Hi, my name is Luke and I'm 16 years old from Yorkshire. Ive spoke to a Doctor who has referred me to CAMHS. He said to me that he thinks I have anxiety, OCD and depression. I went to CAMHS when I was 14, and the person I saw said I had mild depression and anxiety. But, and I greatly regret it, I didn't do anything about it until recently. I wont be for a couple of weeks until my local CAMHS and contact me because they are jam packed at the moment.
The OCD related side I remember doing obsessive things since I was 7-8 years old, but to be honest I never told anyone about it because I was embarrassed and being so young I thought that it wasn't an issue. I realize what I do isn't normal behavior but I cant bring myself to stop. I do things like repeatedly turn a light on and off, type the backspace and space button back and forth on a keyboard, turn the volume on my tv to a cirtan level, pressing buttons so many times of a remote control, order my books and models in cirtan orders and I find it hard to part with the silliest things. It feels
like if I dont carry out cirtan activities that something bad will happen but im not sure what. Can someone give me some advice please until I can talk to CAHMS?
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Hi Luke, I have some OCD issues myself though not as bad as yours sounds. Having to check if I've locked a door straight after I've done it or line things up in a certain way, stacked pots in the sink in a certain way, take my tablets in a certain order etc., I can imagine how you are driving yourself mad by your actions but you can't seem to stop yourself. I wish I had some answers for you but I don't know enough about your illness to be of any help. Hopefully, more members of this forum will see your post and give you more help and advice that you need. Good look with your CAMHS counselling. Take care. Julia
Hi Luke, my OCD started after a number of life changes when I was 18, it was my way of coping with anxiety and the responsibility of caring for my sister and what I felt was the responsibility of keeping us both safe. I would check that the doors of the house were locked numerous times and this then escalated into a lot more forms of checking before I told someone (rather like you). In fact it was my GP that diagnosed me and I was very fortunate because that was over 20 years ago before OCD had the wider recognition it has now. Your behaviours do sound like OCD and are a way of you coping with anxiety you feel about things. I am sure CAMHS will be able to help you and explain what is happening much better than me but I know the feeling of needing to do certain things a certain number of times to make sure things are right and safe. In terms of my OCD i would now rate it as at a manageable 1 on a scale of 1 to 10 and this is with having some medication to help as well as having cognitive behaviour therapy. It's about learning to understand why we are thinking the way we do. It doesn't always stop the thoughts and the following actions of checking but at least you can understand why you are doing them. I'm not sure what the best advise is to give you while you wait for CAMHS as I'm not a professional but may be if you need to carry out your OCD activities for now to control you anxiety do so until you can get some tools to help you. I would also say to look for some books on OCD which will help you understand what you are experiencing. Overcoming Obsessive compulsive behaviour by David Veale is one that I've read. Your local library should also have some books. Understanding what's happening makes it less frightening I feel. All the best and please be very honest with the professionals you speak to (they are trained to be free of judgement) so that you can get the best help and support. Good luck and know that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I have pretty much the same issue, brought on in intensity fairly recently.
It seems hard to fight it and if your set to get some help that's great.
My best friends are distractions and being busy.
Not saying this will rid you of the OCD but if you can prevent an occurace with a distraction it can save you 10-20 minutes of an OCD.
Just think about when it happens and try to alter your routine.
Im guessing somethings may happen when you are on a daily routine i.e wake up, brush your teeth then OCD.
What I do which is similar to you is press buttons on the remote for example bring up the informtion, take it off then repeat.
But what I do is have a number of times where it feels right, my "feeling" is multiples of 8 makes it feel Okay. Or 4 but never odd, nuts right?
If you have a set number I guess you can have an end point as aposed to going on for hours.
Count the numbers out loud and slow down when you want it to be your last loop.
Im not saying this is a solution but for me it ends the chain of the OCD thus not keeping me there all day. If you're looking for reduction until you get proper help, maybe it can help just depends how severe it currently is.
I'm also 16 and went to camhs on and off from around the age of 10 with almost identical compulsions to you
I can't turn music onto certain numbers because I associate them with bad things and It takes me much longer to type up work because I constantly backspace all my work until it feels right
It's nice to know to know that someone else has similar issues
When I was on the waiting list for camhs I was given a links to a few self help websites and if you type in OCD or anxiety self help they give you the same techniques to cope with common compulsions and how not to let them get the best of you
It seen sort of obvious but I hope that helps you until you can get help from camhs
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