Getting official diagnosis/discussing potential ocd at work

[Kemu17Participant]

Hi All,

I was just wondering how everyone’s experience was of getting diagnosed on the nhs? And is it ok to mention OCD to my boss without a formal diagnosis or should I keep schtum?

I have been suffering from suspected harm ocd for the last 10 years. During this time I have had 3 bad episodes where I have had to take anywhere from a few days to 2 weeks off work to recover. I haven’t got an official NHS diagnosis but a few counsellors I spoke to said my symptoms were consistent (wink wink nudge nudge) with OCD but that they weren’t allowed to officially diagnose me.

I’ve tried talking to GPs about it a few times to get referred for diagnosis but as I wouldn’t/couldn’t tell them the exact contents of my intrusive thoughts they weren’t interested. I’ve heard a few horror stories of people with OCD being misunderstood and reported to the police/social work and I’m terrified of that happening as I would most likely lose my job, lots of friends and it would make things really difficult for certain family situations. Can anyone give me some encouragement of good experiences they’ve had with NHS diagnosis? I live in Scotland if that’s important so I believe a referral would go through my community mental health team?

 

I just had a bad episode a few weeks ago and had to stay off work twice. My boss has been great about it, very understanding and encouraging me to take off as much time as I needed. I don’t feel like I need any formal accomodations but I would like to be able to explain to her briefly what has been going on i.e “thank you for being so helpful and understanding. I have suspected OCD/I’m seeking an OCD diagnosis and got badly triggered for a few weeks but feel much better now,” but not sure if I should mention it as I don’t have a formal diagnosis?

[wannabefreeParticipant]

Hi there, to be honest, I am unsure, but, there are self-diagnosis ‘tools’ to help, and they are often buried in self help books. It isn’t formal diagnosis,  but it can at least give us an idea, and then some pointers of what to do for the best.

A book that helped me is ‘feeling good, the new mood therapy’ by a Doctor David burns. It has checklists to help us to figure things out.

Another is ‘Ocd for dummies’ a big yellow book published by wiley. We can get them directly from Amazon, who suggest other books too. Just type ‘OCD’ into the amaxon website searchbar and see what you can find.

I’m in England, to be fair, the nhs is badly stretched here too…

Hope this helps,

Wannabe

[Forum Moderators]

Hello!

Forum moderators here: We want be sure everyone knows that the OCD Action website has lots of very useful resources about therapy (and other types of treatment).

How do I find therapy/treatment resources on the website?

Do you want to know what to expect during your first therapy appointment? Or not sure if the therapy you’re having is appropriate for you?

Two good places to start on our website are the pages:

1. Treatment Overview to read our summary about treatments, including links to:

• More on CBT
• More on medication
• More on getting help through the NHS

2. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy With Exposure And Response Prevention where you’ll find links to therapy resources including:

• Therapy (CBT with ERP)
  • Good quality CBT with ERP
  • What to look for in a therapist
  • Making the most of therapy

How do I find all of OCD Action’s treatment resources?

1. At the top of the homepage, click on the green “Learn About OCD” bar. Then, click on: “All of our resources“

2. Next, scroll down and click on a blue bar, for example “I want to find out about the recommended treatments”. You’ll then see these links – click on them for more information:

Treatments flyer

Treatments information pack [PDF here]

• Therapy (CBT with ERP)
  • Good quality CBT with ERP
  • What to look for in a therapist (including privately)
  • Making the most of therapy
• Medication (Anti-obsessional)
• Treatments that are not recommended and why

We hope you’ll find this helpful!

Forum Moderators

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