Behavioral Therapies & Treatment Models

Written By Brandon Gimbel

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) are among the most effective, evidence-based approaches for treating anxiety and OCD. In these videos, North Shore clinicians explain how CBT helps patients shift unhelpful thought patterns, how ERP builds tolerance for distress through structured exposure, and how ACT supports meaningful behavior change by helping patients make space for discomfort rather than avoid it. Across these approaches, small, uncomfortable steps often lead to lasting change.

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Melanie Santos, Psy.D.: A Personal Entry into Exposure Therapy
Melanie Santos, Psy.D.: A Personal Entry into Exposure Therapy

In this clip, Dr. Melanie Santos explores how subtle safety behaviors—like reassurance seeking or avoidance—can interfere with progress in OCD treatment. She explains how identifying and reducing these behaviors is a key part of ERP.

Tory Krone, AM, LCSW: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Tory Krone, AM, LCSW: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

What makes ACT different from traditional CBT? Tory explains how ACT shifts the focus from challenging thoughts to noticing them, asking whether they’re useful, and orienting behavior around values instead of symptom control.

Tory Krone, AM, LCSW: ACT Defusion Techniques
Tory Krone, AM, LCSW: ACT Defusion Techniques

Why take thoughts less seriously? Tory walks through ACT’s playful defusion strategies, from repeating words until they lose meaning to thanking the mind for its chatter — all ways of loosening thought’s grip.

Tory Krone, AM, LCSW: Values as the Map in ACT
Tory Krone, AM, LCSW: Values as the Map in ACT

What does it mean to live by values? Tory explains how ACT turns values into active commitments — not abstract categories, but concrete ways of showing up. Values become the life map that guides therapy.

Tory Krone, AM, LCSW: The Acceptance of Anxiety in ACT
Tory Krone, AM, LCSW: The Acceptance of Anxiety in ACT

Why does fighting anxiety make it worse? Tory shows how ACT normalizes fear, distinguishing between everyday worry and panic. By accepting discomfort, we stop feeding the spiral of “anxiety about anxiety.”

Tory Krone, AM, LCSW: The Relationship Between Mindfulness and ACT
Tory Krone, AM, LCSW: The Relationship Between Mindfulness and ACT

Why keep coming back to the present moment? Tory describes how ACT borrows from mindfulness, using anchors and awareness to notice thoughts without trying to eliminate them — choosing instead to return, over and over, to what matters.

Michael Blumberg, LCPC: What is CBT?
Michael Blumberg, LCPC: What is CBT?

Michael Blumberg breaks down Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), explaining how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected. He shares how CBT helps patients shift patterns by focusing on concrete, present-moment strategies.

Melanie Santos, Psy.D.: Safety behaviors in ERP
Melanie Santos, Psy.D.: Safety behaviors in ERP

In this clip, Dr. Melanie Santos explores how subtle safety behaviors—like reassurance seeking or avoidance—can interfere with progress in OCD treatment. She explains how identifying and reducing these behaviors is a key part of ERP.

Melanie Santos, Psy.D.: What is ERP?
Melanie Santos, Psy.D.: What is ERP?

Dr. Melanie Santos explains how ERP works to treat OCD. She outlines how gradual, supported exposure to feared thoughts—without engaging in rituals—can reduce anxiety over time and restore a sense of control.

Brandon Gimbel
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