Why a Pre-Holiday Therapy Intensive Is the Best Gift You Can Give Yourself
The holidays are often described as “the most wonderful time of the year.” But if you live with anxiety or OCD, that phrase can sometimes feel more like pressure than promise. Between family gatherings, gift-giving, travel, and social expectations, this season can stir up stress and emotional exhaustion, especially for those who already feel pulled in many directions.
Many people don’t realize that there’s a way to feel grounded and prepared before the chaos begins. A pre-holiday therapy intensive can be the emotional reset you need to move into the season with more clarity, calm, and confidence.
Why the Holidays Can Be Emotionally Challenging
Even when you love the people and traditions around you, the holidays can bring a mix of complicated emotions. Family expectations, unresolved grief, perfectionism, and people-pleasing often resurface this time of year—making it harder to stay centered.
For individuals with OCD, the holidays can be especially triggering. Increased social gatherings mean more exposure to potential contamination fears, uncertainty, or disruption to your daily routines. The need to “get everything right” can become an exhausting mental loop—feeding anxiety and compulsions in an attempt to feel more in control.
When emotional fatigue and anxiety begin to take over, it’s easy to lose sight of what this season is meant to be about: connection, gratitude, and presence.
How a Therapy Intensive Can Help You Prepare
A holiday therapy intensive condenses weeks of progress into a single, focused experience designed to help you prepare emotionally and mentally for what’s ahead. Unlike traditional weekly sessions, intensives allow you to dive deep into your specific challenges and create a personalized roadmap for navigating the holiday season.
During a therapy intensive for OCD, we work together to:
Identify emotional triggers and patterns that tend to flare during the holidays
Strengthen coping tools for anxiety and perfectionism
Create exposure plans that target real-life holiday stressors (like contamination fears or intrusive thoughts)
Build flexibility and resilience, even when things don’t go as planned
With structured support, you can face the season with a sense of readiness instead of reactivity—knowing you have the tools to manage uncertainty and discomfort in real time.
Emotional Benefits of a Pre-Holiday Reset
Investing in an emotional reset before the holidays helps you enter the season with clarity, calm, and renewed energy. Rather than carrying anxiety into every interaction or event, you’ll have a grounded sense of control—one rooted in self-trust, not avoidance.
Clients often describe post-intensive feelings like:
Mental clarity about what actually matters this season
Calm confidence in handling triggers and stress
A deeper sense of connection with loved ones (and themselves)
This shift allows the holidays to feel lighter, more intentional, and more aligned with your values—not ruled by anxiety or fear.
Making Yourself a Priority
It’s easy to put your emotional needs last when everything around you feels urgent. But showing up for yourself first is what allows you to show up for others with genuine presence and peace. Scheduling a pre-holiday therapy intensive is not indulgent—it’s a form of self-care and emotional preparation.
This is your permission to pause, reset, and give yourself the support you deserve before the season begins.
Ready to Start Your Pre-Holiday Reset?
If you’re ready to enter the holidays feeling more grounded and less overwhelmed, now is the perfect time to schedule a holiday therapy intensive. Whether you’re navigating OCD, anxiety, or just feeling emotionally depleted, this intensive can help you reclaim calm before things get hectic.
Book your pre-holiday therapy intensive today—and give yourself the gift of peace of mind this season.
Dr. Rose Taveras is a licensed psychologist with nearly a decade of experience supporting clients in Roslyn, New York. She specializes in OCD and uses evidence-based approaches like Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) and Inference-based Cognitive Behavior Therapy (I-CBT) Therapy to help clients feel less controlled by intrusive thoughts, break compulsive cycles, and connect to their truest self. At RIT Psychology, she is committed to providing compassionate, expert care both in-person and online for clients across New York.
