Hi and welcome to the first ever OCDCentre blog. My name is India Haylor and I am the founder of this Central London treatment Centre www.ocdcentre.com that specialises in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). And I know that I can speak on behalf of the Centre when I say that it is so much more than that to us involved. I knew that there would never be anything 9-5 about this role, but it’s true to say that the Centre really is our main focus in life. That’s because the distress of OCD isn’t limited to working hours or any one person. Like addictions, OCD is 24 hours (yes, it is possible to dream about carrying out rituals) and the “collateral damage” is widespread. From the epicentre of the person suffering, the impact spreads quickly to partners, children, siblings, parents, other relatives, colleagues, friends and healthcare professionals (therapists gain skills to cope but imagine a primary care doctor being visited 15 times by a patient enquiring about the same slightly abnormal benign skin mark who is never satisfied by the all clear diagnosis?). Our phrase at the Centre is that OCD is “lifestyle invasive” but we realise that this is, in many cases, an understatement (70% of our initial enquiries come from a carer and not the person with OCD).
Speaking as someone who manages their OCD well, the Centre is the only part of my life that I am happy to be obsessed about. Behaviour tasks occur to me when cleaning my teeth and the phone can often ring at 5am but this is small potatoes when I trade this off against the satisfaction of what I do, day in, day out. Even then, our benchmarks for success can be compared to very little else. I am quietly ecstatic when I help a bleach-disinfected client in a contamination suit to touch a door handle for the first time in 2 years or encourage another not to put the tell-tale tape across the closed door frame before they go to bed to signal in the morning whether they have left their bedroom and brutally murdered someone in the night. These are the sort of life changing events that we can neither discuss or relate to anyone elses notion of job satisfaction. Nevertheless, these are the things that we live for.
So, as a Centre, we have learnt to be unshakable in our conviction that change can happen in any circumstance given the willingness of the person involved, unconditional in our respect for our clients (and those in their immediate surroundings) and very, very flexible. We know there is no norm, no common pathology or symptomology, no OCD “type”. For us, the traditional scenario of client and therapist sat discussing a past week in the life of the client is a rarity. More often you will find us rolling our sleeves up with our clients, busily formulating plans and goals, holding boundary setting family sessions in homes, reviewing homework, using public transport together, sitting on sidewalks, leaving taps on and sharing food a day or two outside the sell-by date. And if we are not doing this in person during our London 5-Day Intensive Courses or In-Person Sessions, we are encouraging and supporting our remote clients during telephone sessions to work in the same way at home or training their carers to help them do so.
At the Centre we all have OCD, or very direct experience of it, e.g. an involved wife or father of someone with OCD. As far as I’m concerned there is a reason that the Alcoholics Anonymous model of recovered addicts helping recovering addicts is one of the most successful interventions in the world. Given the hard work our clients have ahead of them I’m not sure I could look them in the eye unless I’d been through that process myself. Additionally, the obsessions and compulsions of OCD are often so bizarre, so complicated and cross-referenced, that I believe it is more difficult for a non-OCD therapist to fully grasp the nature and scope of this disorder. I know that I have to sign my signature on both sides of the “contaminated” toilet tissue I give my client to carry around for a week in case they just swap it for a clean sheet when they leave. I know this because at one time, I would have done the same. Also, how do you fully explain that sense of things not being right when a client takes an hour to pass through a doorway from one room to another? I could never sit in my comfortable session room and ask my client to do anything I haven’t already done or would be happy to go out and do with them.
So my mission with this blog is to inspire others with OCD who stand on the verge of making the leap as we have been inspired by the amazing efforts of our clients. I hope to do this by discussing the methods and techniques we use everyday and the experience we bring to bear on our philosophy and programme. More importantly, I would like to leave people with the impression that people with OCD are exceptional in many ways. The emotional sensitivity resulting from their condition, if under management, leads to achievers who are incredibly intuitive, exacting, creative, empowering and articulate. And if not under management, at the stage we tend to see them, their basic characteristics of kindness, consideration, honesty and appreciation are evident. As I said before, I really love my job and I hope I can share some of the skills I’ve learnt with you.
To contact the OCDCentre: UK: +44 (0) 20 7096 0368 or 0845 226 3110 US: +1 646 216 8172 or email info@ocdcentre.com
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April 22, 2009 at 4:58 pm
John
Hi ! my name is John I went on one of India’s 5 day intensive courses in March 2009. It was very challenging at times but over all it was a very positive experience. I think, if you’ve suffered badly with OCD like I have, then there’s not much else life can throw at you really that’s quite so painful, I think that’s where I found the courage and drive to embrace the new ideas that the OCD centre have to offer. Their approach differs mainly from the usual UK National Health Service approach of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy; in that India’s approach is based on Acceptance therapies, mainly REBT but not exclusively.
