About Us

The Charity

September 16, 2009

OCD Action is the largest national charity focusing on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). We provide support and information to anybody affected by OCD, work to raise awareness of the disorder amongst the public and frontline healthcare workers, and strive to secure a better deal for people with OCD.

We are a dedicated charity with a clear vision, solid objectives and a real understanding of OCD. Formed by a group of volunteers and leading professionals in 1994, the charity is recognised as both a strong voice for people with OCD and a vital source of help.

More importantly, we have the volunteers, trustees and staff to turn our vision into reality and make a real and lasting difference to anyone affected by OCD.

Use the links on the right to find out more about our work.

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Our Strategy

September 16, 2009

Introduction

This Strategic Plan sets out OCD Action’s vision and the core activities that the Charity plans to undertake from April 2009 to March 2012. It’s purpose is to help the Trustees and the Director plan ahead and ensure that the targets and objectives are clear each year, so that they are confident that all the operational activities work towards achieving the Charity’s vision.

This three-year plan has been developed by OCD Action’s Trustees and staff, with the valued input of the Charity’s volunteers and of some of the beneficiaries of the services provided. It has been written for all of the OCD Action team and for all supporters who have an interest in seeing the organisation succeed.

You can download OCD Action’s three-year strategy here.

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About Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

September 7, 2009

About OCD

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is the name given to a condition in which people experience repetitive and upsetting thoughts and/or behaviours. OCD has two main features: obsessions and compulsions.

Obsessions are involuntary thoughts, images or impulses. Common obsessions include, but are not limited to, fears about dirt, germs and contamination; fears of acting out violent or aggressive thoughts or impulses; unreasonable fears of harming others, especially loved ones; abhorrent, blasphemous or sexual thoughts; inordinate concern with order, arrangement or symmetry; inability to discard useless or worn out possessions; and fears that things are not safe, (e.g. household appliances). The main features of obsessions are that they are automatic, frequent, upsetting or distressing, and difficult to control or get rid of.

Just as with obsessions, there are many types of compulsions. It is common for people to carry out a compulsion in order to reduce the anxiety they feel from an obsession.

Common compulsions include observable actions such as excessive washing and cleaning, checking, repeatedly touching, counting, arranging and ordering, hoarding, ritualistic behaviours that lessen the chances of provoking an obsession (e.g. putting all sharp objects out of sight) and acts which reduce obsessional fears (e.g. wearing only certain colours).

Compulsions can also be mental rituals that are not observable. These include repeating words or phrases, counting, or saying a prayer. Again, not all types of compulsion are listed here. The main features of compulsions are they are repetitive and stereotyped actions that the person feels forced to perform.

People can have compulsions without having obsessional thoughts but, very often, these two occur together. Carrying out a compulsion reduces the person’s anxiety and makes the urge to perform the compulsion again stronger each time.

Almost everybody experiences the type of thoughts that people with OCD have (e.g. wanting to double-check the front door or the gas). However, most people are able to dismiss these thoughts.

People with OCD cannot ignore unpleasant thoughts and pay undue attention to them. This means that the thoughts become more frequent and distressing and, over time, they can affect all areas of a person’s life, often their job and their family and social life. A person with OCD can, however, appear to function perfectly normally despite being greatly distressed. This often makes it possible for people with OCD to hide their OCD (because of this, OCD has often been called the ’secretive disorder’).

It’s important to remember that severity of OCD differs markedly between people but each person’s distress is very real. People with OCD are not ‘mad’ or dangerous and do not carry out their unpleasant thoughts. Most people with OCD know that their thoughts are excessive or irrational but the anxiety they feel makes the thoughts difficult to ignore.

OCD is much more common than was previously thought. Prevalence estimates suggest that 2-3 per cent of the UK population has OCD. One reason why the prevalence of OCD has been underestimated in the past is that people with OCD are often afraid to seek help. They worry that other people will think they are mad, and often do not know that their disorder is a recognised condition with effective treatments. Young people also suffer from OCD. In fact, many adults with OCD had symptoms in childhood.

The cause of OCD is much debated but it is likely to result from a combination of factors in addition to this the cause for one person may differ from that for another. OCD can run in families and, in some cases, may be associated with an underlying biochemical imbalance in the brain.

Psychological factors such as susceptibility to stress or exposure to an emotionally traumatic experience are also likely to be in evidence. The good news is that, for the majority, OCD can be effectively controlled and treated.

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Carers

September 7, 2009

Carers

Are you the relative or carer of someone who has OCD? If so, then this place is for you.

