Better Help for OCD Sufferers

No More Panic has always included OCD in its list of topics to support and discuss on this forum, however we have become aware that we are just not educated enough in regards to OCD to be able to provide adequate information about it. Whilst we do have some members that suffer with OCD we primarily have the knowledge necessary to provide information and support for members who experience panic and anxiety.

Because of this fact we feel that our members with OCD aren't getting the support they need and so we would like to promote another site that is dedicated to OCD and does also have a support forum.

This site is OCD UK. It is the leading national charity, independently working with people who struggle with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). It is run by Ashley and I have already spoken with him and he has agreed to let us promote his site on here to help OCD sufferers.

We are not saying that OCD sufferers are not welcome on NMP but we would like to suggest this site as an alternative place to get more informed support and help.

The website is: http://www.ocduk.org/

If you register on the forum then please feel free to mention that you were referred from No More Panic.

Thanks.

just to add that its a really good site. The page to print off for your gp was what I actually went with to my gp, and showed her that rather than going through the whole experience.. I found it really helpful :)

i did that too

can i just add that another good forum for ocd is stuck in a doorway

Can I ask why OCD sufferers join a forum for anxiety and panic when there are actual forums dedicated to OCD out there? What I mean is that most of the people who find their way to NMP do so because they have either asked google for advice about health anxiety or panic attacks, or their doctors have recomended the forum to them. If I had OCD and I put that into google search, NMP would not be the first thing to pop up, surely forums specifically for OCD would? So why do so many find their way onto this one? This isn't meant to sound bad so sorry if it does but i'm just very curious about this. Given that Nicola herself recomends other forums that deal specifically with OCD where sufferers can talk to people with the same feelings, yet not many OCD sufferers seem to take her up on her suggestions...why is this? Threads that start with the title of " Unexplained dizziness...can you help me" or " Palpitations are driving me crazy" these I can understand for a forum such as this one, but when I see a thread titled "I have thoughts abouts having sex with a family member" well that is way beyond advice from most people here and as nicola says, surely needs specialist treatment.

Confused
Anna xx

:) That's not what all OCD Sufferer's get! I have OCD and I did google panic because Panic and anxiety attacks are a big part of OCD, in fact anxiety and panic attacks are the parts of OCD that externally effect me, therefore being the most effective on my life, career, education and relationships.
Having irrational and unwanted thoughts are like having something big and ugly on your face you think that everyone can see whats going on and are judging you for it and worse still you are your worst judge, getting yourself so worked up panicky to the stage of mania and hyperventilation, I hope you understand that people with OCD need help to get over panic attacks too.

just to say that i have ocd but mine manifests itself as severe health anxiety amongst otherthings. I have found nomore panic of great help to me and at timesa great source of comfort. unfortunately at this moment imsuffering a particularly bad episode nothing much seems to help but my first port of call is still this website which is full ofkind understanding and non judgemental people! and if it gives me comfort at times ....well labels or whatever mean nowt to me. soz just wanted to share this. thanks.

The answer is simple. Invest more money and trebble the jobs for Chinical Psychologists and Psychotherapists. There are 5 psychiatrists in the team where I work, yet they can't keep a clinical psychologist. The post is currently empty and there is no sign of one being recruited.

95% of Mental Health patients would benefit more from intensive psychological input, than they do from medications. 1 Clinical Psychologist, taking receiving referrals from the 5 psychiatrists for the team. When a psychologist has been elected in to the post, how can he see 95% of all the patients seen in outpatients for an inital 1 hour assessment, followed by weekly 1/2 one to one sessions. Does he write his notes in bed at night.

The practical solutions are always overlooked by the powers that be. Would be to hire 3 psychologists/psychotherapists per team. There would be a drastic cut in butched for prescibed medication, a lot more people would be living a normal life after discharge and we could lay off some of the locums that are draining the life out of health care resources. We could cut the MH library in half within 2 to 5 years. The wages are less that consultants, because the treatment does not need to be reviewed, once you have taken the strategies in, apart from the odd refresher course, you may can disengage from the MH services and get on with a normal life. I don't know many that medications have had this effect on.

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Originally Posted by overwhelmed53

just to say that i have ocd but mine manifests itself as severe health anxiety amongst otherthings. I have found nomore panic of great help to me and at timesa great source of comfort. unfortunately at this moment imsuffering a particularly bad episode nothing much seems to help but my first port of call is still this website which is full ofkind understanding and non judgemental people! and if it gives me comfort at times ....well labels or whatever mean nowt to me. soz just wanted to share this. thanks.

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Hi overwelmed53

I would like to know more of how you feel and when you say it manifests itself as sever health anxiety, does it just make you constantly worry about a specific health problem and do you think about and fear it constantly? I wander if I have this problem.

