Helen Blair Simpson

Overview

Helen Blair Simpson is the OCD researcher and clinician cited in the Huberman Lab OCD Essentials episode for a structured exposure and ritual-prevention treatment protocol.

Current Profile

In Essentials: The Science & Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Andrew Huberman names Simpson as a leading OCD researcher and clinician at Columbia University School of Medicine. The full episode, The Science & Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), corroborates her methodological role: she anchors the description of Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD as planned, progressive in-vivo or imaginal exposure followed by prevention of the usual ritual or compulsion. The sources describe two planning sessions followed by roughly 15 exposure sessions, often twice weekly or more, with homework and sometimes home observation to surface context-bound avoidance.

Key Characteristics

• Serves as the source’s named expert for clinician-guided OCD exposure and ritual-prevention treatment.
• Connects OCD treatment to actual triggers rather than only abstract discussion of fear.
• Uses planning sessions before exposure work, making symptom mapping and fear identification part of treatment structure.
• Emphasizes ritual prevention after exposure so the patient learns that anxiety can be tolerated without the compulsion.
• Represents a professional-care boundary because the episode warns against attempting exposure treatment casually or alone.

Evidence

• Expert role - Essentials: The Science & Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) identifies Simpson as a leading OCD researcher and clinician.
• Protocol structure - Essentials: The Science & Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) describes her approach as using planning sessions, in-person exposures, and ritual prevention.
• Treatment boundary - Essentials: The Science & Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) says exposure-based CBT should be done by trained licensed psychologists or psychiatrists rather than casually.
• Full-protocol context - The Science & Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) adds imaginal exposure, homework, and possible home visits to the episode’s account of Simpson’s approach.

Qualifications

This page reflects only Simpson’s role as cited in two closely related podcast source notes. It is not a full biography, bibliography, institutional profile, or clinical protocol, and the episode’s protocol summary should not be used as a do-it-yourself treatment plan.

What Changed

• Added the full episode’s imaginal-exposure, homework, and home-context detail while preserving the clinical boundary.

Relationships

• Huberman Lab - show context where Simpson’s work is cited.
• Andrew Huberman - host who summarizes Simpson’s OCD treatment protocol.
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - condition for which her protocol is discussed.
• Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD - treatment branch grounded by the source’s description of her work.
• Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale - assessment frame adjacent to the planning and symptom-mapping step.
• Psychiatric Medication Supervision Boundary - professional-care boundary reinforced by the episode’s treatment caution.