Please can anyone recommend OCD help that actually worked?

[Suuudohnym]

Teen has seen an online psychiatrist and therapist in the past - neither really got to the root of the problem.

She has the type of OCD where she has to repeat rituals to feel “right”. She’s not yet at the stage where she can’t go to school/leave the house etc but it is getting worse and I don’t want it to come to that.

She’s feeling really anxious at the moment (I’m sure upcoming GCSEs don’t help) and is in tears as she just couldn’t feel right this morning.

We have private healthcare - who can I take her to in the SE/London who can really help her? Please help 😔

Just catching up on posts - disappointed to see that people don’t rate The Priory as I’ve been in touch with them this morning just to make initial enquiries.

@WaitingForMojo sorry to hear about your DD. It’s so hard isn’t it - why can’t they just be kids and not tortured by their own minds.

Do you mind me asking how you got to be seen at The Maudsley - I’ve been looking for details online and I’m getting all sorts of different sites/contact details. I’ve sent an enquiry to a general address but I’m not sure it’s right. Do they offer private care?

We've been working with Brainstorm Health on a different but related issue and seen the OCD traits and rituals reduce massively.

My son has OCD and is a teen also. I find that supporting him in other ways helps instead of focusing in on it too much. Such as giving them a treat of some sort or a nice dinner. Remember to keep on going yourself also. I find that if I spend too much time worrying about him or commenting on what hes doing (or not doing more like!) it doesn't help either. It is a tiring and frustrating condition to manage for a parent. I sympathise with you

The OCD Treatment Centre in Taunton. Currently pioneering a new wave of CBT called ICBT which dismantles OCD from the inside without the need of exposure or inducing distress, alongside other therapies including more traditional approaches. Lots of reviews on Google. Completely private centre so you can pay for what you want to do- online/in person, sessions or intensive week options.

CBT as part of private face to face therapy worked well for me but this was several years ago.

There is some suggestion nowadays that OCD is part of the neurodiverse spectrum and may overlap with autism or adhd or both, which in my experience (sample size of 1…) is true (adult diagnosis). I just thought I’d mention it as it has helped me to understand my own brain better!

The OCD treatment centre in Taunton looks good - even though it’s miles away from us. Although I’d happily stay there for DD to attend the week long intensive session if apt. Can’t see if works with private healthcare though.

How did Brainstorm help @RobinTheCavewoman ? Looks like it’s very nutrition based and no mention of ocd?

Thanks @TeaBiscuitsNaptime - I try to distract her with nice things all the time but that’s all it is, a distraction. She’s having a particular awful time this evening 😔

@eleanoreleanoreleanor yes I’ve heard that too, about the autism link - although I don’t see any other sign of that in DD.

Functional medicine aka Brainstorm Health - that will be a very hard pass from me. Its not evidence based and has high potential for them to relieve you of a lot of money for some expensive nutritional gubbins.

No advice, OP, but sending heartfelt best wishes to you and DD. It's so hard watching them suffer. ❤

Sertraline really helped me.

I did think that…but didn’t want to offend the PP (sorry PP).

My brother took meds and had CBT. He still has OCD but lives a completely normal life now. The CBT helped him the most.

Alongside (or even instead of) CBT, you could try Neurofeedback therapy. I have experience of this for something similar to OCD and it has been amazing. We found the therapy offered through Camhs to be extremely limited - fine if CBT works, but not everyone can engage with talking therapy.

Well, he’s wrong.

That’s why it’s never worked for him.

Can I suggest the resources lists at ocd uk? We were treated (under 18) at the Maudsley following a tortuous experience with ocd and a mix of camhs and private. The issue with private is selecting the right provider, we definitely did not get the right one a few times before camhs stepped in.

My teenage daughter has recently started Neurofeedback for OCD/anxiety. Only had 4 sessions so far but I can definitely see a difference!

Dd is about to try sertraline to stop intrusive thoughts and rituals happening. She’s 15.

I haven’t read the full thread but will now. Just to say I had ocd at 13 then again at 26. At the age of 13 there was no amount of therapy that could have helped , I saw a psychiatrist 3 times a week . They were going to section me and they decided to try drugs. This was the turn around for me . The drugs replaced the chemicals in my brain that were lacking for rational/irratonal, with these and the psychiatrist I was able to start living a normal life again . You do what is needed . I am forever thankful for the psychiatrist and the medicine

If this was my DD i would try SSRI first. In my experience until you can calm the nervous system therapy doesn't always help. I couldn't benefit from any therapy until I was on an SSRI. Then the techniques that didn't work without medication suddenly worked.

With GCSEs coming up now is the time to give it a go. She might feel worse at first but many people don't. I felt almost instant relief.

Thank you all so much. I’ll try to address all suggestions.

Where did you all get neurofeedback therapy?

DD says she is possibly open to meds - when people say it gets worse first on drugs, how do you mean?

Yes, that’s the issue we’ve found with private - quicker access which is great but there are no recommendations as to which therapist you should try. I’m going to book a GP appointment to see if they can give some guidance - hoping they can recommend somewhere I can access privately (ie quickly). Would the GP prescribe meds or would that have to come from a therapist?

We have a teenage DS but with anxiety rather than OCD though I know they are related. We found this approach very successful. No buy in by the child is necessary.

https://www.spacetreatment.net/manual-and-books

Age may be a factor in a GP prescribing. I didn’t see a difference (worse) but we had to go up to the highest dose and stay there for years, combined with ERP and CBT. I honestly think there’s a lot of people marketing themselves as capable of treating ocd who don’t do ERP and in our experience try to counsel the person rather than treating. I’ve wasted so much money.
my child was treated unfortunately via section first.
family member had success with priory outpatients with a psychiatrist.

I have a 13 year old with OCD and haven't found anything that helps yet. Waiting for a camhs assessment but my dd is autistic and I found them utterly useless with my elder DC who is also autistic. My DD won't consider online therapy and and I can't find any local clinicians who will see her. My previous experience with severely anxious elder DC is that they wouldn't consider medication until she was 18 but that might vary by area.

A GP can’t prescribe medication for under 18s but a CAMH psychiatrist via NHS or privately can do and GP will usually continue the script.

The key is to find a therapist who specifically does CBT with ERP as that is the most evidence based approach for OCD. They should also be BACP registered. It’s perhaps unlikely that you’ll get a specific local recommendation (GP may not be able to recommend a private provider) but you need to use those criteria to screen and ask specifically will they do CBT with ERP.

Might be best to see a private CAMH psychiatrist first and they can prescribe meds and suggest therapists that they work with.