Meet Josh Kaplan, LCSW - Fort Collins OCD Therapist
If you’re living in Fort Collins and struggling with OCD, you may feel stuck in patterns that don’t make sense but still feel impossible to stop. Intrusive thoughts that won’t go away. Constant doubt. Mental reviewing. Reassurance seeking. Compulsions that provide brief relief, only for the anxiety to return stronger than before. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone, and effective help is available.
I’m Josh Kaplan, LCSW. I specialize in treating OCD and provide evidence based therapy to teens and adults in Fort Collins and throughout Northern Colorado through secure online sessions. My work is focused on helping people break the OCD cycle and regain a sense of calm, confidence, and freedom in their daily lives.
When OCD Starts Taking Over Your Life?
OCD is more than being anxious or detail oriented. It is a pattern of intrusive thoughts, images, or urges that trigger intense discomfort, followed by behaviors or mental rituals meant to reduce that distress. These responses might include checking, reviewing, analyzing, seeking reassurance, avoiding certain situations, or trying to “figure out” whether a fear is real.
Over time, OCD can take over your mental space. You may find yourself spending hours stuck in your head, questioning your thoughts, replaying conversations, or trying to feel certain that you are safe, good, or not at risk. Even when you recognize that the fear is irrational, the urge to respond can feel overwhelming.
Left untreated, OCD tends to shrink life. It can interfere with school, work, relationships, and your ability to be present. Many people with OCD feel frustrated, exhausted, and discouraged, especially if they have tried talk therapy or reassurance based approaches that did not help.
Specialized OCD Treatment for Fort Collins Residents
I work exclusively with anxiety disorders and OCD, including a wide range of OCD themes and presentations. I provide treatment to teens and adults in Fort Collins, including college students, working professionals, and individuals balancing family responsibilities.
Although my practice is based in Denver, I work with Fort Collins and Northern Colorado residents entirely through online therapy. This allows you to receive specialized OCD treatment without needing to commute or limit your options to general therapists in your immediate area. Online OCD therapy is effective, structured, and well suited for exposure based work.
Evidence-Based ERP Treatment That Targets OCD at the Core
OCD does not improve by analyzing thoughts more deeply, finding the perfect explanation, or learning how to reassure yourself better. In fact, those strategies often make symptoms worse over time.
The most effective treatment for OCD is Exposure and Response Prevention, or ERP, a specialized form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. ERP is considered the gold standard treatment for OCD and is strongly supported by decades of research.
ERP works by helping you gradually face feared thoughts, sensations, or situations while learning to resist the urge to engage in compulsions or mental rituals. Over time, your brain learns that anxiety can rise and fall on its own and that certainty is not required in order to live your life. This is how the OCD cycle weakens.
My approach is structured, collaborative, and tailored to your specific symptoms. We focus on changing how you respond to intrusive thoughts rather than trying to eliminate them.
Why Work With an OCD Specialist
OCD requires specialized treatment. Many well intentioned therapies unintentionally reinforce OCD by offering reassurance, encouraging excessive insight work, or avoiding feared material.
I have spent close to 15 years specializing in the treatment of anxiety disorders and OCD. My work is focused exclusively on evidence based approaches that are designed to reduce symptoms and support long term recovery. I do not use reassurance based therapy, and I do not treat OCD as a general anxiety issue.
Working with a specialist means receiving targeted treatment that addresses OCD directly, rather than strategies that provide short term relief but keep the cycle going.
What OCD Therapy Looks Like in Practice
Treatment begins with a clear understanding of how OCD shows up for you. Together, we identify your triggers, compulsions, avoidance patterns, and the core fears that keep the cycle going.
From there, we develop a gradual ERP plan that moves at a pace that is challenging but manageable. Sessions are active and focused. Between sessions, you will practice skills and exposures designed to help you apply what you are learning in real life.
Progress in OCD treatment is not about feeling calm all the time. It is about building the ability to tolerate uncertainty, discomfort, and doubt without letting OCD dictate your choices. Over time, this leads to meaningful and lasting change.
Start Therapy For OCD in Fort Collins, CO
If OCD has been controlling more of your life than you want, help is available. With the right treatment, it is possible to break out of the cycle and move forward with greater clarity and confidence.
I offer a free 20 minute online consultation to answer questions, discuss your symptoms, and help you determine whether my approach is the right fit.
CBT 4 Anxiety