Feeling sad, miserable, down, or unmotivated can be more than just an emotional feeling and can start to impact everyday tasks, relationships, and overall functionality. If left untreated, it can start to result in poor work performance, difficulty finding fulfilment in day-to-day tasks and friendships becoming strained.

Lots of those who suffer from OCD also experience distressing thoughts about hurting themselves or others or get flashes of anxiety-inducing and stressful mental images of unpleasant scenarios. Some sufferers suffer from only the intrusive thoughts, while others have just the compulsions and some experience a combination of the two. Whatever your symptoms, our therapists in Canary Wharf can help you to accept and manage the condition and live a more worry-free life using a range of techniques.

OCD Types and Symptoms

OCD can present in many forms, but most can be categorised as:

• Checking, such as locks, alarms systems, oven, light switches or medical condition symptoms
• Contamination, which involves a fear of things that are dirty or a compulsion to clean
• Symmetry and order which is the need to have things lined up in a certain way
• Rumination and intrusive thoughts that are an obsession with a certain line of thought

Likewise, the obsessions and compulsions experienced by individuals can differ from person to person. Examples of obsessions can present as:

• Worries about getting hurt or others being hurt
• Constant awareness of blinking, breathing or bodily sensations
• Suspicions that a partner is unfaithful with no reason to believe it

Examples of compulsions could be:

• Doing tasks in a very specific order or for a certain number of times
• Needing to obsessively count things
• Fear of touching doorknobs, public toilets or handshaking

Managing OCD

Examples of obsessions can present as: Those who have OCD know that their thoughts and habits don’t make sense and don’t enjoy carrying out compulsions but can’t stop voluntarily. Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), the team at Bridges Therapy Centre aim to help individuals to minimise problems and develop flexible thinking. By examining the link between triggers, thoughts and actions, we help people to break the cycle of feeling bad when they don’t carry out certain tasks and employ new coping mechanisms when they get an intrusive thought or feel compelled to act in a certain obsessive way.

How We Can Help

Each case of OCD is different and so our therapists in Canary Wharf spend time getting to understand what compulsions, thoughts and behaviour affect you and when to get a holistic view of the condition and provide the best possible support. Our team use a range of approaches including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), CBT, Solution Focused Therapy, Mindfulness and EMDR and will outline which course of action is best for you after an initial consultation.