Obsessive compulsive disorder - OCD treatment and therapy from NOCD

From Neighborhood Therapist To OCD Specialist: Journey of Dr. Patrick McGrath

5 min read
Patrick Carey
By Patrick Carey

Today we’re excited to share this story by Patrick McGrath, PhD, about his journey to becoming an OCD expert. Dr. McGrath is Executive Director of the Foglia Family Foundation Residential Treatment Center.

If you want to stop a party dead in its tracks, tell a room full of people that you run an OCD treatment center. Everyone will turn to you and say they either “have a little OCD” or know someone who does.

I was the neighborhood therapist: think of Lucy and her Psychiatric Help for 5¢ booth in the Peanuts cartoons. But my version was sitting in my basement, on the phone with people I’d never met, talking with them about their problems and offering advice. Most of the time, I never met them — these friends of friends who’d heard I was a good listener.

While this will reveal my age, my parents actually got call waiting because I was on the phone so much and my dad was having trouble getting through to tell my mom he was leaving work and could stop at the store.

Fast forward to college, where I was a psychology major and got a chance to intern at the Anxiety Disorders Clinic at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, under the direction of Dr. Timothy Bruce. I learned about the importance of assessment and data collection, as well as the new treatments that were emerging for panic disorder and other anxiety-based conditions. For my senior thesis, I collected data suggesting that benzodiazepines actually interfered with therapy for anxiety-based disorders.

After graduating, I got my MA in Clinical Psychology from Mississippi State University and then my PhD in Clinical Psychology at Northern Illinois University. Interestingly, I did not work in anxiety disorders at either of these universities. But I did get a solid basis in cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, which I still use today.

My internship was at Grand Valley State University in their Career Planning and Counseling Center, and it was the first time I really got to practice using CBT with patients. I’ve gotten a lot better at it since then, I admit, but I do think I was able to help the people who came to work with me.

I went on to complete a postdoctoral fellowship at the St. Louis Behavioral Medicine Institute, under the direction of Dr. C. Alec Pollard. Working with Dr. Pollard changed everything, and one week into my fellowship I knew my career would be in exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy — it just clicked with me and my personality. I knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my professional life.

It’s been a great choice. I’ve been able to work with great colleagues through organizations like the International OCD Foundation, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, and the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. I have had the opportunity to train over 100 students and interns, give over 450 talks and conference presentations, author or co-author over 15 publications, and even appear on television and radio as an expert in the area of anxiety disorders.

Patrick McGrath, PhD speaking at Community Consolidated School District 93

But most of all, together with the incredible people I’ve trained, I have been able to help thousands of anxious individuals get the help they need to live their lives without being so intensely influenced by their anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or substance use disorder (SUD).

I appreciate people like Dr. David Valentiner, who recommended me for my first manager job at Linden Oaks Hospital, where I opened an anxiety treatment center; and Clayton Ciha, who hired me at the Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital (now part of AMITA Health) to open a partial hospital program for anxiety. Clayton trusted me enough a decade later to name me Executive Director of the Foglia Family Foundation Residential Treatment Center.

Today, I continue to see patients who are anxious and have expanded my role to treat addictions. I look forward to the next decade, as I foresee that technology will be used increasingly often in therapy. We will learn more about the brain and the way it works, allowing us to provide targeted therapies to those who might currently be labeled as “treatment-resistant.”

I would love to help anyone out there who suffers from an anxiety-based disorder. There is help available to you. You don’t need to go through this alone.

Thanks to Dr. McGrath for this great post! It’s always helpful to learn  what clinicians experience throughout their journey.


At NOCD, all therapists specialize in OCD and receive ERP-specific training. Did you know that ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention) therapy is most effective when the therapist conducting the treatment has experience with OCD and training in ERP.? Schedule a free call today with a member of the NOCD clinical team to learn more about how a licensed OCD therapist can help you get better. This consultation is free and doesn’t take very long—and it could be one of the most important calls you ever make.

NOCD Therapists specialize in treating OCD

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Taylor Newendorp

Taylor Newendorp

Network Clinical Training Director

I started as a therapist over 14 years ago, working in different mental health environments. Many people with OCD that weren't being treated for it crossed my path and weren't getting better. I decided that I wanted to help people with OCD, so I became an OCD therapist, and eventually, a clinical supervisor. I treated people using Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and saw people get better day in and day out. I continue to use ERP because nothing is more effective in treating OCD.

Gary Vandalfsen

Gary Vandalfsen

Licensed Therapist, Psychologist

I’ve been practicing as a licensed therapist for over twenty five years. My main area of focus is OCD with specialized training in Exposure and Response Prevention therapy. I use ERP to treat people with all types of OCD themes, including aggressive, taboo, and a range of other unique types.

Madina Alam

Madina Alam

Director of Therapist Engagement

When I started treating OCD, I quickly realized how much this type of work means to me because I had to learn how to be okay with discomfort and uncertainty myself. I’ve been practicing as a licensed therapist since 2016. My graduate work is in mental health counseling, and I use Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy because it’s the gold standard of OCD treatment.

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