Co-Occurring Autism and OCD in Youth: Current Evidence and Clinical Implications

Join Dr. Ogechi “Cynthia” Onyeka, Ph.D., for an informative CE presentation on obsessive-compulsive and anxiety-related disorders in autistic youth. This session will explore diagnostic complexities, symptom overlap, underlying mechanisms, evidence-based assessment, and current treatment approaches, including autism-adapted cognitive-behavioral therapy. Attendees will leave with practical clinical considerations for improving identification, treatment, and outcomes.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:

• Identify how obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety-related disorders present in autistic youth and differentiate anxiety symptoms from core autism characteristics.

• Learn the importance of applying a multi-method, multi-informant assessment approach, and include the use of autism-specific measures when available.

• Describe the evidence supporting autism-adapted cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with exposure as the first-line treatment for anxiety in autistic youth.