OCD

[Lamplight5]

I've suffered really badly with it for years, but it's undiagnosed. I seem to be able to get over some rituals if I try really hard but they're always replaced by others.

Has anyone found a way to lesson or even cure it? It's making me so miserable.

The only thing that has made any difference to me was CBT. The root of a lot of my OCD and anxiety turned out to be agoraphobia, so once that was treated the other behaviours were more manageable. I backslide a bit if I'm ill or stressed.

Thanks for the reply. Can I ask how long you did CBT for? I assume it was therapy sessions?

I second cbt. Was lucky enough to get it through work, but it’s hard work. Some anti depressant work well to get you to a point where you are able to complete cbt.

I third cbt. I did mindfulness based cbt, intensively for about nine months. I was really fortunate that I was able to do it privately (double income no kids at the time!) and it has been life changing. I recommend The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD (available on kindle as well as hard copy) by Tom Corboy just to give a flavour and start you off - that’s what led me to do the therapy and I found it really helpful when I was reading it. It’s cbt based.

My DS had a type of CBT called exposure therapy. This has been very effective for him although new obsessions do come up from time to time that we can now use the techniques to deal with. He was 14 when diagnosed and now 16.

Had this for 25 years, only thing ever helped me was the medication im currently on, but im still profoundly disabled and housebound because of it.