Tierney McMahon, PhD

My practice primarily focuses on OCD and anxiety disorder treatment in adolescents and adults. I combine Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which focuses on acceptance of difficult emotions and noticing thoughts without struggling, with Exposure and Response Prevention to address repetitive negative thoughts (rumination, obsession), avoidance, and other inflexible or unhelpful emotion driven behaviors (compulsions, reactivity). About 1/3 of my clients have OCD as a primary diagnosis, with the remainder of my clients having an anxiety or trauma-related primary diagnosis.

My primary modality is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, a transdiagnostic approach to therapy that addresses common processes across mental health disorders, especially avoidance and repetitive negative thought. I treat conditions that tend to co-occur with OCD, such as Generalized Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Panic, PTSD, and Depression. I structure treatment according to the client’s presenting needs and stated goals, which often involves values-informed exposures, behavior change strategies, mindfulness practice to help develop acceptance and skills related to noticing thoughts without getting caught up in them, and developing flexibility in coping with symptoms.

I completed my PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University at Buffalo, where my research and clinical training was focused on the assessment and treatment of anxiety and mood disorders. I completed a 1 year postdoctoral fellowship at the Sleep and Anxiety Treatment and Research Program at the Medical University of South Carolina, where I primarily treated anxiety disorders, including OCD. I then completed a 2 year postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University focused on the dissemination and effectiveness of mindfulness-based therapies for youth with anxiety. I regularly participate in consultation groups focused on ACT and/or OCD.