About ACTOCD
We are the only outpatient treatment center in Texas specializing exclusively in OCD and OCD spectrum disorders. We recognize that people with OCD often have other conditions, such as depression, that need to be addressed, and we are prepared to treat those conditions ourselves as part of the OCD treatment or see that they are properly treated.
We offer a wide range of outpatient treatment options. including individual evaluations and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), group CBT, telephone therapy, intensive outpatient treatment, and medication. We treat children, adolescents, and adults.
Determining the appropriate type of treatment depends on a proper and thorough evaluation of the individual's strengths as well as needs. In addition to making an accurate diagnosis (or diagnoses, if there are multiple problems), we would want to know what treatments or strategies have been tried, what has been found helpful, and what has not. Also, non-clinical but real factors such as distance from our center and financial resources need to be considered.
Sometimes people have been so demoralized by years of unrelenting OCD symptoms that they think they need to be hospitalized. Hospitalization or a stay at a residential facility may or may not be a good choice. A course of proper outpatient therapy, perhaps intensive (several hours daily), may be just as effective at significantly less cost. We are not a residential facility, but we can arrange for nearby lodging for those coming from out of town for intensive treatment.
If you and we agree that medication might be a useful adjunct to CBT, you can be evaluated and treated by the psychiatrist associated with our center or by an outside psychiatrist. We also work with outside psychiatrists if you are already on medication. We take a team approach and consider the patient to be an important part of that team.
For more information or a for a free telephone consultation, please call us at (512) 327-9494 or e-mail us at info(at)austinocd.com.
The Staff of the Austin Center:
Bruce Mansbridge, PhD, Director, received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Boston University and is licensed as a psychologist in Texas and New York. He is on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation and is past president both of the Connecticut Behavior Therapy Association and of the Capital Area Psychological Association in Austin. He has been on the faculty of a number of the OCF's Behavior Therapy Institutes, teaching mental health professionals across the country how to treat OCD, and lectures nationally on OCD. For almost a decade, he answered questions about OCD at the "Ask The Experts" section of the OCF's web site. He is also clinical assistant professor of Psychology at the University of Texas in Austin. He specializes in treating OCD and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD).
Vicki Easterling, LCSW, specialist in children and adolescents, earned her masters degree in social work from the University of Houston and completed a postgraduate fellowship in family therapy at the Houston/Galveston Family Institute. She has experience working with children, adolescents, and adults, and has a special interest in family therapy as well as OCD. She is licensed as a clinical social worker in Texas and sees most of our children and adolescents.
Irene Tobis, PhD, psychologist, received her doctorate in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A pioneer in the treatment of compulsive hoarding since 1992, she served on the Hoarding Task Force of Dane County (Wisconsin) and also the Advisory Council of the National Study Group for Chronic Disorganization. She has written extensively, most recently for the Stopping Overshopping Program, and she has often been interviewed for local and national media. She provides training and consulting to professional organizers as well as mental health professionals. She is currently one of the few psychologists in the country specializing in the treatment of compulsive hoarding and its associated issues overshopping, procrastination, perfectionism, underachievement, and chronic disorganization.
Michael Schwartz, MD, psychiatrist, received his MD from Cornell Medical School and is board certified in general psychiatry. He is clinical professor of Psychiatry at the University of Hawaii and editor-in-chief of Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine (PEHM). He has authored over 100 articles, chapters and monographs on topics in general psychiatry, and has lectured nationally and internationally to mental health professionals and the general public. Dr Schwartz has been cited as an Exemplary Psychiatrist by NAMI, and is the recipient, at the University of Zurich, of the Egnar Award, "for contributions to a more human world in which people, with their mental needs, stand in the center."
Cindy Stappenbeck, MA is an intern at ACTOCD. She received her master’s degree in psychology from the University at Buffalo (NY) and moved to Austin in August of 2004 to begin the doctoral program in clinical psychology at the University of Texas. Cindy has been trained in the cognitive-behavioral model for treating mood and anxiety disorders, and while she is specifically interested in treating OCD, she has experience working with individuals with a wide range of difficulties, including relationship issues, substance abuse, unipolar depression, social phobia, panic disorder, and specific phobias.
Office staff:
Brooke Saucedo is the office manager for ACTOCD. She graduated from Southwest Texas State (a.k.a. Texas State University) in 2003 with a degree in biology and would like to return to graduate school to study nursing. She has several years’ experience working as an office manager in the medical field. Her interests include anthropobiology, anatomy, behavioral neuroscience, thought disorders, ecology and primatology. She enjoys meditating, yoga, taking her dog to the lake, swimming, hiking, camping, and enjoying Austin’s great live music.
For directions and a map to the Austin Center, click here.
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