Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Health Education

ISSN: 0965-4283

Article publication date: 22 June 2010

656

Citation

(2010), "Obsessive-compulsive disorder", Health Education, Vol. 110 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/he.2010.142110dag.001

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Article Type: Internet review From: Health Education, Volume 110, Issue 4

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a serious, anxiety related, debilitating condition that affects approximately 3 per cent of the UK population. Interestingly, at some time in our lives, we have probably all suffered the symptoms of OCD, though admittedly in a very mild form. Worrying over trivia unnecessarily, making sure that things in the house are always in their “right” place, avoidance of certain situations, worrying about whether you really did turn the lights off when you left the house? In the right context all perfectly normal thoughts and behaviours, but when they become intrusive, to the exent that they begin to interfere with “normal” living, this is when we are looking at something closer to OCD.

Pharmaceutical treatments for OCD are available but they do not work for everyone and the side-effects can be unpleasant. In this review we will examine a number of different approaches to dealing with this condition but our focus will be on the self-help treatments that can be found on the internet.

OCD-UK – www.ocduk.org/index.htm

This is the web site of a UK based charity whose stated aim is to “Make a difference for people affected by OCD”. The resources provided by this web site are extensive and the information is presented in interesting and innovative manner. For example clicking on the link “OCD-What Is It?” brings up a (quite long) summary of this section where information on aetiology, treatment and prognosis can all be found. However, running parallel to this, on the right of the users’ screen, are a series of links that provides more detailed information for different parts of this section. It is rather like having the contents page of a book continuously available.This allows the user to very quickly find what they are looking for and at a depth appropriate to their interests.

As with all good health education web sites, the designers of this one have provided separate sections for young children and teenagers. The guide for young children is in the form of a comic book with two characters “Jolly” and “Grump” explaining that OCD is like “a big bully who pushes you around, and makes you feel bad”. The language used and the illustrations will make this very appealing to young children who might be experiencing OCD, or for others who want to know more about the condition because a friend or relative might be showing symptoms of OCD.

The guide for teenagers is equally well produced with content appropriate to this age group, including some interesting case studies.

One of the most useful parts of this web site is the section dealing with self-help. Here users are introduced to the “Four Steps” technique, developed by Jeffrey Schwartz in the 1990’s. Esentialy this technique is a combination of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and Mindfulness and by using the Four Steps, the person with OCD, in essence, becomes their own CBT therapist. The web site provides a usful guide to the technique and for people who might want to know more a book and a video can be purchased from OCD-UK.

There is so much in this web site it is hard to do it justice in a short review. It is probably enough to say anyone with an interest in OCD, for whatever reason, will find the contents of this web site interesting and informative.

The International OCD Foundation – www.ocfoundation.org/index.aspx

The OCD Foundation is the USA’s equivalent to OCD-UK. Although it does not describe itself as a charity, it is a not-for-profit organisation, developed and run by people with OCD. In the section “About OCD” users can find a wealth of information on OCD in its many forms. Much of the information is also available in the form of downloadable leaflets which could be of use in a variety of health education contexts.

The Find Help section, while mainly focusing on North America, has some interesting features. For example, users can enter their postcode to find a therapist in their location. It is also possible to find online support groups for OCD in general, or for specific conditions. Although these support groups are in the main online, users can also find local support groups in their area if they feel the need for face-to-face contact with other people trying to cope with OCD.

The OCD Foundation is supported by donations and as we frequently find in this type of web site,there is a link for those who wish to support the Foundation. What is more unusual is to find a link where you can donate a car! The idea is that for anyone who has a spare care “cluttering the driveway”, they can donate it to the Foundation, who presumably sell it on and keep the profit as a donation. An interesting approach, but not sure if it will catch on in the UK.

As well as seeking donations, the Foundation also makes money through a “Speakers Bureau”. This is a list of knowledgeable people, some of who have experienced OCD first hand, others who are medical practitioners or therapists, and they can be booked for conferences, meetings or special events that are OCD related.

Among other things, the money raised by the Foundation is used to support research into the condition and abstracts of the many research projects that have been funded by the Foundation can be found here. Under the Research heading users will also find a link that enables them to volunteer as a participant in OCD research. Although these research projects are not specifically endorsed by the Foundation, most of those listed appear to be quite legitimate. For those people who want to volunteer, but can’t find a research project in their area, there are also links provided to online surveys that are being used to gather data on various aspects of OCD.

There is much to commend this web site, it looks good, is well organised, and has content that is suitable for a variety of users. The lay person who want to know more about their troubling condition, or the health education professional who is looking for resources, both will find something of interest in this web site.

NHS Choices – www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Obsessive-compulsive-disorder/Pages/Introduction.aspx

The UK’s National Health Service has come a long way in recent times in improving the online information it provides. From a very basic text-based service we now have this multimedia web site which is a vast improvement on what was previously available. The information is presented in a format that resembles a”mini-textbook” in that an overview is first presented, followed by chapters on symptoms, causes, treatments and so on. Guideline from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), are also provided and the overview concludes with a References section. The second tier of information provided by this web site is perhaps the more interesting. Here users will hear from experts, they can read real life stories as well as watch a video clip of a woman describing how OCD has affected her life. It is also possible to access the “Map of Medicine”, an online flow chart that it used by doctors to make a diagnosis and prescribe treatment. At each node of the flow chart users can access further information to help them move to he next step in the chart. Ultimately a diagnosis is made and treatment recommendations can be examined. This is an excellent resource that should be copied by other health education web sites.

Finally,just to make sure that all the information provided is up to date, a link to the Reuters news agency is provided. Unfortunately, although the newsline does provide some relevant information, there is a lot that would only be of passing interest to most users interested in OCD.

Royal College of Psychiatrists – www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinfoforall/problems/obsessivecompulsivedisorder/obsessivecomplusivedisorder.aspx

For a minimalist approch to information provision, look no further than this web site. Admittedly, the Royal College of Psychiatrists describes this web site as a “leaflet”, so users shouldn’t expect too much information, but the difficulty is knowing who this leaflet is aimed at? For a lay person who wants to know the basics of OCD this leaflet is probably ideal. It describes the symptoms, has a few sentences on the causes of OCD and briefly explains different forms of treatment. However for a person who has OCD, there is nothing like enough information in this web site. It will raise lots of questions but provide very little in the way of answers. Similarly, for health education professionals there is very little here that would be of use.

For some reason there is a link that presents this leaflet in Arabic, no other languages, just Arabic. Why that should be the case is not explained, perhaps OCD is more prevalent in Arabic speaking people, but I suspect not.

The one thing that is useful in this web site is a comparison and evaluation of different forms of treatment. Again it lacks detail but is does provide a good summary of what is available and how effective it might be.

The web site provides telephone numbers and e-mail addresses for other OCD organisations, e.g. OCD-UK, but, for some reason, it doesn’t provide a link to these web sites. Perhaps the designers of this web site are fearful of the competition … they should be!

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