Cathy xx

im glad that lady got banned ocd is evil and it comes from v.high anxiety and causes panicattacks an depression, obv the intrusive thoughts are unwanted or we wouldnt be living the nightmare that we do!!!
mine is personally harm thoughts to love ones and no one chooses to feel and have that .

every gets intrusive and unwanted thoughts but ocd sufferers cant wash em off so it becomes pure o as in obsessive thoughts!

hope every 1 is well i just had the worse xmas ever where it was all concerned and hormones make it sooooo much worse :(

much love to all xx

Nicola
Does having anxiety and panic attacks relating to the fear of losing my children mean I have OCD or do I just suffer from anxiety?
Do I need to go the this website your referring to or am I at the right place with NMP.
Regards

I would say that was more anxiety Annie

That's a really useful website. OCD is fairly new to me but I've suffered from it for a couple of months and it's getting worse. We had a couple of slugs on the kitchen floor a couple of weeks ago and since then I haven't used any of the plates or cutlery even though the slugs were nowhere near them. I've started using disposable plastic forks and can't bear to eat anything in the kitchen for thinking about slugs....

Hi,
this is parijat.i'll get married on 1st feb 2013.i have an fear that my would be hubby can die on 31 st jan for heart attack.some times i feel that i want that poor thing. i can't stop that type of thought. some time i feel i'll be happy for that........what sould i do???????????????

The one thing you are overlooking is that alot of us are not comming here for medical advice, but to just talk about common experiences and symptoms with each other.

Yes but for OCD I was suggesting a better site.

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Originally Posted by nomorepanic

No More Panic has always included OCD in its list of topics to support and discuss on this forum, however we have become aware that we are just not educated enough in regards to OCD to be able to provide adequate information about it. Whilst we do have some members that suffer with OCD we primarily have the knowledge necessary to provide information and support for members who experience panic and anxiety.

Because of this fact we feel that our members with OCD aren't getting the support they need and so we would like to promote another site that is dedicated to OCD and does also have a support forum.

This site is OCD UK. It is the leading national charity, independently working with people who struggle with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). It is run by Ashley and I have already spoken with him and he has agreed to let us promote his site on here to help OCD sufferers.


We are not saying that OCD sufferers are not welcome on NMP but we would like to suggest this site as an alternative place to get more informed support and help.

The website is: http://www.ocduk.org/

If you register on the forum then please feel free to mention that you were referred from No More Panic.

Thanks.

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Hi NMP thanks for the link. The information on ocd is really good and has helped a lot. Just one thing though I think there is a membership fee of £24 to join. Please correct me if I have read it wrong.
little wren x

Yes we do suffer from panic and anxiety it plays a big part

Hi,can i just add that there is another really good forum for ocd called ocdaction x

I am an OCD sufferer and I joined her because my OCD causes my anxiety and brings on panic attacks... So I suffer from both!

Totally agree with droopy gal ! NHS mental health is in crisis !

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Originally Posted by fretty freda

Totally agree with droopy gal ! NHS mental health is in crisis !

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Like she said:

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Originally Posted by droopygal1

The answer is simple. Invest more money and trebble the jobs for Chinical Psychologists and Psychotherapists.

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But where is the money coming from?

I'm sure we would all like some more police officers too and better physical health treatments that are causing some to go abroad after raising charity money, our troops to be equipped properly, etc.

This is the problem with people, they don't think about the bigger picture. AND I bet Tim Peake could hear the moaning in space if the government say 'Fine, we can fix all the problems in the country but we will need to add 5% to income tax rates'. :winks::whistles:

Everything can be fixed if we pay enough money. We don't and we won't. Things stay broken.

The answer is not as simple as is stated. And besides, we don't even see psychologists anyway, we see therapists. Psychologists are for the CMHT's, we have IAPT to get through first. IAPT came in to stop us even getting to the CMHT's in many cases, although I wonder how it has worked.

---------- Post added at 06:43 ---------- Previous post was at 06:31 ----------

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Originally Posted by Going home

Can I ask why OCD sufferers join a forum for anxiety and panic when there are actual forums dedicated to OCD out there? What I mean is that most of the people who find their way to NMP do so because they have either asked google for advice about health anxiety or panic attacks, or their doctors have recomended the forum to them. If I had OCD and I put that into google search, NMP would not be the first thing to pop up, surely forums specifically for OCD would? So why do so many find their way onto this one? This isn't meant to sound bad so sorry if it does but i'm just very curious about this. Given that Nicola herself recomends other forums that deal specifically with OCD where sufferers can talk to people with the same feelings, yet not many OCD sufferers seem to take her up on her suggestions...why is this? Threads that start with the title of " Unexplained dizziness...can you help me" or " Palpitations are driving me crazy" these I can understand for a forum such as this one, but when I see a thread titled "I have thoughts abouts having sex with a family member" well that is way beyond advice from most people here and as nicola says, surely needs specialist treatment.