For example rather than trying to rationalise how unlikely it is that you could catch HIV from the discarded sticking plaster on the changing room floor; you need to learn to say to yourself: yeah ok maybe I will accidentally stand on it, maybe a particle of virus will get into my bloodstream and maybe I will catch AIDS. The moment you start to do that it does take the power away from the Bully of OCD because if you disarm him, he has nothing left to hit you over the head with anymore. OK it’s not quite as straight forward as I’m making it sound but what I’ve just described is the central thrust of one of the approaches that India and the OCD centre use and I’ve found it helps me a lot and I’ve had severe OCD for at least twenty years and been hospitalised three times.
This girl is like a breath of fresh air , if you want help with OCD, I strongly recommend you contact them at the OCD centre to see how they might be able to help, I probably sound rather passionate, it’s just because they’ve offered me a kind of lifeline really, something that really works for a change and is tangible.
Well I’ll sign off now, overcoming OCD and learning to deal with it can be hard work and challenging but for me constantly living with OCD was even more hard work. Never give up hope! Love John.
April 28, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Alana
Hi, My name is Alana and I attended the OCD Centre’s 5-day-intensive course with India in April.
and I know I can go on a bit, I do apologise for the essay 
But Thank You very much for taking the time to read it and if you can, I’d urge you to give this course a try. Believe it or not, I actually had fun!
My earliest memory of OCD (though I didn’t recognise it for what it was at the time) was when I was about 4 – I’m now almost 21. I self-diagnosed when I was a teenager and have done therapies and medication in the past. I believed myself to have ‘quite bad’ OCD and to be honest although it was me who found the centre and signed up for the course myself – without the persuasion of others, I was quite scared of the thought of attending the centre. Facing your worst fears is a scary thought but what made me the most apprehensive was the thought that at the very worst, instead of feeling better, or even feeling no different, I was scared that doing the course, doing those things I was asked to do, that it would make me worse, that it would open up a can of worms that would just be left strewn everywhere when the course was over because that was the five days up (although I’m on the extended course but I previously believed that to be about 7-10 days instead of the 5 so the same rules would apply). I was scared too of changing inwardly as a person, for the worse. This definitely is not the case. We were asked to do things which really pushed the boundaries of our own beliefs but India knew when to push, she asked us to do things, (definitely 95%) that were just beyond our comfort barriers. We weren’t thrown in at the deep end and left out to dry as I thought it may feel like. But as India said, I believe it a definite benefit to have a Therapist who has self-experience of OCD. This may sound bad but, I don’t know if I’d have done everything I was asked/told for a non-sufferer; If I didn’t think India had the right perspective and ability to judge the situation having been in similar if not identical situations herself. The phrases ‘But what if’ and ‘You don’t understand, you don’t know what this feels like’ spring to mind. The fact is, she knows what she’s doing, we trusted that and it’s paid off. India taught us we’re not ‘victims’, she supports you but don’t carry you and she’s tough sometimes but sometimes, it’s what you need.
We worked in a group format and I believe that to be a definite benefit of this course, along with India and the constancy (‘Intensity’) of the course working on it for 5 consecutive days. Being part of a group was certainly beneficial, for me anyway. There were two other members of my group and when I was unsure, I could turn to them and know it was what needed to be done, as we would for either of the other members. Sometimes you want a second opinion even when you know India’s right. These people understand where you’re coming from and that definitely helps when you’re trying to break through OCD, You’re with people with a similar dilemma to you and it helps to support each other through it, I think it makes you stronger and when the others are doing well, it makes you want to do so too.
I’m not saying I’m ‘cured’, not by a long shot, and my treatment’s only really just beginning but I’m now home, and I have to admit, I’m better. I thought it was only in ways that I might notice but my family have too and to be honest, I feel better in myself. I feel braver. I’m going in the right direction and it takes work and willingness but I’m getting there. India is Wonderful, she’s lovely and friendly and open, she’s just a really nice person but the fact is that however wonderful, there’s only so much that she or anyone else can do to help. OCD is a selfish disorder and if you don’t want to get over it, there’s not too much anyone can do for you. You have to want to do it, and continue keep at it yourself. I’ve done things I never thought I could/would, I’ve made some wonderful friends and I’ve gained too much to let it go now.
I agree with John, fighting OCD can be tough, but living with it and the thought of living with it for the rest of my life is definitely much tougher.
