Pediatric Psychiatry OCD and Tic Disorders Program

The Pediatric Psychiatry Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Tic Disorders Program is a part of the Center for OCD and Related Disorders (CORD), led by Sabine Wilhelm, PhD, which addresses the full spectrum of OCD and related disorders for adults and children.  The Pediatric OCD and Tics Disorders Program, originally founded in 1992 by Drs. Daniel Geller and Barbara Coffey, has been formally rejuvenated under the leadership of Dr. Erica Greenberg in 2018. Dr. Geller continues as the Director of Research in the program.

The Pediatric Psychiatry OCD and Tic Disorders Program provides consultation, evaluation and ongoing clinical (medication) management (when appropriate). Initial evaluation provides psychoeducation around the presenting condition(s), integrates and formulates an assessment based on symptoms, and provides recommendations for future treatment approaches.

We collaborate and coordinate closely with other programs and services, including Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Neurology’s Tourette Syndrome/Tic Disorders Clinic, Neuropsychology, and Social Work to help provide appropriate support including referrals to other resources and related care needs (e.g. therapists, school advocates, educational resources, etc.). Our practice focuses on children and adolescents through age 18 years with OCD and related disorders (OCD, body dysmorphic disorder, trichotillomania, skin picking disorder), tic disorders/Tourette syndrome, and commonly associated co-occurring conditions, including ADHD, anxiety, intermittent explosive disorder/rage, etc.  PANDAS/PANS is addressed in a separate specialty clinic which focuses solely in this area.

Pediatric clinical intake

As a first step, please complete the Pediatric Psychiatry OCD and Tic Disorders Program intake form.

Staff Bios

Erica Greenberg, M.D.

Director

Erica Greenberg, M.D., is the Director of the Pediatric Psychiatry OCD and Tic Disorders Program at MGH and a Co-Director of the Tourette Association of America MGH Center of Excellence. Dr. Greenberg is a Psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS). She graduated from Weill Cornell Medical College (with Alpha Omega Alpha honors), and completed her general psychiatry residency at Harvard Longwood and her child/adolescent fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean where she served as chief resident in both programs. Her interests include Tourette syndrome (TS), OCD, “Tourettic OCD,” ADHD and body-focused repetitive behavior disorders (BFRBs). She is the primary investigator on a grant-funded study evaluating a modified behavioral treatment approach to those with tic disorders and ADHD, and she has authored several peer-reviewed articles and chapters on Tourette syndrome, OCD, and related disorders Additionally, she has presented locally and nationally on TS, OCD and BFRBs. Dr. Greenberg is also the HMS Director of the Klingenstein Fellowship – a philanthropic medical student program that encourages interest and exploration of child and adolescent psychiatry through mentoring, teaching, research opportunities and events.

Publications by Dr. Greenberg

Peer Reviewed:

1. Darrow SM, Illman C, Gauvin C, Osiecki L, Egan CA, Greenberg E, Eckfield M, Hirschtritt ME, Pauls D, Batterson JR, Berlin CM, Malaty IA, Woods DW, Scharf J, Mathews CA. Web-based phenotyping for Tourette Syndrome: Reliability of common co-morbid diagnoses. Psychiatry Res. 2015 Aug 30;228(3):816-25.
2. Hirschtritt ME, Darrow SM, Illmann C, Osiecki L, Grados M, Sandor P, Dion Y, King R, Pauls D, Budman C, Cath DC, Greenberg E, Lyon GJ, Yu D, McGrath, LM, McMahon WM, Lee PC, Delucchi LK, Scharf JM, Mathews CA, on behalf of the Tourette Syndrome Association International Consortium for Genetics. Social disinhibition is a heritable subphenotype of tics in Tourette syndrome. Neurology. 2016 Aug 2;87(5):497-504.
3. Keuthen NJ, Curley EE, Scharf JS, Woods DW, Lochner C, Stein D, Tung ES, Greenberg E, Stewart ES, Redden SA, Grant, JE. Predictors of comorbid obsessive-compulsive disorder and skin-picking disorder in trichotillomania. Ann Clin Psychiatry. 2016 Nov;28(4):280-288.
4. Darrow SM, Hirschtritt ME, Davis LK, Illmann C, Osiecki L, Grados M, Sandor P, Dion Y, King R, Pauls D, Budman CL, Cath DC, Greenberg E, Lyon GJ, Yu D, McGrath LM, McMahon WM, Lee PC, Delucchi KL, Scharf JM, Mathews CA, and the Tourette Syndrome Association International Consortium for Genetics. Identification of two heritable cross-disorder endophenotypes for Tourette syndrome. Am J Psychiatry. 2017 Apr 1;174(4):387-396.
5. Hirschtritt ME, Darrow SM, Illmann C, Osiecki L, Grados M, Sandor P, Dion Y, King RA, Pauls D, Budman CL, Cath DC, Greenberg E, Lyon GJ, Yu D, McGrath LM, McMahon WM, Lee PC, Delucchi KL, Scharf JM, Mathews CA. Genetic and phenotypic overlap of specific obsessive-compulsive and attention-deficit/hyperactive subtypes with Tourette syndrome. Psychol Med. 2017 Jun 27:1-15.
6. Darrow SM, Grados M, Sandor P, Hirschtritt ME, Illmann C, Osiecki L, Dion Y, King R, Pauls D, Budman CL, Cath DC, Greenberg E, Lyon GJ, McMahon WM, Lee PC, Delucchi KL, Scharf JM, Mathews CA. Autism spectrum symptoms in a Tourette’s disorder sample.  J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2017 Jul;56(7):610-617.e1
7. Greenberg E, Grant JE, Curley E, Lochner C, Woods DW, Tung E, Stein DJ, Redden SA, Scharf, JM, Keuthen N. Predictors of comorbid eating disorders and association with other obsessive compulsive spectrum disorders in trichotillomania. Compr Psychiatry. 2017 Oct;78:1-8.
8. Greenberg E, Osiecki L, Tung E, Gauvin CA, Essa A, Illmann C, Sandor P, Dion Y, Lyon GL, King R, Darrow SM, Hirschtritt ME, Budman CL, Grados M, Lee P, Pauls DL, Keuthen N, Mathews CA, Scharf JM on behalf of the Tourette Syndrome Association International Consortium for Genetics. Prevalence and predictors of trichotillomania and excoriation disorder in Tourette syndrome. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2017 Nov 2. doi: 10.1007/s00787-017-1074-z.
9. Cowley DS, Markman JD, Best JA, Greenberg EL, Grodesky MJ, Murray SB, Corning KA, Levy MR, Greenberg WE. Understanding Ownership of Patient Care:  A dual-site qualitative study of faculty and residents from medicine and psychiatry. Perspectives on Medical Education. 2017 Dec 5. doi: 10.1007/s40037-017-0389-2.
10. Jones G, Keuthen K, Greenberg E*. Clinical management of trichotillomania and skin picking disorder. Clinics in Dermatology. Sept 2018. Doi: 10.1016/j.clindermatol.2018.08.008. *Senior corresponding author.
11. The Brainstorm Consortium, Anttila V, … Greenberg E, … et al. Analysis of shared heritability in common disorders of the brain. Science. 2018 Jun 22;360(6395). doi: 10.1126/science.aap8757.
12. Yu D, Sul JH, Tsetsos F, Nawaz MS, Huang AY, Zelaya I, Illmann C, Osiecki L, Darrow SM, Mirschtritt ME, Greenberg E, et al. Interrogating the genetic determinants of TS and other tic disorders through genome-wide association studies. 2018. Accepted by American Journal of Psychiatry.

