Delphine

Hallo I really do sympathise as our daughter is also 12 and suffers from a fear of germs which at one stage was very severe and stopped her going to school....we did a obtain treatment from Cahms , at first she was very reluctant and didn't want to engage, staying in our car outside the hospital but the therapist went out to speak to her and she eventually agreed to go inside and chat to them . She was initially prescribed risperidone and sertralline and had about 4 months of CBT which worked well.....at her worst she stopped eating and drinking so we had to take her to A and E where she was admitted for the weekend so I think we got bumped up the waiting list as this happened several times .... at the end of the therapy she started a new school and all went well until it started to come back last November. It seems that she hadn't had enough therapy so she is now seeing a private clinical psychologist who used to work for Cahms and this is going well ....we have also been offered more therapy by Cahms but we feel we have more control now and hopefully this time the OCD can be completely eradicated....However we had approached at least three private therapists when she was very ill and it's so difficult to find the right one ....we felt we were going round in circles .....none of them were right for her and once we were in Cahms we were impressed by the care and professionalism....the only downside is that they might try and stop therapy before your child is quite ready as in our case but I would still recommend them....however the waiting stage is so difficult especially if your child won't engage ...we felt desperate before she got help and it's awful that you have to wait so long for a Cahms appointment... as the other poster said is the therapist a clinical psychologist with experience of OCD as I think this is vital .........it might be that Cahms will offer a different approach if you can wait that long