Rafael Kichic, PhD

As the Director of the clinic, I receive a high volume of clinical referrals specifically for obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders. More than half of our active patient caseload meets criteria for OCD /BDD, Health Anxiety, or related conditions. Over the course of my 25 years specializing in this field, I have personally assessed/treated upwards of 500 patients presenting with OCD and well over 400 individuals with Tic Disorders.

Patients go through an intake evaluation first. We usually offer semi-intensive (twice per week), intensive (two hours per day for a month or as needed) or high intensive treatments (4 hs. per day) for patients with OCD (depends on therapist’s availability) and sometimes for BDD too. We provide exposure and response prevention therapy (EX/RP) in 90-120 minute sessions. Also, we provide sessions to family members to address family accommodation. For BDD´s we provide cognitive restructuring, EX/RP and perceptual retraining. Those with Tics Disorders, TTM or Skin Picking are offered habit reversal training in a weekly format. Those with eating disorders should be medically and nutritionally stabilized before starting OCD/BDD treatment. Regarding ADHD, we provide neuropsychological services to assist patients to adhere to the OCD treatment and give guidance to therapists. In autism and OCD we include the family in order to facilitate adherence to treatment and motivate patients to address their obsessional fears. Those severly depressed or comorbid with panic disorder/agoraphobia are offered CBT specific for those disorders first so that they are able to get as much benefit as possible from EX/RP treatment.

Garduado en Universidad de Buenos Aires y obtuve mi doctorado en Universidad de Palermo. Dirijo el Centro de Ansiedad y Trastornos Relacionados (CEAN) y una Maestría en TCC, Universidad de Palermo. Con formación extensa en TOC en el CTSA, UPenn (Directora Dra. Foa) y me formé en TC en UPenn. Asistí a talleres sobre TOC/Tics/BDD impartidos por Drs. Franklin, Woods y Wilhelm. Trabajé seis años en clínica de Tics/TOC, dirigí la Clínica de Ansiedad, INECO. Consultor en un estudio piloto y en un ensayo de eficacia de Terapia de PE en población hispana con trauma. Soy entrenador certificado en PE.