You are not your OCD
Specialist, compassionate therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder — the intrusive thoughts, doubts and rituals — breaking the cycle step by step, so your life gets bigger and the OCD gets smaller.
CBT, counselling & hypnotherapy in Fareham, Hampshire, and online
OCD therapy, so the thoughts stop running things
When intrusive thoughts and the urge to check, count, clean or seek reassurance take over, it is exhausting and isolating. OCD is very treatable, and you are not what your thoughts say you are.
Fareham, Hampshire, plus online therapy UK wide
Free · Confidential · No judgement · You set the pace
Understanding it
What are obsessions and compulsions?
Obsessive compulsive disorder involves persistent, unwanted thoughts, images or urges, called obsessions, and the things you do to relieve the anxiety they cause, called compulsions. The compulsion works briefly, then the doubt returns, so it has to be repeated.
The compulsion is not always visible. Checking a lock is one. So is counting, repeating a phrase in your head, mentally reviewing whether you meant something, seeking reassurance from a partner, or looking something up online. Mental compulsions are just as real and often go unnoticed for years.
OCD affects people of all ages and it responds well to treatment. If any of this sounds familiar, please be kind to yourself. It is not your fault, and there is nothing about it that makes you strange.
Let us clear this up
OCD is not about being tidy
OCD is probably the most trivialised condition in Britain. People say they are "a bit OCD" about their kitchen, and they mean they like things neat and it pleases them.
Actual OCD is not pleasing. It is a loop of distressing doubt and the exhausting things you do to make the doubt go away, and it eats hours of every day. Nobody enjoys it.
That casual usage is one of the reasons people with OCD wait so long before telling anyone. If it takes something you find genuinely tormenting and turns it into a joke about cupboards, it is hard to imagine being taken seriously. You will be taken seriously here.
The many forms it takes
OCD is not only checking and cleaning
These are all recognised forms. You do not need a formal label, and you do not have to fit one of these neatly.
- Checking locks, taps and appliances
- Contamination and washing
- Symmetry and ordering
- Counting and repeating
- Intrusive thoughts, sometimes called Pure O
- Harm related intrusive thoughts
- Sexual intrusive thoughts
- Religious obsessions and scrupulosity
- Relationship OCD
- Health related obsessions
- Mental reviewing and rumination
- Reassurance seeking
The part hardest to say out loud
If your thoughts frighten you
Some of the most common obsessions are the ones people never mention. Thoughts about harming someone you love. Thoughts of a sexual nature that horrify you. Thoughts that go against everything you believe.
Here is what matters. An intrusive thought is not a wish, a plan or a confession. Almost everyone has strange, unwanted thoughts. The difference with OCD is not the thought itself, it is the alarm that follows and the enormous effort that goes into checking, avoiding and reassuring yourself that you did not mean it.
That distress is, in fact, the clearest sign that the thought sits against your values rather than with them. People tormented by thoughts of harm are characteristically the people least likely to cause any.
Therapists who work with OCD hear these thoughts regularly. You will not be reported, judged or looked at differently, and you will not be the first. If this is the reason you have never told anyone, that is exactly the reason to.
What the guidance says
CBT with ERP is the recommended treatment for OCD
NICE recommends cognitive behavioural therapy including exposure and response prevention for OCD, with an SSRI offered alongside it for some people. That is a conversation for your GP, and it is worth having.
Exposure and response prevention sounds alarming and it is worth saying plainly what it means. It is the gradual, agreed work of facing the thing that triggers the doubt while not performing the compulsion, at a pace you set. Nothing is sprung on you. Nothing happens that you have not agreed to first.
Hypnotherapy and counselling are used here alongside that rather than instead of it. They help a great deal with the underlying anxiety, the shame and the exhaustion, and the research behind them for OCD specifically is thinner. We would rather say so than let you assume otherwise.
Worth knowing before you start
Your therapist will not keep reassuring you
Reassurance is one of the most common compulsions there is, and it is the one people least recognise as a compulsion. Asking a partner whether you locked the door, or whether you are a good person, or whether the thought means anything, brings genuine relief for a few minutes and then leaves the doubt slightly stronger.
So your therapist will take you completely seriously without becoming another source of reassurance. They will explain this at the start, so it never feels like being dismissed. It is not coldness. It is the only route that actually loosens the loop.
