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Accessing OCD treatment in Bath from Scotland?


Guest Glasgow Mum

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Guest Glasgow Mum

My 14 year old son has been diagnosed with OCD, social anxiety and mood disorder.  His Pyschologist at cahms says he also has autistic traits - we are waiting for a formal assessment.  I am not convinced of the ASD diagnosis as although my son was always an anxious child his OCD started after a very brief stomach virus (24hours) at age 12..  He became obsessed with becoming ill and was petrified of vomitting.  This escalated and grew into nightly panic attacks about getting ill, being contaminated.  He began self harming and his anxiety about becoming ill was so bad he stopped eating because he feared food would make him ill. He can become very verbally absuive and violent if he thinks he has eaten something that will make him ill.   He also has many intrusive thoughts about being knifed and him hurting his family.   He will eat now but nothing with colour and when he is in a particularily anxious state he refuses to eat full stop.  I have found cahms to be useless in dealing with his OCD, they have given him talking therapy but not CBT as they believe its not suitable for him.  They are now suggesting trying medication again but he has been on antipychotics and sertraline before and they had truely awful side effects.  Really my question is, has anyone from Scotland had a successful application to one of the specialist centres down south.   

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1 hour ago, Glasgow Mum said:

I have found cahms to be useless in dealing with his OCD, they have given him talking therapy but not CBT as they believe its not suitable for him.

Sadly you are not alone Glasgow Mum, don't get me wrong, some CAMHS are brilliant but all too many are less than good shall we say.  One option might be to speak to your GP about accessing another CAMHS in the area, with luck they may be more knowledgeable about OCD.

What talking therapy did they offer him?   Did they give a reason why they feel CBT would not be suitable for him?

 

1 hour ago, Glasgow Mum said:

Really my question is, has anyone from Scotland had a successful application to one of the specialist centres down south.   

Yep.

In the last year I helped someone in the Aberdeen region access treatment in Bristol.   There would be two options, the Bristol anxiety clinic led by Prof Salkovskis and his team of therapists do treat young people. There is also a children's OCD clinic at the Maudsley Hospital in London too.  I don't know which is the best option, but the referral process for both is the same.  You would need to get your local health board in Scotland to agree and fund the referral.   Part of convincing the health board might be to demonstrate you have exhausted local treatment services (CAMHS) or that you have no confidence in their ability to treat your son (hence my questions above).

Happy to advise further if you need me to.

Ashley.

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I have the same phobia of vomiting that your son has. I also stopped eating when I was 12 as I was terrified that food would make me sick. CBT has helped me a bit but not a lot. I think therapists don't always understand vomit phobia or take it seriously. Sometimes they try to treat the OCD and the vomit fear as two separate things, which in my opinion is a mistake.

I just wanted to make you aware of this. I'm sorry I don't have any practical advice but I can certainly answer any questions you might have from the point of view of an adult who gets what your son is going through.

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