Inference-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT)

Dr. Vivyan has studied I-CBT in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in children, teens, and young adults. She has read and utilized the Clinician's Handbook for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with clients aged 12 and older. Dr. Vivyan also regularly consults on I-CBT ideas and applications with providers familiar with this treatment modality, including conversations with Dr. Frederick Aardema himself. See icbtonline.com for more information and materials used in therapy sessions.

I am trained in Inference-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT), which is an evidence-based treatment for OCD. I-CBT is a compassionate and effective form of psychotherapy that addresses obsessional doubt and does not require the use of exposures.

I have attended multiple trainings run by early adopters of I-CBT in the United States. I also participate in an I-CBT consultation group with a clinician who developed many of the materials used by I-CBT clinicians and clients. In 2023, as part of OCD Awareness Week, I presented on I-CBT as part of an "Ask the Experts Panel."

Evidence-based treatment for OCD

Inference-based CBT has over 20 years of research and is an emerging model in the US. ICBT thinks about OCD differently than other therapy models in that it posits obsessions and the faulty reasoning process as what drives the OCD cycle. Intrusive thoughts are not random, they are constructed, which means you can learn to de-construct OCD. It is highly effective at treating OCD and is more of a cognitive model. You can read more about it here: https://icbt.online/what-is-icbt/

I-CBT is a non-exposure based treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). OCD involves obsessional thoughts, images or urges, and related compulsive actions or mental ruminations. OCD can often co-occur with other neurodivergence, such as ADHD and Autism. I have found I-CBT to be a wonderful way to both conceptualize and treat OCD, and have seen wonderful results with my clients.

As a person who lives with OCD, who has used ACT and ERP, I felt something was missing from each modality that I couldn't seem to figure out until I discovered Inference Based CBT. While traditional CBT is often not helpful for Neurodivergent individuals, I-CBT is different in that it encourages us to seek the root of the obsessional thought patterns to help support the underlying need in order to keep these looping thoughts from occurring at the intensity they have been at their source.

Anxiety tells scary things are always possible, maybe even likely going to happen! What if they do? Anxiety wants us to respond to these possibilities, because after all, they COULD happen. ICBT helps us learn to distinguish the present moment we can sense, AKA, the here and now, from our imagination, so we can better determine when we are getting sucked into a scary story that we feel we need to act on. When we learn this, we become free from obsessing on what could be, and live in what is.