Reviews, chapters, monographs and editorials:

1. Greenberg EL, Rubin DH. Tics and Tourette’s Disorder. In: Stern TA, Herman JB, Rubin DH, Eds. Massachusetts General Hospital Psychiatry Update and Board Preparation, 4th Edition. MGH Psychiatry Academy, 2018. p77-81.
2. Greenberg EL and Geller DA. Phenomenology and Standard Care of OCD in Children and Adolescents. In Ollendick T, Muris P and Farrell L Eds. “Innovations in CBT for Childhood Anxiety, OCD, and PTSD:  Improving Access & Outcomes.” Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pages not yet determined.
3. Greenberg EL, Ells A and Scharf JM. Tourettic OCD. In Salpekar J and Hauptman A Eds. “Pediatric Neuropsychiatry: A Case-Based Approach.” Springer, 2019.
4. Scharf JM and Greenberg EL. Tourette syndrome. In: Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Neurology: Principles and Practices. McGraw Hill, 2019.

Professional educational materials or reports, in print or other media:

2017 The Carlat Child Psychiatry Report: Diagnosis and Treatment of Tourette syndrome
2017 The Carlat Child Psychiatry Report: Diagnosis and Treatment of Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Strep (PANDAS)

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Daniel Geller, M.D.

Director of Research

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Marie Gipson, M.D.

Staff Psychiatrist

Dr. Marie Gipson is a staff psychiatrist at the Pediatric Psychiatry OCD and Tic Disorders Program at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She is a child and adolescent psychiatrist at MGH and an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS). She is a graduate of Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. She completed he general psychiatry residency at the LSU-Ochsner Psychiatry Residency Training Program and her child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital/HMS where she also served as Chief Fellow. Her clinical background is in treating severe mental health disorders with interdisciplinary teams through a comprehensive approach and served as the lead physician for both inpatient adolescent units at Boston Children’s Hospital and Stanford University School of Medicine. Her clinical and research interests include OCD, trauma, depression, and anxiety as well as the impact and utility of mobile technology in mental health.

 

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Brittney Jurgen

Nurse Practitioner

Brittney Jurgen is a board-certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP-BC) with an MSN from Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions and MS in psychology from Tulane University.  She had two years of experience as a psychiatric nurse before joining our clinic.  She completed her internship with the Pediatric OCD and Tics Disorder Clinic under Dr. Greenberg and is very excited to be returning!  She will be seeing patients for medication follow-up as well as brief psychotherapy supportive sessions.

 

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Paula Downes

Program Manager

Paula Downes has worked in the field of Psychiatry for over 35 years. Her career has encompassed administrative roles in both clinical care and research in a variety of settings including Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital at the Texas Medical Center, and the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.  She is currently the Program Manager for the Pediatric Psychiatry OCD and Tic Disorders Program at Mass General Hospital.

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Support our program

The Pediatric Psychiatry OCD and Tic Disorders Program is committed to improving the standard of care for children and adolescents with OCD and tic spectrum disorders through access to a fully integrated, comprehensive, clinical research program that provides clinical excellence and optimal coordinated care.

Philanthropic support will enable the program to grow its clinical care team in order to provide the comprehensive and cutting-edge individualized care that our patients and their families desperately require. Your support will also allow the program to mount a robust portfolio of research studies, disseminate findings, and train and mentor young clinicians and researchers who will ultimately become the next generation of leaders in tics, OCD and related disorders.

If you would like to donate, please complete the secure donation form. At the bottom of the form, under “Designate this gift to a specific program or area,” please type in “Dr. Erica Greenberg.”

The Massachusetts General Hospital uses industry-standard security (SSL) to encrypt all donations, so rest assured that your information is safe. If you experience any issues while processing your transaction or have any questions, please call 617-726-2200 or toll-free: 877-644-7733 or email at mghdevelopment@partners.org.