Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder co-occur at rates that are substantially higher than population prevalence of OCD alone. Estimates suggest that between 17% and 37% of autistic individuals meet diagnostic criteria for OCD, though accurate prevalence is complicated by the diagnostic overlap between the two conditions.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via Queens University Belfast
Take This Course →Including ethics, supervision, and topics like this one. New live CEU every Wednesday.
Join Free →OCD is a particularly debilitating and chronic condition that is often misdiagnosed, unrecognized, or ignored in individuals with ASD. Major challenges for practitioners include differentiating between the core features of ASD and OCD, and designing effective, function-based treatments. While Exposure with Response Prevention (ERP) represents the gold-standard treatment for OCD, Autistic individuals require individualized treatment modifications, greater focus on family support, programming for skills development, and prolonged generalization training and transition services. This talk will discuss evidence-based recommendations for the assessment and treatment of OCD from a behavior analytic perspective, and considerations for fostering long-term resilience, courage and flexibility in children and young people with ASD.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1 | General |
Evelyn R. Gould, PhD, BCBA-D, CPsychol (they/she) is a clinical behavior analyst and licensed psychologist from Northern Ireland who has provided clinical services to families for two decades in addition to engaging in applied research and scholarship. They are also a trainer and supervisor at The New England Center for OCD and Anxiety, an assistant clinical professor at Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, and a research associate in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Evelyn is passionate about the dissemination of contextual behavioral science and addressing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion within and outside of behavior analysis. She is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, and her work reflects personal and professional values of authenticity, compassion, collaboration, humility, and social justice. They currently reside in Los Angeles, California, with their partner and three cats.
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.