The past few months officially win for the worst bout of OCD, so I decided to take a leave of absence from work and go to a full-time OCD treatment facility. There was much discussion with both Dr. Psychiatrist and Dr. Psychologist about where to go, after which they agreed that the UCLA program was the best for me. It turned out that I wouldn't be able to start immediately (the wait list was 3-5 weeks for an intake appointment, followed by 3-5 months to actually start), so they came up with some other choices. I ended up picking a place that a) is local, b) has an outpatient program, and c) I could start immediately.

After an onsite interview and tour, I signed up. My morning now consist of an hour of exposures, an hour with my therapist, an hour of OCD group therapy, and another hour of exposures. Sometimes the hour with my therapist includes exposures as well. So, what exactly are exposures? By exposing myself to the things that make my anxiety spike, eventually I habituate and they don't make me as anxious. In other words, pure torture. Two to three hours of torture a day, five days a week. Fun.

In the mean time, they have their own Dr. Psychiatrist on staff. This Dr. Psychiatrist talked with my Dr. Psychiatrist, and they attempted to switch me from Lexapro to Clomipramine. I say attempted because the Clomipramine made me dizzy and wonky. 

I suspect the good doctors are cooking up their next experiment for me, but I won't find out what's in store until my next psychiatry appointment on Tuesday morning.