Are you living or working with someone who has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)? Perhaps it's your partner or child; a parent, close friend or work colleague? Diagnosed as often as diabetes, the condition can lead both sufferers and those around them to feel isolated. However, you are not alone. This practical guide enables families, carers and friends to provide invaluable support for those with OCD. It aims to inform those living alongside OCD about the condition and to provide clear and compassionate strategies for them. With this new understanding, readers will feel better able to cope better with OCD manifestations. Commonly-experienced emotions such as bewilderment, frustration and sadness will gradually subside. The Essential guide to OCD includes interviews with those at the rock-face: relatives, friends and colleagues of those with OCD. The latest medical advances and effective treatments, such as CBT, are also explored with insight from mental health professionals.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments 8 Chapter 1: Introduction 9 What is OCD? 9 How Common is OCD? 13 Diagnosis and Misdiagnosis 14 What Triggers OCD? 18 Public Awareness 30 Chapter 2: OCD Obsessions 33 Contamination 33 Causing Harm to Others or Self 34 Symmetry 35 "Safe" Numbers and "Good" Words 35 Scrupulosity/Religiosity 35 Sexual Themes 36 Rumination 39 Are OCD Sufferers Disabled? 40 Chapter 3: Compulsions and Rituals 41 Fear of Contamination 41 Fear of Illness 54 Fear of Harming Others 58 Checking 58 Repetitive Action Rituals 63 Chapter 4: Hoarding 67 A Separate Condition? 70 Treatment 75 Chapter 5: Types of Treatment For OCD 83 Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) 83 Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) 85 Counselling/Psychotherapy 86 Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) 89 Alternative Treatments 89 Medication 90 Chapter 6: Other Treatments for OCD 93 Hospital Treatment 93 Neurosurgery 94 Treatments to Avoid 95 Public Access to Treatment 99 Chapter 7: Advice for Pa rents OF Children and Teenagers/Students with OCD 103 Diagnosis 105 Educating GPs 105 Family Dynamics 105 How to Treat OCD in Children and Teenagers 108 Coping Tips 121 Educating Schools 122 Helping a Teenaged Student 124 Chapter 8: Independent Adults with OCD: Advice to Pa rents, Friends and Pa rtners 129 Useful Tips 129 Misdiagnosis 134 Coping 136 What Help is Available? 137 Chapter 9: Advice for Young Ca rers 139 Looking After Yourself 140 What to Do to Help 141 Chapter 10: Employment and the Workplace 145 Employers - UK 145 To Declare or Not to Declare 148 Employers - Australia 150 Employers - USA 152 Endpaper 155 Appendix A: OCD and the Brain 157 Appendix B: Genetics 159 Appendix C: Pa rents and Their Children 160 Appendix D: Counselling and Psychotherapy 162 Bibliography 163 Useful Websites and Organizations 166 Notes 171