Perinatal obsessive-compulsive disorder (pOCD): Diagnosis and treatment

Strengthen your ability to distinguish perinatal OCD from other mental health concerns and plan individualized treatment.

This professional workshop, delivered over two half-days, offers a comprehensive, evidence-based framework for understanding and treating the often complex and hidden experience of perinatal obsessive-compulsive disorder (pOCD) with scary/intrusive thoughts.

Attendees will learn how to:

• Assess for pOCD with language that reduces stigma and encourages disclosure
• Differentiate high-risk from low-risk symptoms
• Engage in differential diagnosis when pOCD symptoms are present
• Help clients understand their symptoms
• Work together with clients to co-create treatment plans

This webinar equips health professionals working with perinatal populations with the clarity, compassion, and confidence to successfully identify, differentiate, diagnose (if appropriate), and treat perinatal OCD.

Day One | Foundations of perinatal OCD: Identifying and diagnosing pOCD

This day will include the prevalence of pOCD, symptom profile, diagnostic criteria, and how to differentiate pOCD from postpartum psychosis, perinatal anxiety, and normal thoughts during this period. Participants will explore common themes, how the symptoms show up (and how the stigma often leads parents to suffer in silence), and the ongoing effects of world events and the pandemic on perinatal mental health. Participants will learn to assess using language that reduces stigma and helps to encourage disclosure, and to differentiate high-risk from lower-risk symptoms.

Learning objectives:

• Identify symptoms of pOCD
• Differentiate symptoms from other perinatal mental health concerns
• Assess for pOCD using language that reduces stigma and encourages disclosure
• Distinguish high-risk from low-risk presentations to ensure the appropriate level of support is given while avoiding unnecessary or harmful interventions
• Explain pOCD to clients in ways that help them understand themselves in a non-judgmental way

Day Two | In-depth treatment of perinatal OCD

This day delves into the clinical decision-making and skills needed to treat pOCD effectively. Participants will explore the unique ways that clinicians need to modify treatment approaches such as psychoeducation, CBT, DBT, ACT, Inference-based CBT and other specialized approaches for this population. Participants will also discuss common pitfalls in the use of these tools. They will address treatment planning, including how to select, combine, and sequence the tools. Participants will use case conceptualizations and decision-making exercises to help develop a more nuanced approach to the treatment of pOCD.

Learning objectives:

• Understand how treatments for perinatal OCD are different than approaches for similar-seeming symptoms outside the perinatal period
• Select, combine, and sequence treatment approaches based on the client’s pOCD presentation
• Develop individualized case conceptualizations for evidence-based treatments for clients with pOCD
• Demonstrate effective use of clinical strategies that reduce stigma, enhance the working relationship with perinatal clients, and help them address and work through intrusive thoughts and compulsive urges.

Agenda:

Day One – Foundations of perinatal OCD: Identifying and diagnosing pOCD (3 hours)

• Understanding perinatal OCD symptoms and differential diagnosis concepts
• Learn how to identify pOCD symptoms and promote truthful disclosure in the diagnostic process
• Ten-minute break
• Demonstrate/practice skills to engage in the differential diagnostic process for pOCD symptoms

Day Two – In-depth treatment of perinatal OCD (3 hours)

• Understanding the complexities of treating perinatal OCD and how that affects choice and implementation of treatment approaches
• Discussion of the various treatment options for pOCD
• Ten-minute break
• Demonstrating/practicing skills to develop and implement treatment plans for pOCD
• Complex case presentations

Join Kristine Aanderson to strengthen your ability to recognize perinatal OCD, distinguish it from other perinatal mental health concerns, reduce stigma in assessment and develop individualized treatment plans that respond to clients’ needs. Reserve your spot now.