Confused
Anna xx

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That's a good example of ignorance of OCD. When mine started, as someone who's GAD started a few years before, I thought I was going crazy. I had always seen the media portrayal of OCD hence it was for people washing, checking and hoarding. OCD is far more complex and varied than this. Learning about OCD explained a lot of my current obsessions & compulsions at the time.

So, consider the highlighted sections.

- Health Anxiety. Well that's a fictional term, not a medical one, that covers various disorders and one of them is OCD.
- Intrusive thoughts of that nature DO NOT mean specialist advice is needed at all, it's no more complex than many other areas of anxiety. It doesn't mean someone is more complex or severe, it's just the theme of their OCD. People can be severe in any theme and have it worse than someone mild in a form like this.
- Whilst Nic's message is due to the forum at the time, a forum that is guided in nature means that the advice & experience comes from it's members, not it's Admins. Things change.

Most of the OCD even now is HA based. The vast majority of the OCD board since I've been here has all been Pure O. There are many other themes which is rarely discussed, many of which I have had.

Growing is good. Limiting is bad. The more we learn the better we become at tackling our anxiety. The intrusive thoughts seen in Pure O themes can be experienced by anyone, and as said earlier intrusive thoughts are experienced by all human beings and studies back this up. So, in having some people around who understand it, it only helps those with other forms of anxiety that start to experience them.

Hello i am recovering from a very serious bout of depression anxiety and panic attacks brought on by a very serious ocd episode I started taking 50g sertraline at the end of Nov 2017 the first week was horrific but by Christmas I started to feel better so I made a big boo boo by having a few drinks which set me back two weeks then at the end of January thinking I was full!y recovered had another few drinks big mistake set me back another two weeks...
Just then the penny final!y dropped...THE DRINK CAUSED THE PROBLEM IN THE FIRST PLACE l am not a heavy drinker but my friend and I like a drink every other Friday
So I decided there and then no more alcohol. now I am 99% recovered I.e. the jigsaw is almost finished still a bit of anxiety but I am hoping it will fade....NOW THAT I DONT DRINK ANYMORE....message for everyone...alcohol is a depressant.....antidepressants are the opposite....so if you drink the meds won't work properly...you will! Be in a no win situation aka defeating the object....the moral of this story is if you have a mental illness...never never never touch alcohol because the alcohol will? Always win....feel free to ask questions....
Oh by the way by stopping alcohol I didn't have to up my dose still on 50g sertraline a godsend by the way....so happy

This is a useful page I end up posting from a fair bit:

https://www.ocduk.org/types-ocd

I've found this a useful reference too:

http://www.ocdtypes.com/

And obviously there is MIND too!

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-...-disorder-ocd/

OCD is SO complex. I have had it for 26 years but after 5 years of exposure therapy I have almost totally won the battle with it. I no longer say I have OCD but it comes and goes and always will. I registered here because I am also a cyclothymia sufferer (so not bipolar enough to join a bipolar forum) with chronic anxiety on a daily basis. When I was young I was depressed. One psychologist told me I was traumatised.

After a while I very naturally got fed up of labels and not knowing how to define myself and looked at the facts: I was often afraid of leaving the house. Most of my problems come down to anxiety. I don't remember a time when I didn't worry. Whether it is seen through OCD or otherwise isn't important in my view. I don't really look at categories anymore. I look at the person and I listen. I offer sympathy and if I can ideas. I don't see the OCD site suggestion as anything other than helpful and I would imagine that people are still welcome on NMP as OCD is really anxiety based. I would flit between the two according to the problems I am encountering! Although sometimes one may have bizarre obsessions and really feel like an OCD sufferer, on other days one may feel agorophobic, horribly anxious or phobic.
I know few people who have only one problem. The important thing is to offer those the specialist help should they need it as yes OCD is crippling and I have only got where I am today through specialist help from a top OCD expert so specialist help is ESSENTIAL for recovery. It is VERY complex and very hard to get through without real medical support from a trained professional. It is however also important to accept that those people with OCD may slide between sites according to what issue they are tackling and to make them feel welcome. Find me an OCD sufferer without anxiety...

Questionnaire on O.C.D
1.As an O.C.D sufferer which one of the following affects you the most?

Germs anxiety organization

2. have you had counselling for your O.C.D?
yes no

3. If yes how long have you had counselling for?

0-2 3-5 5+

If no how do you cope with your O.C.D?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

4. What type of therapy are you receiving?
c.b.t person centred psychodynamic


5. How has therapy helped you?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

6. what other strategies help? Sport socialising shopping