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OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, acronym health concept background. Jane Watkins is a specialist in treating OCD online using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for OCD, along with CFT and ACT.

OCD

OCD is the abbreviation for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. 

Therapy for OCD

CBT including ERP (exposure response prevention) is the recommended talking therapy for OCD (NICE).   I have seen CBT have amazing results for clients over the years.  You are here because you are considering getting some help for your OCD. Therapy is very rewarding and is also hard work, for us both. To get the best out of therapy for OCD you need to feel motivated and have time to put in some practice between sessions. 

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You will see, what I call ‘practice’, referred to as homework elsewhere. To me, homework can have unhelpful reminders of years gone by from school!  The reason I use the word practice is that you have been ‘practising’ the use of OCD for your anxiety for, probably, a long time.   In order to learn more helpful ways to respond to OCD thoughts, you will need to practice these new ideas, to make them your new default.   This is why I think of therapy as a ‘team effort’.  I bring a new way of thinking about and managing thoughts and will help you to claim your life back from OCD.  You bring your expertise of being you all the helpful coping strategies you already have, even if. you are not aware of them at the current moment.  Put these together with some hope, patience and practice, and you can claim your life back from OCD.

OCD word cloud on grey background. Jane Watkins is a specialist in treating OCD online using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for OCD, along with CFT and ACT.
OCD Dictionary Definition Obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD. Jane Watkins is a specialist in treating OCD online using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for OCD, along with CFT and ACT.

What is OCD?

I think of OCD as an unhelpful way of managing anxiety.   It is almost like OCD pretends to be your friend.  A thought makes you anxious, and along comes OCD and says, hey, if you do what I say then your anxiety will go down.  And it does, but only temporarily.  The behaviour then has to be repeated over and over again.  It takes up loads of time and can really get in the way of your life.  Others find it hard to understand sometimes, and so it can also feel really lonely and isolating.

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How common is OCD?

OCD is the 4th most common mental health disorder (after depression, alcohol/drug misuse and social anxiety).  Around 1-3% of the population experience OCD, that is around 2 million people in the UK using the upper 3% number, roughly, - NICE

Worried about OCD sad women on couch. Jane Watkins is a specialist in treating OCD online using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for OCD, along with CFT and ACT.

The O of OCD are
the Obsessions

That is thoughts that pop into your head that cause anxiety and distress. 

In therapy, we call these intrusive thoughts.  They are often in direct conflict with what is important to you as a person.  OCD is a bully and like a bully will pick on the things that mean the most to you, making you feel afraid and unsafe.  You are probably finding that you are not able to ignore and distract yourself from these thoughts.  These lead to feelings of shame, embarrassment and guilt and of course, anxiety and fear.

The C of OCD is the compulsions

Behaviours that result from obsessions and the fear and anxiety they provoke.  Compulsions, sometimes called rituals, are an attempt to get from that unsafe, anxious place to a feeling of safety. 

Man with Head in Hands compulsions of OCD. Jane Watkins is a specialist in treating OCD online using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for OCD, along with CFT and ACT.
What causes OCD wooden question marks. Jane Watkins is a specialist in treating OCD online using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for OCD, along with CFT and ACT.

What causes OCD?

We don’t really know! It can often start, even on just a small scale, from 9 years up.  If you are a parent, you may notice your child start doing odd things that they get upset about if they are interrupted or are stopped

Are there any other aspects to OCD?

From years of helping people with OCD I have noticed that there are often, not always, other things going on alongside OCD. 

A man with Low self-esteem and OCD thinking negative thoughts as written on window. Jane Watkins is a specialist in treating OCD online using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for OCD, along with CFT and ACT.
CBT OCD Mental Health Therapy Cocktail. Jane Watkins is a specialist in treating OCD online using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for OCD, along with CFT and ACT.

Other elements of OCD

CBT works very well when we are able to accept that unhelpful thoughts and behaviours increase difficult and unwanted feelings and that when we listen to the more helpful thoughts and engage in more helpful behaviours, we feel better.

 

Many clients say to me that they can see what we are saying is true on an intellectual level but still feel a sense of blame or sometimes guilt and shame around their thoughts and don't believe what they intellectually know to be true.   Clients will say that they still feel to blame and get stuck in a tangle with very harsh self-critical thoughts.

 

These are the elements of OCD that are important to look at.  It is these other elements of OCD that if treated, can make significant positive outcomes for my clients.   When clients are extremely self-critical, feel ashamed, guilty, not good enough and even dangerous and more. If left untreated, these elements can maintain OCD behaviours on a long-term basis.  We can address this by using other ideas from Compassion Focussed Therapy (CFT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and mindfulness.  These therapies are also evidence based.

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What you can expect from me:

I very much enjoy treating OCD, so much so, it is now, a large amount of my practice and not by design.   All my OCD clients are really lovely people and OCD usually responds very well to therapy, so it is a win-win for me.   I think therapy works even better with some humour and I have been known to swear (unless it offends of course)!  I am relaxed, down to earth, honest and I don’t use therapy jargon.  You will have 100% effort from me in all of our sessions.   It is really important to me that you find therapy an enriching and rewarding experience.  I want you to feel better just as much as you do and that is what we will both work towards. 

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