Specialized OCD Treatment. Grounded in Science.
Advanced Behavioral Health provides specialized, evidence-based treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder, sleep issues, and anxiety-related conditions.
Our approach combines clinical expertise, psychological science, and individualized treatment to help clients change the patterns that keep OCD and anxiety in control. Treatment emphasizes practical skills, measurable progress, and the development of greater tolerance for uncertainty and distress.
OCD Requires More Than General Therapy.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a complex condition that can easily be misunderstood or unintentionally reinforced when treatment is not specifically designed around the mechanisms that maintain OCD.
Accurate Recognition Matters
OCD does not always look like excessive cleaning or checking. It may involve intrusive thoughts, religious scrupulosity, relationship fears, morality concerns, health fears, mental rituals, reassurance seeking, or countless other themes. Specialized treatment begins with understanding how OCD actually presents.
Reassurance Can Strengthen OCD
Traditional supportive strategies can sometimes provide short-term relief while unintentionally strengthening the obsessive-compulsive cycle. Effective OCD treatment focuses on changing the person's relationship with uncertainty rather than repeatedly trying to prove that feared outcomes will not occur.
ERP Requires Clinical Precision
Exposure and Response Prevention is considered a leading evidence-based treatment for OCD, but ERP is more than simply confronting fears. Effective treatment requires careful identification of obsessions, compulsions, avoidance, reassurance, mental rituals, and subtle safety behaviors.
Intrusive Thoughts Need the Right Response
Trying to suppress, analyze, neutralize, or obtain certainty about intrusive thoughts often makes them more powerful. Specialized OCD treatment teaches a different response: allowing uncertainty while reducing compulsive attempts to solve or control the thought.
Treatment Targets the OCD Cycle
Specialized care focuses not only on what a person fears, but on the behavioral cycle that keeps the fear alive: obsession, distress, compulsion, temporary relief, and renewed doubt. Treatment is designed to interrupt that cycle at its source.
The Goal Is Greater Freedom
Successful OCD treatment is not about eliminating every unwanted thought or achieving perfect certainty. It is about developing the ability to experience thoughts, doubt, and discomfort without allowing OCD to dictate behavior and important life decisions.
Specialized treatment focuses on the mechanism, not just the symptom.
At Advanced Behavioral Health, OCD treatment is built around evidence-based principles, including Exposure and Response Prevention, cognitive and behavioral strategies, and an individualized understanding of the compulsive patterns that maintain symptoms.
David R. Stephens, LPC-S, NCC
Specialized clinical experience, advanced OCD training, and an ongoing commitment to the intersection of psychological treatment, neuroscience, and research.
David R. Stephens
David Stephens is a Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor and National Certified Counselor whose clinical work is focused on specialized, evidence-based treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder and related conditions.
Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor
David is a Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor (LPC-S) through the Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling, reflecting both professional licensure and authorization to provide clinical supervision.
National Certified Counselor
David is a National Certified Counselor (NCC) through the National Board for Certified Counselors, a national professional certification recognizing established standards in counselor education, examination, and professional practice.
Specialized Training in ERP
David has completed specialized training in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) through the International OCD Foundation. ERP is a leading evidence-based behavioral treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Extensive Clinical Experience
David brings 23 years of clinical experience in the field of OCD and 15 years of clinical experience working with insomnia. This combination has contributed to a particular interest in the interaction between sleep, arousal, cognitive functioning, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
Exploring the Relationship Between Sleep, OCD, and Glutamate
As part of his ongoing interest in research, David is currently studying the relationship between non-restorative sleep and obsessive-compulsive disorder, with particular interest in the role of glutamate, the brain's primary excitatory neurotransmitter. His work reflects a broader scientist-practitioner approach that seeks to integrate emerging neuroscience with thoughtful, evidence-based clinical practice. David also maintains collaborative professional relationships with neuroscientists across the country as part of his continuing interest in the neurobiology of OCD, sleep, and behavioral health.
With more than two decades of clinical experience, specialized training in Exposure and Response Prevention, and a sustained focus on OCD, David is widely regarded as one of Alabama's leading OCD specialists. His clinical philosophy emphasizes focused expertise, evidence-based intervention, and continued engagement with developments in psychological science and neuroscience.
Expertise:
People who suffer with OCD often go undiagnosed and are left feeling helpless.
Sleep is vital. Lack of restorative sleep has detrimental consequences.
ABH is a training facility for Interns, ALCs, and CEUs.
Advanced Behavioral Health was founded in 2014 with the goal of providing the most advanced, comprehensive, evidenced based treatment for OCD and Insomnia in Huntsville, Alabama.
At Advanced Behavioral Health, we help our clients achieve their goals by utilizing the latest research in neuroscience, techniques, and technology in ERP and CBT-I.
Why Clients Choose Advanced Behavioral Health:
OCD Specialty Practice - ERP-Trained Clinicians - 23+ Years Clinical Experience
David R. Stephens, LPC-S, NCC, has both personal and clinical experience with OCD
"I've had a life long struggle with OCD. I was on the verge of giving up, so I reached out to Dave for help. Best decision I have ever made. He is the real deal when it comes to treatment of OCD. I have improved immensely in the 8 months I've worked with him. He had his own experience with OCD, so I appreciate someone knowing what I am talking about."
- Ben B,
Huntsville, Alabama
"Advanced Behavioral Health was a turning point for me. Professional, compassionate, and most of all, got me out of the hole I was in for so long. After years of being misdiagnosed, David got it right. I’m truly grateful."
- Missy W,
Lubbock, Texas