OCD places a formidable burden and stress on family members, who often become involved in the rituals or avoidance behaviour of the person with OCD to pacify that behaviour. Some families or relatives have a high tolerance for inappropriate behaviour and can cope well, but for others it can be a very difficult and stressful experience which can vary enormously depending on the circumstances of each individual family and the extent of the demands made on them.

For the sufferer, OCD impinges on all aspects of life and causes significant interference with social and occupational functioning. It can also have the same effect on families of sufferers. However, the effect on individual family members may vary, especially if a member becomes involved with the rituals. The stereotypical rituals commonly performed include washing, cleaning, hoarding, checking, repeating actions, order, mental listings and rearranging in one’s mind certain words or phrases. The person in your family with OCD may also have different rituals, as people are all different.

Between 1-2 per cent of the population have OCD, which represents almost 1,250,000 people in the UK. This makes OCD one of the most common mental disorders and more prevalent than schizophrenia, which has an incidence of approximately 1%. Although drug and behavioural treatments are available, many sufferers are undiagnosed and receive no treatment. Also, an estimated 30% of those diagnosed fail to take prescribed medication.

Although there is such a prevalence of OCD, it is inconsistent with other conditions in that there is little awareness of it and little seems to be done about it. Perhaps the rates have been underestimated because of the stigma attached to mental illness. Often sufferers are ashamed of their symptoms and will not admit to them; secrecy can often be part of OCD.

The medical profession has often considered OCD bizarre and as such assumed it to be rare. Families are often reluctant to talk about OCD due to the stigma attached to mental illness. Clearly OCD will have an effect on the sufferer, but it can be difficult to understand the effect it can have on their families. OCD is all-encompassing and all family members are inextricably involved with the sufferer’s illness.

More than 80% of families have suffered disruption to their personal life and to family social life. For many families, the burden of care can fall mostly to one family member. Disruption can take many forms, from demands to participate or cooperate with rituals to domination of almost every action in the home. Demands can often be accompanied by shouting and bad temper and in some cases with violence. It is difficult to imagine the great stress on the physical and emotional well-being of family members.

Giving in to demands and cooperating with rituals can lead to a set of oppressive rules. The consequences of this can be serious and as such may require appropriate treatment and support for the family members affected. Family members may risk neglecting their personal needs and struggle with feelings of guilt, helplessness and hopelessness. OCD rituals and obsessions are diverse and varied and there are no rules about what form they can take.

There is no doubt that OCD affects relationships. There is often a feeling of shame and isolation as well as great sadness about how relationships have changed. Carers and families often talk about a sense of ‘wasted lives’, and refer not just to the life of the sufferer, but their own as well. Before the onset of OCD, sufferers, families and individuals had often functioned at high levels at school and college, socially and at work and there is the sense that not only do they now have to cope with an illness, but with this sense of sadness and loss as well.

Relatives often make comments such as:
“We used to be so close”, “It’s like the son I had is gone. I sometime see glimmers of him but mostly it is like living with a different person. I just don’t know who he is any more”.

Other descriptions include: “a living bereavement”,
“being in a different world apart from reality”. Some avoid friends and family because of the pain they feel when they see others enjoying the many good events and normal milestones of life. Comments include: “I can’t stand it when I am invited to a wedding or a party because I am so jealous”, “What do I have to say about my son/daughter/husband/wife – that he/she is a perfect partner because he/she decontaminates everything and everyone that comes to the house”.

The examples and comments above illustrate some of the ways the emotional lives of OCD families are affected. There is some similarity to how the lives of the families of people with other ailments such as alcoholism are affected, but it seems that there is less awareness of the effects of OCD on the family and consequently less effort to treat it despite the above-mentioned high prevalence rate. It is the task of mental health professionals to help the families of OCD sufferers as well as the sufferers themselves. The stress and suffering of families is a natural response to the highly unnatural demands placed on them by their mentally ill loved ones. Relatives are not bad people, they are sensitive and people who have empathy and compassion for their afflicted relatives. Often they sacrifice their own lives to help the ill person.

However much you like or love the person you are caring for, the emotional and physical demands of caring can be extremely stressful. Things can be particularly difficult if you live with them and you feel you have no time to relax and unwind. Everyone reacts differently to the stresses of caring. But when carers get together, they often find they share many of the same feelings. Some of the most common feelings carers describe are: Frustration, Resentment, Guilt, Anger, Fear, Loneliness, Depression.

Click here to view article: what to do if the person with OCD refuses help

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