​The Westwood Institute for Anxiety Disorders, Inc. was founded in response to the lack of expertise and successful treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). In 1994, upon completing her training with Dr. Edna Foa, an internationally renowned authority on the psychopathology and treatment of anxiety, Dr. Gorbis was granted the use of Dr. Foa's intensive method involving prolonged and repeated exposures and response prevention (ERP) for treating OCD. Dr. Gorbis had much success treating patients at the UCLA OCD Outpatient Program with the intensive ERP method, and many patients suffering from OCD came from around the world to seek this treatment for their debilitating condition.

 

In 1996, Dr. Gorbis began working with Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, and continued treating OCD patients using mindful awareness training and the 4-step method. Dr. Gorbis later integrated part of the 4-step method and mindful awareness training with the intensive ERP method in her attempt to improve treatment outcome. Due to the success and overwhelming response of her intensive integrated method, Dr. Gorbis established the Westwood Institute for Anxiety Disorders, Inc. in 1997 to better serve the community. Since then, Dr. Gorbis has successfully treated numerous patients from many parts of the world suffering from severe OCD, and has trained many clinicians from the United States and across the world on her intensive integrated method.

 

The mission of Westwood Institute for Anxiety Disorders, Inc. is to properly train clinicians to be effective in treating OCD, to improve OCD treatment through rigorous research, to eliminate the stigma attached to OCD through media appearances, and to disseminate knowledge of OCD through public education.