Counselling for the patterns people describe as OCPD, including high standards, difficulty letting go of control, and strain at home or at work. Registered Psychologists registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP). Registered Provisional Psychologists, Registered Social Workers regulated by the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW), Canadian Certified Counsellors (CCCs) regulated by the Canadian Counselling and Psychological Association (CCPA), and Mental Health Therapists. In-person in Edmonton and St. Albert, and virtual across Alberta. 50-minute sessions, daytime, evenings and weekends available.
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You may be unsure whether any of this counts as a problem. Being thorough, holding a high standard, and caring whether something is done properly are not faults, and you may have been told your whole life that these are among your best qualities. The doubt usually sounds something like this: is the issue actually me, or is it that everyone else has a lower bar?
Some of what people describe when they look for this kind of support:
Patterns like these usually developed for a reason. Standards, order, and control are often the things that kept someone steady, competent, or safe at a point when that was genuinely needed. They are not a character defect, and noticing them does not mean anything is permanently wrong with you.
This page is informational and is not a diagnosis. If you want to see what this kind of counselling actually involves before deciding anything, reading on is a reasonable place to start.
This service may be a good fit if you are:
This service may not be the right fit if you are:
Wholesome Psychology is not an emergency or crisis service, and we cannot respond to urgent messages outside of booked appointments. If you or someone else is at risk, please use one of these instead:
This is talk-based counselling with a regulated clinician, offered as regular 50-minute sessions in person or online. You bring what is bothering you, and the two of you work out what is worth focusing on. Sessions are a place to look at how standards, control, responsibility, and flexibility are operating in your life, and what you would want to be different.
It is worth being clear about what this service is not. It is not a psychological assessment, and nothing on this page should be read as offering one. It is not a diagnosis, a legal service, an investigation, or crisis intervention. A clinician can help you think through whether counselling, an assessment, or another kind of support fits your situation, but they will not label you in order to get started.
The pace belongs to you. You decide what you talk about and what you leave alone, and you can say that something is off limits for now without having to justify it. What you share is confidential, within limits set by Alberta law and professional standards, and those limits are explained in full further down this page and again in your first session.
Every clinician works within their own scope of practice. If something you raise falls outside what your therapist can appropriately offer, they will say so and help you find the right referral.
The list below is not a diagnostic checklist and it cannot tell you whether you have OCPD. Only a qualified clinician can address diagnostic questions, and that happens through assessment, not through a web page. These are simply experiences people tend to describe when they come in looking for this kind of support.
The Canadian Mental Health Association describes personality-related difficulties as long-standing patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that can affect relationships, work, and a person's sense of themselves, and notes that everyone shows some of these traits at times (CMHA, n.d.). Recognizing yourself in a few points on this list is common and does not mean something is permanently wrong. Patterns that formed over years can be looked at, understood, and worked with.
There is no fixed number of sessions and no standard course you are expected to complete. Some people come in with a specific knot to untangle and find that a small number of sessions gives them what they came for. Others work over a longer stretch. You can stop, pause, or change direction at any point, and your voice matters at every stage of that.
We want to be straightforward with you about the state of the research here. The source set assembled for this page does not contain treatment outcome studies for OCPD. Because of that, this page does not tell you how effective any approach is for these patterns, and you should be cautious about pages that do. What follows describes what each approach involves in practice. Your therapist can discuss the current evidence for any approach with you directly, in more depth than a web page allows.
What it helps with: Examining the rules and standards you apply to yourself and testing what actually happens when you adjust them.
Evidence summary: No outcome research on CBT for OCPD was included in the source set assembled for this page, so no effectiveness claim is made here. In practice, the approach involves identifying recurring thoughts and rules, then trying deliberate small experiments to see what results. Progress is reviewed with you as you go.
Limitations: Without outcome evidence in the source set, the strength of this approach for these particular patterns cannot be stated on this page. Individual responses to any approach vary. Read more about cognitive behavioural therapy.
What it helps with: Building tolerance for discomfort and uncertainty, so that a decision can be made without needing to feel certain first.
Evidence summary: The source set assembled for this page contains no outcome studies on ACT for OCPD, so this page makes no claim about how well it performs. The work generally involves clarifying what matters to you, then practising acting on that even when the internal pull is toward checking, redoing, or delaying.
Limitations: Effectiveness for these patterns cannot be characterized from the available source set. Some people find the acceptance emphasis a poor fit, which is worth raising early. Read more about acceptance and commitment therapy.
What it helps with: Understanding where long-standing patterns around control, duty, and standards came from, and what they have been protecting.
Evidence summary: No outcome research on psychodynamic therapy for OCPD was supplied in the source set for this page, so no effectiveness claim is made. The approach typically involves exploring earlier relationships and experiences, and noticing how those patterns show up in current relationships, including the one with your therapist.
Limitations: The available source set does not allow any statement about how well this works for these patterns. This approach usually unfolds over a longer period, which does not suit everyone's circumstances. Read more about psychodynamic therapy.
Change here is rarely a straight line. People often report a stretch of progress, then a week where old patterns return under pressure, then progress again. That shape is ordinary and does not mean the work has failed.
