The first step in getting better from obsessive compulsive disorder is making sure that OCD is really the illness that you've got.

Symptoms like obsessions and compulsions can occur in other illnesses for example in depression or sometimes young people with learning disabilities have habits that are very like obsessions and compulsions.

The reasons for making sure it really is OCD is because there are special treatments for OCD which really work well.

In order to make the diagnosis you might need to go and see a specialist. Sometimes that could be your family doctor in the first instance and later perhaps a child psychologist or psychiatrist.

Sometimes these specialist doctors will use a questionnaire to ask you in more detail about the sort of symptoms you are having.