working with a specialist can bring clarity. Anna's goal is to help you understand what's happening, choose an approach that fits your situation, and move forward in a way that feels supported, intentional, and manageable.

When it starts to take over

Do OCD and related disorders feel like they're running your life?

You might feel stuck in "what if" loops, scanning for certainty, replaying conversations, or doing things to get relief that only lasts for a moment.

Sometimes those "things" are obvious, like checking, reassurance-seeking, or avoiding certain situations. Other times they're more internal, like mentally reviewing, rumination, or trying to "solve" a feeling until it goes away.

Over time, this can leave you feeling mentally exhausted, frustrated, discouraged, or constantly on edge. And even when people around you care, it can be hard to explain what's happening in a way that makes sense.

If this feels familiar, you're in the right place. The next step isn't trying harder, it's understanding what's actually happening and why it keeps repeating.
A name for what you're feeling

If something in this feels familiar, take a breath — you're not alone. OCD follows identifiable patterns, and when people finally understand what's happening, many feel relief for the first time in a long while. This is something we can make sense of together, step by step.

Understanding OCD

What is OCD?

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition that is often misdiagnosed and misunderstood. When left untreated, OCD can become more intense over time and interfere with everyday life.

Sometimes compulsions are visible, like checking, reassurance-seeking, or avoiding certain situations. Other times they happen quietly in your mind, like reviewing conversations, rumination, or mentally trying to "figure it out" until it feels resolved.

The tricky part is that compulsions can bring relief for a moment, but over time they strengthen the OCD cycle.

Obsessions

Obsessions are unwanted intrusive thoughts, images, and impulses that trigger intense distressing feelings. Emotions such as fear, anxiety, shame, guilt, disgust, and anger can show up. Many people recognize the thoughts don't match who they are and may seem irrational, but they feel very real in the moment.

Compulsions

Compulsions are the behaviors (and mental rituals) someone engages in to reduce distress, prevent harm, or regain certainty. Often, a person knows the behavior only provides temporary relief, but the cycle makes it challenging to stop.

The good news: OCD is treatable. With the right approaches, the cycle can be interrupted and weakened.

These are examples, not a checklist. OCD can attach to almost any topic, but the underlying pattern is the same.

Common obsessions

  • Fears surrounding contamination or illness
  • Fears of harming self or others
  • Fears about sexual orientation or taboo thoughts
  • Fear of something bad happening or causing harm
  • Fears about vomiting (emetophobia)
  • Relationship-focused fears (ROCD)
  • Things needing to be "just right" or in a specific order
  • Religious or moral concerns (scrupulosity)
  • Concerns with illness and disease
  • Perfectionism, hoarding, or saving objects
  • Fear of judgment or saying things incorrectly
  • Fear of blurting out obscenities or insults
  • Concerns with a body part or aspect of appearance
  • Need for symmetry or exactness
  • Fears of losing things
  • Colors, objects, or images with special significance
  • Lucky and unlucky numbers, rituals, and superstitions

Common compulsions

  • Avoiding people, places, or situations that cause anxiety
  • Rumination and mental reviewing
  • Providing yourself with reassurance
  • Seeking reassurance from others
  • Needing to tell, ask, or confess to others
  • Over-apologizing
  • Researching online for certainty or answers
  • Distracting from thoughts or trying to "fight" thoughts
  • Replacing "bad" thoughts or images with "good" ones
  • Thinking through past events to clarify what happened
  • Tapping, blinking, staring, or counting rituals
  • Needing to repeat routine activities "until it feels right"
  • Checking (locks, messages, symptoms, mistakes)
  • Cleaning, washing, sanitizing, or arranging
  • Mental checking (how you feel, what you meant, what you believe)
Anna Schneiderman's OCD therapy office workspace in Charlotte with professional OCD treatment books and resources
How I help

How I treat OCD and related disorders

My work is grounded in evidence-based therapy, with treatment selected based on your diagnosis, symptoms, and how your specific cycle shows up. For OCD, I rely on specialized approaches that directly target the mechanisms keeping the disorder going.

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is a specialized form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and is considered a gold-standard treatment for OCD. ERP focuses on changing behavioral responses to intrusive thoughts, urges, and uncertainty by reducing compulsions and avoidance.

By responding differently to fear-based triggers, the brain learns that anxiety can rise and fall without needing to be solved, neutralized, or reassured.

Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT)

Inference-Based CBT (I-CBT) is an evidence-based approach designed specifically for OCD. It focuses on the reasoning patterns that pull the mind into urgent, doubt-filled "what if" stories — even when nothing is actually happening.

I-CBT helps identify inferential confusion: the moment attention shifts away from present reality and into an imagined scenario. By slowing this shift and returning to what is concretely happening in the moment, obsessive doubt becomes less convincing and easier to step out of.

Specialized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Specialized CBT is adapted to the specific condition being treated rather than applied generically. It is commonly used for health anxiety, emetophobia, body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), perfectionism, and certain phobias where fear and avoidance play a central role.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT focuses on increasing psychological flexibility by helping people stay present with uncomfortable thoughts and sensations while continuing to move toward what matters to them, rather than organizing life around fear, control, or certainty.

Prolonged Exposure (PE)

Prolonged Exposure is an evidence-based treatment for trauma and PTSD. It helps individuals gradually approach trauma-related memories and situations in a structured way, reducing avoidance and distress over time.

Conditions Anna treats

How OCD and related disorders can show up

These are some of the most common concerns Anna treats in her practice. OCD and related disorders don't look the same for everyone. For some people, the struggle is loud and obvious. For others, it's quiet, internal, and exhausting in ways that are hard to explain. You might recognize yourself in one of these patterns — or notice overlap across several.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Intrusive thoughts, mental loops, reassurance-seeking, or rituals that don't bring lasting relief.

Learn about OCD therapy

Health Anxiety

Ongoing worry about symptoms or illness, even after reassurance or medical checks.

Explore health anxiety support

Emetophobia

Fear of vomiting that shapes food choices, travel, or comfort around other people.

See emetophobia treatment

Specific Phobias

Strong fear of certain situations or triggers that leads to avoidance and a shrinking comfort zone.

Learn about phobia therapy

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)

Distressing focus on perceived flaws that's hard to turn off or ignore.

Read about BDD support

Perfectionism

Pressure to get things "just right," paired with self-criticism, overthinking, or burnout.

Explore perfectionism therapy

Many people notice overlap across these patterns. That's common — especially with OCD and anxiety — and something therapy takes into account. Anna also works with related concerns like panic symptoms and anxiety patterns that don't fit neatly into one label.

Meet Anna

Meet Anna Schneiderman, MSW, LCSW

OCD and related disorders therapist in Charlotte · In-person + telehealth across NC & SC · Ages 16+

If your mind feels stuck on repeat, you're not alone. Many people I work with are exhausted from checking, replaying conversations, scanning for signs, or trying to reach a sense of certainty that never quite lasts.

Most of the people who come to me aren't new to anxiety. They've tried to reason with it, manage it, or push through it — often in therapy before — only to feel like the fear and doubt keep coming back. That's usually not because they didn't try hard enough. It's often because the approach didn't fully match what was happening.

I specialize in treating OCD and related disorders, and this work makes up the majority of my practice. About 70% of my caseload is people living with OCD and overlapping concerns like health anxiety, emetophobia, body-focused fears, and perfectionism. That depth matters. It means I see these patterns every day, across many different presentations, and know how subtle they can be.

My work is grounded in specialized training in evidence-based treatments, including Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and Inference-Based CBT (I-CBT) for OCD, along with condition-specific CBT and exposure-based approaches for non-OCD anxiety. I'm active in ongoing consultation and continue advanced training so my work stays current and precise.

Therapy with me is active and collaborative. When we use exposure, I don't just assign homework — I do exposures with you. We plan them carefully, move at a supportive pace, and talk through what's happening as it unfolds, so the learning actually sticks. Between sessions, you'll have clear, targeted practice that fits what we're working on together.

You won't be rushed or left to figure this out alone. My goal is to help you understand what's happening, respond differently to the cycle, and slowly get more space back in your life — with clarity, support, and steadiness along the way.

Request a consultation Read more about Anna

In-person in Charlotte, NC · Telehealth across NC & SC

Next step

You don't have to figure this out alone

If something on this page resonated, the next step doesn't have to be complicated. We can start with a simple conversation about what's been happening and what kind of support might be helpful.

Start with a conversation

You don't need a diagnosis or the right words to reach out.
In-person in Charlotte, NC · Telehealth across NC & SC