We’re stronger than we think. It helps me to think of OCD as an addiction and I don’t want to be dependent on anything or anyone else. Put into perspective, our condition is nothing although I know that certainly it doesn’t feel that way mid way through a ritual or when you just can’t get a thought out of you’re mind.
But it’s true, and it’s beatable.
If you’re life’s being affected by OCD I urge you to seek treatment, whether self-help or through your doctor. There are many ways to fight Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and as far as I’m aware, none are ‘quick fixes’ and certainly not in the long term. I can’t tell you what to do in your life but I know that the OCD Centre has been fundamental to me. I didn’t know if I’d ever find ‘proper’ help but I’m now on a life changing and affirming path and it’s certainly for the better.
I realise I sound like an advert
I’m stronger than OCD, I knew that all along, but this course manages to bring it out and help you prove it to yourself.
Thank You so much for everything,
All the best,
Love Alana xXx
May 12, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Lorraine
My OCD first started in 2000 When I was a Nanny looking after
Three children working long hours going backwards and forwards to various clubs & activities, It took a long time to get to and from work as I would go back to check bumps or hear a noise then
I would think that I had damaged other people’s cars but my greatest fear is that I have run someone over to the existent that I would blame myself for accidents in the newspapers that had nothing to do with me. I couldn’t reassure myself in fact no one could reassure me, my mind raced day and night. I was emotional, I got to the stage that I felt I couldn’t cope with these sensations anymore I was not me anymore but I didn’t know what was wrong with me I remember my partner didn’t no what to do with me either so I went to my GP who didn’t really no what was wrong with me so gave me some tablets which didn’t help if anything they made me worse, so I decided to get a second opinion this doctor was very understanding and told me I had OCD and gave me some websites to look at, finally I wasn’t going crazy then he put me on some courses which helped a little but didn’t get to the root of the problem, Then I paid for therapists privately which again helped but didn’t get to the root of the problem then one day I came across a advert for the OCD centre so I phoned them and spoke to Chez it was fantastic to speak to someone that understands OCD that was able to offer me advice who also had experience of OCD. So I decided I would do the five-day intensive course after my assessment with India. I had to say I was worried as this was going to be one big challenge for me but I knew this is what I needed and only I could do this for me to mange my OCD which is the bully in my life, which has no place in my life. The Friday I arrived in London I was greeted by India and the other two people on my course .We introduced ourselves and said a bit about what our OCD was in. India went through some OCD facts and background information for us such as confidentiality everything we talked about was to stay in the room and also what was happening over the next five days. But that afternoon we set off to buy each other a sandwich and a drink then swap it when we came back to the room with another person, we were not allowed to wash our hands after going to the toilet or anything else or even wash our bodies or hair until Saturday evening. On Saturday we met at a coffee bar and went off to read up on the cognitive side of things after we got on the tube to meet India after reading some of our book, After lunch it was exposure work time, this is really where the hard work began for me. But I will say this India didn’t give me any task she wouldn’t do herself sometimes it was even fun, you heard right we all had a laugh My boyfriend even joined me for support and helped support the others as he has lived with me, with OCD for many years, I am very lucky to have a kind understanding boyfriend and to still be with me. We also had to leave India a phone message on her answer machine, as she wanted us to get really angry with her. Sunday we did some Rational behaviour reading on the computer and went over our ABC `s, Then we I had to drive around Knightsbridge in London passed Harrods with big posh cars parked outside on either side of the road people crossing the road everywhere also taxis, India sat in the car with me and another person on our course too. This was really scary to me as we live in the country I already had to drive in to London that day which I hadn’t done before. Was I anxious the answer was yes my heart was racing, my legs where shaking too we finally got to where India was staying, I had, had enough I wanted to cry my boy friend got back in the car and said India wants you to drive for another fifteen minutes I was said no!! But I did drive for that time and more, until I pulled the car over and began to cry I cant do anymore as I was so stressed out, as it was so busy I was also ocd-ing too. But do you know I look back on that day and think I might of not of enjoyed it, but I kept thinking it’s only a sensation I am feeling. But I do feel really proud of myself for driving in London, now I think if you can drive in London you can drive anywhere. A week or so later I began to feel alive again and back to the old Lorraine hooray. I lost who I was.
It really helped doing the intensive as I made some great friends with people who are like-minded and India has OCD too which she has managed successful which proves you can mange yours too.
At the OCD centre you really couldn’t meet a nicer group of supportive people, who understands you. I wouldn’t recommend going down the NHS route not if you can afford to do this treatment first, as it’s more dedicated to an OCD suffer and no waiting lists.
I wish people reading this the best of luck managing your OCD.
You can mange this and give yourself the life you deserve.
Best Wishes
Lorraine