If anxiety or OCD feels like it’s dictating your life—or you’re exhausted from managing your mind—I can help you get unstuck with a plan that’s both compassionate and precise.
My work meets you at the intersection of:
- Anxiety symptoms that narrow life (GAD, panic, health anxiety, phobias, avoidance, intolerance of uncertainty)
- OCD cycles and intrusive thoughts (including mental compulsions, checking, reassurance loops, rumination)
- Body-focused repetitive behaviors (hair pulling/trichotillomania, skin picking, shame and stuckness)
- Trauma-shaped anxiety (when past experiences keep showing up as intrusive thoughts, reactivity, or a constant sense that something’s wrong—even when you’re safe now)
- Culture, identity, and family expectations (especially when anxiety and perfectionism are tied to roles, belonging, or “being the strong one”)
- Parenting and family stress under pressure (new parents/perinatal anxiety, caregiver overwhelm, communication + boundaries)
Warm, structured support for stepping out of mental loops — and back into your life.
Dr. Rutuja Chinchinkar (“Dr. Ru”) works with clients navigating anxiety, OCD, and the mental loops that can make life feel smaller than it should. She brings calm structure to the room, and she draws on her experience treating a range of symptom severity, including crisis stabilization. So whether your symptoms feel relentless and urgent—or quieter but still exhausting—you don’t have to worry that your symptoms are too much or not enough to deserve support here.
Dr. Ru is highly trained in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) for anxiety OCD, and she uses EMDR to support clients when trauma, intrusive beliefs, or threat responses are keeping anxiety locked in place. She also provides care for new parents and overwhelmed caregivers navigating high-stress seasons and the anxiety that comes with them.
Psychological Associate,
PSB 94028221 (California)
Dr. Ru (Rutuja) Chinchinkar, PsyD
We’ll use evidence-based strategies to help you step out of intrusive-thought loops, reassurance cycles, and avoidance—so your world expands instead of shrinking. As clarity grows, old patterns loosen, and your boundaries, relationships, and choices begin to shift toward a life that feels more authentically yours.
Liberating
Your story didn’t begin with you. We make space for culture, identity, family expectations, and generational narratives that shape anxiety, guilt, perfectionism, and “being the strong one”—so care fits your real life, not just a symptom list.
Culturally Grounded + Identity-Aware
I pay attention to the emotional layers beneath your words and make space for you to feel understood without having to over-explain. We’ll go at a pace that feels steady, honest, and supportive—especially when anxiety and shame have made it hard to be fully seen.
Warm + Emotionally Safe
You won’t be left guessing what we’re doing. I’m warm, engaged, and straightforward—naming patterns clearly and building a shared map of what’s driving symptoms and what will shift them.
Grounded + Direct
My Approach
- Anxiety disorders: GAD, panic, health anxiety, phobias
- OCD and intrusive thoughts, including mental compulsions + reassurance cycles
- Anxiety-driven behaviors: avoidance, rumination, perfectionism, intolerance of uncertainty
- Body-focused repetitive behaviors : trichotillomania / hair pulling, skin picking
- Trauma-shaped anxiety; stuck intrusive beliefs and threat responses
- New parents; perinatal anxiety; caregiver overwhelm
- Family therapy: boundaries, communication, conflict patterns
- Bicultural stress, identity development, belonging
- Neurodivergence-affirming therapy
Areas of clinical focus
- Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Family therapy and parent consultation
- Culturally responsive, identity-aware care
Advanced modalities
- Psychological Associate (CA),supervised by Dr. Christina Chick (PSY 33812)
- Clinical Internship, Fairfax Hospital, Kirkland, WA (Seattle area)
- Clinical training, Adult Crisis Stabilization Unit (Inpatient crisis intervention)
- PsyD, Clinical Psychology, Western Kentucky University
- University instructor, Psychopathology and counseling skills (graduate level)
TRAINING & CREDENTIALS
Dr. Ru’s foundation is in understanding how anxiety and OCD actually operate: Avoidance, reassurance, checking, and overperforming offer short-term relief while quietly training the brain to stay “on alert.” That lens is shaped by experience across a wide range of acuity, including crisis stabilization, and it shows up in the way she plans treatment: clear targets, steady pacing, and interventions aimed at the loop—not the storyline—of the thought.
With advanced training in ERP, she helps clients practice a new relationship with uncertainty, intrusive thoughts, and compulsive loops. When anxiety is shaped by trauma responses or stuck threat beliefs, she integrates EMDR to help the nervous system update what it still thinks is dangerous. And because she’s identity-aware and culturally grounded, her work makes room for the family roles, expectations, and belonging dynamics that often intensify anxiety—so relief doesn’t require leaving your real life behind.
