Welcome to OCD Ireland...

Welcome to the OCD Ireland website. We hope this site will be a useful resource for OCD, Trichotillomania & Body Dysmorphic Disorder sufferers in Ireland.

      New content...

We have added a new section 'Mindfulness' to the website. The link for this section can be found on the menu on the left!

We have updated the self test section of the website to include 3 additional BBD self tests. We have also managed to track down a trichotillomania self test! Visit the self tests section of the website for more info.

      New Support Group Meetings for Family and Friends....

OCD, like any mental health condition, can be equally difficult for family members and close friends to deal with. As a consequence of diagnosis, family members also experience feelings of fear, loss and stigma. Contacts with extended family and friends can diminish and there can also be an overwhelming feeling of being alone.

OCD Ireland has started a Support Group for Family and Friends to offer support/ information in confidential and non judgemental surroundings for a family member, spouse, parent, sibling, or friend of a person with OCD, Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) or Trichotillomania (TTM/Trich).

This group is a private place to discuss ideas and experiences, to ask questions and to share resources and information with one another. A flyer for this new group can be downloaded here (Word Doc),(PDF File).

  The next meeting for the new Support Group for Family and Friends will
  be held on May 20th 2008 at 7.30pm (Every three weeks) in Room B (Ask
  at main reception), St Patrick's Hospital, James Street, Dublin 2
  There is a new 2008 calendar available for this new group from
  these links: Calendar (Word format) / Calendar (PDF format)

      Children/Adolescents with OCD...

The first port of call for children/adolescents with OCD is to contact their local GP first (or have their parent contact the GP). The GP will then make a referral to a child/adolescent mental health service where the person will get the treatment required. You can visit the 'Finding Psychiatrist/Therapist' part of this website for more information on where to get help.

A good book to look at is Talking Back to OCD: The Program That Helps Kids and Teens Say "No Way" -- and Parents Say "Way to Go" by John S. March. This self-help workbook book has 2 sections - one for parents on how to help their kids and then one for children/adolescents on how to help themselves.

The website www.juvenilementalhealthmatters.com has the slides from our talk on March 19th 2008 (An Introduction to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with children and adolescents) by Dr. Gary O'Reilly - it is under the heading 'PDF copies of the overheads from our talks and conferences'.

      Don't stay silent...

When Mark wakes up, he opens the curtains. He feels a burst of anxiety so he closes them and opens them four more times until he has completed this action 'just right' as otherwise he might crash his car today. He checks to make sure that his toiletries in the bathroom are still lined up perfectly in a symmetrical order, because if they weren't, there'd be a chance that his wife would die...more

      Brief, Intensive Therapy for OCD, Improved Symptoms...

In a small study of 10 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), just 4 weeks of intensive cognitive behavioral therapy resulted in significant changes in activity in certain regions of the brain... more

      Yale-Brown OCD Scale...

This rating scale is designed to rate the severity and type of symptoms in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Click here to download

      Hoarding...

The Obsessive Compulsive Foundation has recently set up a website dedicated to hoarding. The site can be accessed at http://www.ocfoundation.org/hoarding/.

      Focus Groups...

In Ireland young people who use mental health services have not been given a voice to really influence improvements in service provision. This is about to change. New services for young people are to be developed and government policy requires the involvement of service-users at all levels of planning.

This offers a unique opportunity for young people who have had personal experience of mental health services to shape the services of the future. Based on direct experience, young people are ideally placed to give feedback and make suggestions as to how things can and should change. Parents too, who have attended services with their child, will have a vital perspective on how to change things for the better.

In light of this, we (a group of mental health professionals) have come together to highlight the views of young people and their parents. For this purpose any young person who is currently attending services or has done so in the past is invited to contact us (see contact details below) to take part in a Focus Group session to share their ideas. Parents are invited to attend a separate group. We also plan to contact those who have never come into contact with services, to see what their attitudes are and what would make them more likely to consider accessing help if the need arose.

Each participant will be asked to attend on one occasion only. A number of focus groups will be held so that participants can choose a convenient time and location. Everything in the group is strictly confidential. Groups will be run by experienced and sympathetic mental health professionals who believe passionately in this process.

Anyone interested in participating should contact us and will be sent an information leaflet in advance, detailing the general topics that we would hope to discuss. In the case of young people under 18, parental consent will be required.

When we have gathered all the information, we will give all participants feedback on ideas that have emerged. We will write a report and circulate it to all groups who have a role to play in the development of mental health services. We will circulate our findings to the general media in addition to academic journals. By circulating your ideas as widely as possible we aim to give the strongest representation we can to young people who have experienced mental health difficulties.

We very much value your opinions and would encourage as many people as possible to contribute. The more people that are involved the greater potential for everyone's voice to be heard. It is crucial for us to get your perspective on services: what works, what doesn't work and how to make services more accessible and youth-friendly

We look forward to hearing from you. Please contact Sarah/Blanaid at: focusyouth@gmail.com for further information.

      Information Centre...

St Patricks Hospital have opened a new Information Centre, where you can purchase OCD related literature. The opening hours are 9am to 5pm. St Patricks Hospital is located on James Street in Dublin 2.

  Please visit the Irish Council of Psychotherapy website to view a list of
  CBT therapists in Ireland. Go to Find a therapist. Choose the County you
  want & set Member to CBT & click Search. A list of accredited therapists
  in Ireland and Britain can also be found on the BABCP website.

      Sharing experiences...

OCD Ireland are frequently asked by TV and Radio presenters and journalists for people who might be interested in speaking to the media (print, radio and tv) about their experiences with OCD, BDD or Trichotillomania. Any such contact with the media would be handled with the upmost sensitivity and would be on an individuals own terms. If anybody is interested in this please feel free to contact us at the email address at the bottom of the links section on the left.

      Contact us...

Please feel free to contact us with comments and contributions at the mail address at the bottom of the links section on the left. We will endeavor to update the site on a regular basis.

      Previous homepage content...

2007, 2006