Some people notice shifts within a few months. Others find that patterns built over decades take longer to loosen, and choose to work over a longer period. Several things influence how it goes, including how long the patterns have been in place, what is happening in your life right now, how much support you have around you, and how well you and your therapist work together.
No therapy guarantees an outcome, and any service that promises one is overstating what is known. We cannot tell you in advance what will change for you.
Fit matters more than most people expect. If your therapist does not feel right, changing to a different clinician or a different approach is always available and is not a setback. Our admin team can arrange that without any awkward conversation on your part.
What you say in session stays between you and your therapist. Your records are kept securely and are not shared with family, employers, or insurers without your written consent.
Our psychologists are registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP) and practise under its Standards of Practice, alongside the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) Code of Ethics. Your personal and health information is handled under Alberta's Health Information Act (HIA) and Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).
There are limits to confidentiality, and they are set by law rather than by us:
Your clinician will explain these limits in plain language in your first session, before you share anything personal. You are welcome to ask questions about privacy first, and many people do. That is a reasonable thing to want to understand before you begin.
Sessions are 50 minutes. You can meet your therapist in person at our Edmonton or St. Albert locations, or virtually from anywhere in Alberta.
We ask for 24 hours notice to cancel or reschedule. Late cancellations or missed appointments incur a fee.
Hours: Monday to Friday 8 AM to 9 PM, Saturday and Sunday 9 AM to 5 PM. Virtual counselling is available across Alberta.
Phone: 780-904-4880. Email: info@wholesomepsychology.ca.
No. You set the pace and you decide what gets discussed. Plenty of people work mainly on present-day patterns, such as what happened at work this week, without going through their history in depth. If your therapist raises something you are not ready for, saying so is enough, and it will not be pushed.
Yes, within limits set by law. Your information is handled under Alberta's Health Information Act (HIA) and Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), and your therapist works under the standards of their applicable professional body: the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP) for Registered Psychologists, the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW) for Registered Social Workers, and the Canadian Counselling and Psychological Association (CCPA) for Canadian Certified Counsellors (CCCs). The exceptions are risk of serious harm, suspected abuse or neglect of a child, and a court order. The confidentiality section above sets these out in full, and your clinician will go through them with you in session one.
There is no set answer, and anyone who gives you a firm number without knowing your situation is guessing. Some people come with a specific issue and find a short piece of work is enough. Others prefer a longer stretch, particularly where patterns are long-standing. Your therapist reviews progress with you regularly so you can decide together whether to continue, change focus, or finish.
Then you switch, and that is a normal thing to do rather than a failure. Fit is one of the things that makes therapy work, and it is not always obvious in advance. Tell your therapist directly if you prefer, or contact our admin team at 780-904-4880 and they will arrange someone else without you having to explain yourself. New clients may access their first session at 50% off to help find the right therapeutic fit.
Yes. Virtual sessions are available across Alberta and are the same 50 minutes as in-person appointments. The same confidentiality standards and the same legislation apply. Some people prefer virtual for scheduling reasons, and some prefer a room away from home. Both are fine.
No, and they are not interchangeable terms even though the names are similar. The Canadian Mental Health Association notes that obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is distinct from obsessive-compulsive disorder, including in how aware a person tends to be of the patterns themselves (CMHA, n.d.). If you are unsure which term fits, or whether either does, that is a reasonable thing to bring into a first session.
Neither. You can book directly and describe the patterns you want help with in your own words. Counselling does not require a diagnosis to be useful, and this service does not provide one. If you and your therapist think a formal assessment would be worthwhile, that is a separate service and they can explain how it works.
You can discuss it with your therapist. Some people find it useful to have a partner or family member attend part of a session, particularly when the strain shows up mostly in a relationship. Whether that suits your situation is a decision to make together, and individual sessions remain confidential regardless.
Our team includes Registered Psychologists, Registered Provisional Psychologists, Registered Social Workers, Canadian Certified Counsellors, Mental Health Therapists, and Student Therapists. All of our psychologists are registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP). Registered Social Workers are regulated by the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW). Canadian Certified Counsellors (CCCs) are regulated by the Canadian Counselling and Psychological Association (CCPA). Registered Provisional Psychologists practise under the supervision of a senior registered psychologist.
Many of our clinicians have training in working with personality-related patterns, relationship strain, perfectionism, and workplace stress, and each works within their own scope of practice. Availability and areas of focus change over time, so the most reliable picture is on the Our Therapists page. If narrowing it down feels like more work than you want to do right now, our therapist matching tool will do it for you, or you can call the admin team at 780-904-4880 and they will help.
The Canadian Mental Health Association notes that personality-related patterns often begin to appear in childhood or adolescence, and that early support matters (CMHA, n.d.). Personality disorder labels are not typically applied to young people, and this service does not diagnose. What is often more useful at that age is support for the difficulties underneath, such as perfectionism, rigidity, anxiety about mistakes, or conflict at home and at school.
We offer counselling for children, adolescents, and young people. Clinicians working with younger clients use approaches suited to the child's age and stage, and they work alongside caregivers, because what happens between sessions at home matters as much as the session itself. If you are a parent reading this for your child rather than yourself, our admin team can talk you through the options before you commit to anything.
If any of this sounds familiar, you can look into it without deciding anything today.
New clients may access their first session at 50% off to help find the right therapeutic fit.
Starting the conversation is enough.
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