The Tangled Narrative: When OCD Hides Inside Trauma

Live: July 22, 2026  | 12pm to 1pm Eastern

1 NBCC CE Available for live attendance

Topic Overview:

This presentation will explore differential diagnosis of OCD and PTSD. Often, OCD is misdiagnosed as trauma, anxiety, psychosis, and other disorders. It is one of the most misunderstood mental health conditions. I’ll explore how OCD might get missed in the context of trauma treatment, as well as explore common and less common presentations of OCD. I’ll then talk about how OCD will pull trauma events into its complexly woven narrative and use them as “evidence” for fear-based concerns. It’s important when working with OCD + PTSD to move beyond content and into process. If we only look at the content, we miss quite a bit. While the content of both can look similar, the processes are very different. I’ll also give a brief overview of evidence-based treatments for OCD, and explore treatment considerations for using EMDR with clients with OCD. Lastly, I’ll discuss how PTSD and trauma can complicate OCD treatment.