CBT & ERP · Strongest evidence
Breaking the obsession and compulsion cycle
CBT with exposure and response prevention helps you meet the obsessive thought without carrying out the compulsion, so the anxiety attached to it gradually settles on its own. That is the mechanism, and it is why it works.
Alongside it you learn to recognise the beliefs that fuel OCD, particularly the idea that a thought must mean something, or that you are responsible for preventing every possible harm.
You also build practical ways to sit with distress without ritualising, which is uncomfortable at times, and is exactly why having someone alongside you makes the difference.
Hypnotherapy & counselling
Supporting the rest of it
Hypnotherapy works on the anxiety underneath, easing the physical alarm that arrives with an obsession and building the tolerance needed to resist a compulsion. Many people find it a genuinely useful companion to the CBT work.
Counselling gives you somewhere to put the shame, the exhaustion and the effect all of this has had on your relationships, work and sleep. For people who have kept this secret for years, being heard properly matters more than any technique.
No surprises
What happens when you get in touch
- 1
You send a message or call
A line or two is plenty. You do not have to describe your obsessions in writing, now or ever.
- 2
A free 15 minute call
A relaxed, confidential chat with an experienced therapist. Nothing difficult happens on the call itself.
- 3
We match you with the right therapist
We suggest the approach and therapist we think fits, in person in Fareham or online, and you decide whether to start.
CBT and hypnotherapy from £90 a session. Counselling from £72. See all fees
You can feel in control again
The goal is not a mind that never produces an odd thought. Everyone has those. The goal is that a thought arrives, and then leaves, without costing you an hour and a ritual.
Your questions answered
OCD therapy questions, answered
My intrusive thoughts frighten me. Does having them mean something is wrong with me?
No. An intrusive thought is not a wish, a plan or a confession. Almost everyone has unwanted, strange thoughts. What marks OCD out is the alarm that follows and the effort spent checking and reassuring yourself. That distress is a sign the thought sits against your values, not with them. Therapists who work with OCD hear these regularly, and you will not be judged or reported.
What is the best treatment for OCD?
NICE recommends cognitive behavioural therapy including exposure and response prevention, with an SSRI offered alongside it for some people. That is why CBT is usually where we start. Hypnotherapy and counselling sit alongside it, helping with the anxiety, shame and exhaustion rather than treating the OCD itself.
What is ERP, and will I be forced to face my fears?
ERP means gradually facing what triggers the doubt while not performing the compulsion, in small agreed steps at a pace you set. Nothing is sprung on you, nothing happens without your agreement, and you can stop at any point. It is uncomfortable at times, which is why having someone alongside you matters.
Is OCD just about being tidy or organised?
No, and that idea is one of the reasons people with OCD stay quiet. Liking a neat kitchen is a preference and it feels good. OCD is a loop of distressing doubt and the exhausting things you do to quiet it, and it eats hours of the day. Nobody enjoys it.
What if my compulsions are all in my head?
Mental compulsions are extremely common and just as real. Counting, repeating phrases, mentally reviewing whether you meant something, going back over a memory to check. This is sometimes called Pure O, though the compulsions are there, they are simply invisible. It responds to the same treatment.
Should I see my GP as well?
Yes, we would encourage it. OCD is a recognised condition with established NHS treatment, and a GP can refer you and discuss whether medication would help. We work alongside medical care rather than instead of it.
How many sessions will I need?
OCD usually needs a course of work rather than one or two sessions, particularly when it has been going on for years. You will get an honest, realistic idea after the first session or two, and you are never tied into a block you have not chosen.
Do you work with children and teenagers?
Yes. OCD often begins in childhood or adolescence, and young people frequently respond very well. For a child we would want your GP involved too. If you are a parent, the free call is a good place to start.
Is what I say confidential?
Yes. Your sessions are private and treated with the strictest confidence. In the rare situation where there is a serious risk to someone's safety, a therapist may need to involve others to help keep people safe, and they would talk that through with you. Intrusive thoughts, on their own, are not that situation.
Can I have sessions online?
Yes. You can be seen in person at our Fareham practice or online from anywhere in the UK. Both work well for OCD, and many people find it easier to say something difficult for the first time from their own home.
Whenever you are ready, we are here
Start with a free 15 minute call. A relaxed, confidential conversation with an experienced therapist. You do not have to describe your obsessions, and there is no cost and no obligation.