I am a CBT therapist and I specialise in treating OCD using CBT therapy.   An important part of CBT is ERP (exposure response prevention) that I talk more about in the therapy section of this website. This page is about OCD itself.  I am trying to cover the main points but am aware that everyone’s OCD is different. 

Everyone’s OCD is unique to them.  I know how hard it can be to come forward for treatment.  Many of my clients have told me that they feel such a bad person, or mad or dangerous that it is really really hard to seek help as they are scared they will be sectioned, arrested or thought to be mad filling them with terror, misery, guilt and shame.

My response to this is that bad people do not feel shame or guilt about that, they are quite happy with the way they are and have no conscience about it.   My experience of people with OCD, over the last 18 years, is that they are lovely people who worry about all the worst things that could happen and fear they may be responsible for those things and go to extreme lengths to ensure nothing bad does happen.  

Having a thought about something does not make it true (called ‘magical thinking’ in CBT).  Everyone with OCD knows that their OCD makes no sense but they feel compelled to do what OCD tells them on a kind of, better safe than sorry, basis.

If this is you, and you want to claim your life back from OCD, then please do get in touch with me.  The idea of CBT treatment for OCD is to make you your own therapist, so that you understand how your mind works, how OCD operates and then developing tools and strategies to manage your mind more helpfully.