We’re going to talk today about starting treatment for your OCD, and the first important thing is to realise that knowledge is power, and that having a lot of information about OCD – becoming your own expert really – is the important first stage of getting better. So, to have some books to read, to look at some websites, to have lots of information, for both you and your family is really important, and to understand that it’s not your fault that you’ve got this problem, but that you and your family need to work together to help fight it.

As well as that knowledge base, there are two treatments which we know work very well, and have both been shown to be effective in clinical trials. One of those is cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). It’s a talking treatment that really involves learning to fight your OCD a little at a time. This sort of treatment is often done by psychologists, although other therapists can do it too. Ideally, everybody with OCD should have a go at trying CBT to see if it helps them.

The other good treatment is medication, and I wanted to make sure that you and your family know about that option as well. Some young people are quite worried that it might dope you up, or changes your personality, but in fact we use medication quite specifically. They are medications of the antidepressant group, but they all act on a specific brain chemical called serotonin, which we think may be an important chemical in OCD.

Because there is a lot to think about and understand, we’ve got some written information that we will give you later to take home and read about the different medicines and how we think they work. Is there anything you wanted to ask about that?

Would there be any side effects of medication?

That’s a really good question and again we’ll give you some written information about potential side effects. Side effects are possible, but most young people find that the beneficial effects outweigh any possible side effects. But of course if you run into problems we would take that very seriously and think about changing your medicine or stopping it.