This presentation was last reviewed on September 26, 2025, and broadcast live online on June 30, 2023, from 12:00 PM- 1:00 PM ET.

Few providers treat both OCD and Substance Use Disorder (SUD), yet the need is clear. A 2025 review estimates lifetime co-occurrence rates between 4.3–62.4% (Akosile et al., 2025). Even the lowest end of that range means most clinicians will encounter patients struggling with both. When OCD and SUD interact, the consequences can be devastating. Drinking to escape intrusive thoughts or being triggered after substance use can create a feedback loop that risks overdose and death. Treating one disorder in isolation often leads to relapse in the other. Because these conditions share underlying processes, effective care requires addressing both together. This presentation introduces a unified framework for conceptualizing OCD and SUD, highlighting how Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can support their concurrent treatment and help close the current provider gap.

This presentation was originally reviewed on August 11, 2025, and live streamed online on August 15, 2025, from 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm ET.

Many clinicians are familiar with Exposure and Response Prevention, an evidence-based treatment designed to dismantle the system of behavioral reinforcement that perpetuates OCD. It can be challenging to translate these principles to mental behaviors, as clinicians and clients alike can struggle find ways to disengage from mental compulsions and rumination without falling into the trap of distraction or thought suppression. This presentation will give clinicians concrete tools to help clients build awareness of mental compulsions and practice a variety of non-engagement strategies.

This presentation was originally reviewed on May 29, 2025, and live streamed online on May 30, 2025, from 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm ET.

Ongoing disparities in behavioral health care are being intensified by shifts in policy and reductions in community-based services and supports. These changes have impacted client well-being, access to care, and trust in mental health systems. Many providers are seeking guidance on how to navigate these complex challenges in a respectful and inclusive way. This training offers practical strategies to help clinicians provide responsive, equity-informed care that supports all clients within today’s evolving social and policy landscape.

Maladaptive relationship patterns that are learned in early attachment relationships can be replicated with others in adulthood in predictable patterns referred to as “copy process” in Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy (IRT, Benjamin, 2003/2006; 2018). The underlying attachment-based motivations to repeat old patterns can provide barriers to response to standard treatments while also holding the keys to change with even difficult or “stuck” cases. This presentation will provide an overview of IRT principles, including review of empirical evidence supporting their use. Case illustrations will emphasize use of an interpersonal case formulation to tailor treatment for severe and chronic problems involving diagnostic comorbidity and personality pathology. Ultimately, IRT seeks to help patients become aware of copied interpersonal and intrapsychic patterns, and the role they play in maintaining connection with internalized attachment figures. From there, the goal is to help a patient differentiate from the “family in the head” and pursue healthy behaviors and self-concepts.

The first annual Sheppard Pratt and Mid-Atlantic OCD Conference sponsored by Sheppard Pratt and OCD Mid-Atlantic (an affiliate of the International OCD Foundation) is a day of advanced continuing education and destigmatization about obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It features professional workshops from experts in the field on topics including pediatric OCD, Tourettic OCD, the use of technology in OCD treatment, and the history and evolution of OCD psychiatry. The day concludes with a lived experience panel featuring individuals affected by OCD who will share about their journeys to manage the condition.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is a complex condition that continues to be underrecognized and misdiagnosed. Despite similarities to OCD, BDD presents with unique clinical challenges, including higher overvalued ideation, treatment ambivalence, reliance on cosmetic and dermatological procedures, depression, shame, isolation, and suicidality. Standard evidenced based treatment based for OCD is therefore inadequate to address the full scope of BDD symptomatology. This lecture will explain the cognitive behavioral treatment for BDD and introduce additional strategies to enhance treatment outcome. These include a larger focus on engagement via a shared formulation with the client as well as incorporating a variety of techniques such as: dialectical behavior therapy, perceptual re-training, compassion focused therapy, and attentional training.

This presentation was originally reviewed on May 12, 2025, and live streamed online on May 16, 2025, from 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm ET.