OCD intrusive thoughts, how do you get diagnosis and help

[BreezyClouds]

Dd17 was diagnosed with anxiety long ago. It became livable but seemed to ramp up again over the last year or so. I realised it was different, she'd describe it as silent tourettes where she thought awful things about people which is so out of character for her and then worried incessantly that they knew this and would judge her.

I turned to the Internet and it seems to best fit OCD, she has random thoughts then is compelled to seek evidence that she didn't actually say it out loud or that people didn't think badly about her.

This is making her life so hard, she worries constantly and cries often. It's also wearing for us, she asks us again and again for reassurance.

Been to the gp today and was fobbed off because she's not obsessed with washing her hands or locking the door. She gave us the mental health self referral number and offered beta blockers if we wanted.

I didn't expect much help from the NHS anyway but what do we do now? I've found therapists that work with ocd but is this a common type and will they be able to help?

How would we get a proper diagnosis privately? Dd is also ASD and wants certainty about what she has before treatment.

Thank you

We are going through this right now it’s what you call pure O. ERP and ICBT are the treatment. We have just done five months of ERP which basically consists of going to see the therapist discussing your inner most ugliest thoughts not analysing where they’re coming, from which just accepting that their thoughts that are passing through your brain and trying to learn not to react to them. Ali Greymond on YouTube has lots of videos on how to disregard intrusive thoughts. We try and watch one of these every day. however with past OCD mistakes my daughter repeatedly responds to this and it makes her very distressed so we are now trying I -CBT, you can ask AI to make you a workbook based on I -CBT..
Furthermore, I am taking her to a psychiatrist privately and I’ve just been told the earliest appointment is six weeks away. This OCD has my daughter a shadow of herself with a low voice and really withdrawn. We told CAMHS but they just said talking therapy first and then see how we got on.. I’m hoping an SSRI will help her to engage with therapy better and allow her to relax enough to be herself.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCDRecovery/comments/199ggea/pure_o_dr_phillipson_talks_science_symptoms/ Is a video that explains it well

My son has OCD and The priory at Altrincham were brilliant, like you the GP fobbed us off. We saw Dr Holsgrove and I can’t state how great she was. We had to get a referral from a private GP and pay but was worth the money!

@Favouritefruits would you share what treatment worked best for him please? Did he do therapy first or meds first or both?

Thank you so much for this. I've googled pure O and it sounds right. GP was very dismissive.

Altrincham is only an hour or so, I will have a look thanks.

He’s only 12 so didn’t want to go down the medication route, he had CBT and weekly meetings with a nurse during the school day. The initial meeting was about two hours in length where they did the formal diagnosis then a written plan sent around a week later. Every patient is different and what works for one might not for another

Check out childocdtherapist on Instagram. The lady is called Natasha Daniels and she also has brilliant Podcast called Raising Kids with OCD and Anxiety.

She really knows her stuff and has a lot of content on moral OCD and intrusive thought if you search previous episodes.

In terms of medication, sertraline is typically most effective for OCD.

Therapists can help with OCD but it depends on how truthful and honest you are with them. They will help you get to the triggers of what made you OCD and give you homework to overcome them. Combatting triggers may either weaken your urges of OCD or stop it completely, it depends on how much homework you do. All the best.

My son 44 has Asd and Ocd mainly intrusive thoughts and germ phobia .
He has had little to no help but has found ways of lessening the thoughts himself .

He keeps extremely busy and focuses on one of the many projects he has on the go . He's tried medication which helps with his mood ie sertraline, he can't tolerate any form of counciling because of his Asd . Unfortunately there isn't much help out there as therapy will not cure Asd or Ocd only lessen the symptoms temporarily. It is possible that the severe symptoms of Ocd will lessen with time as with another relative I have has done .

OCD-UK is great. They do a very helpful online course for parents and have support groups for children and young people.
This book is brilliant OP. I highly recommend you have a read.

https://www.ocduk.org/product/break-free-from-ocd/

Sertraline was amazing for me.