Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is characterised by either obsessions or compulsions and as much as 2% of the population suffer is disorder at some point in their lives, although not everyone has the full symptoms. OCD can develop in childhood but more often appears in adolesence or the twenties. The majority of sufferers leave it for years before seeking help or treatment.

The disorder is diagnosed if such consuming activities take up a minimum of one hour each day, are extremely distressing and interfere with the quality of daily life. It affects men and women indiscriminately and affects approximately 1 in 50 people. OCD responds well to the many forms of therapeutic intervention.

Obsessions are:-

Recurrent thoughts, images which are often accompanied by certain and urgent behavioural rituals. A person feels these are beyond his/her control or may recognise, at least initially, as intrusive and senseless. Often finding them distressing and feeling anxious and guilty as a result and they find it difficult to distract themselves or ignore them.

Obsessions manifest themselves in many forms, the most common one is that objects or people are 'contaminated', leading to an obsession with germs or dirt. A person suffering in this way many ritualistically either wash themselves or clean things over and over again.

The next most common obsession is fear of causing accident, injury or misfortune to either self or others. This leads to a compulsion for checking things for example gas taps, door locks, door handles, drawers, light switches, journey routes or a person may spend long periods of time checking or counting or be pre-occupied with symmetry or order.

Compulsions are:-

Actions, behaviours or rituals that sufferers repeat purposefully to avoid or reduce discomfort. Whilst mainly voluntary, the sufferer feels driven to perform them. Below are some of the more common compulsions:-

• Checking to prevent a feared danger such as gas taps left on
• Excessive cleaning or handwashing
• Repeated seeking of reassurance that a feared event will not in fact happen
• Counting or repeating touching of objects to prevent a feared disaster
• Arranging or ordering of objects or activities in a particular way leading to slowness
• Repeated questioning of or confessing to others
• Hoarding of useless or worn out possessions or rubbish