How many people would benefit from a comprehensive website about getting help for OCD?

[svr]

Hi everyone,

I hope I'm not posting this topic in the wrong forum. But believe my my goal is to help people. I am someone who used to have severe OCD and recovered from it. Now I only have a little bit and I'm working on it but my life is awesome. I wanted to make a website about OCD to help other people with OCD understand if they have OCD and guide them to get help. When I was researching OCD I remember there was very little info online about it that actually helped me. So I wanted to make that website that just gives you a lot* of relevant information about OCD and tells you exactly what to do to get help. It's been a few years. Do you still find that the internet doesn't really help you much with figuring out your OCD or how to get help? Would you find use for such a website?

Thanks,

Svr

[svr]

Also, I am wondering, if I did make this website, would I be able to post a link in a topic to it, or is linking to external sources against the rules here?

[Poirot]

If it's something you feel strongly about and you have the skills to do it then I reckon that sounds like a fantastic idea.

I honestly think online resources saved my life.  I had REALLY bad harm / POCD but I had no idea what it was, and I never would've gone to the doctor about it.  These forums are so extremely valuable. 

If you want any contributions from others living with the condition I'd also be more than happy to help.  

[svr]

Thanks Poirot! I actually am a decent way through writing this website which is technically a blog. And if you ever wanted to look it over or add information that helped you, feel free to send me a pm and I'll link it to you. I'm only one person so I can only write it from one person's perspective so it might not be well rounded ...or well written. XD At least so far.

[snowbear]

Hi svr,

Reading the title of your thread I was a bit puzzled. You made it sound as though there aren't any comprehensive websites out there on getting help for OCD, yet you're posting this on a site dedicated to that very purpose! 

So, what you're saying is you're writing a blog about your personal experience with OCD - that's great. Good luck with that project.  

Some advice, if I may. If you want your site to be a source of reference for others (rather than just sharing your own experience) it's important to do some research and be sure of your facts. Sometimes it's possible to generalise from how we individually experience OCD, sometimes it's not. Not everybody has the same symptoms, not everybody responds best to the same treatment (though CBT works for pretty much everybody and some people supplement it with other things like drugs.) 

And of course research is always bringing new advances. You say 'It''s been a few years' so check whatever you're recommending in terms of pathways to help and the kind of help on offer is still relevant. And remember services and availability varies hugely across the world, so keep your likely audience in mind too.

Hope that helps you get your blog on the road. 

Edited September 24, 2016 by snowbear

[svr]

Thanks, snowbear! I actually already wrote most of it. It's not about my personal experiences. And I have a lot of facts in my mind that I learned, so I wrote them down without sources but I can find sources if needed. The thing is when I was suffering from OCD, even websites like this or the IOCDF website didn't help me get help. I noticed a lot of people here are doubtful of their OCD. So in my website I have a page dedicated to helping people figure out if they have OCD (the main part of it saying if you think you do you probably do kind of thing). And then I have a page detailing the treatment - exactly what you said CBT and medication. Then I also have a page listing resources. Even though sources are not cited, I feel like it's different from websites that exist out there, but I could be wrong. Did websites like this one lead you on your path to getting help for OCD? If this is what it takes for most* people, it could be that a website like mine is not needed. (I just know, again, for me, even this website didn't do the job of helping me find a therapist or be completely sure I have OCD. It did provide support though, and guide me along the path.)

[taurean]

5 hours ago, svr said:

needed. (I just know, again, for me, even this website didn't do the job of helping me find a therapist or be completely sure I have OCD. It did provide support though, and guide me along the path.)

Just check the main OCD-UK website for more help on understanding OCD and finding a therapist! 

Check the bookshop there. 

Join the charity and you can post on the blog feature. 

[snowbear]

I second what Taurean said. This site isn't just about the forums, there's a wealth of information on the other tabs and on the main site pages too.

15 hours ago, svr said:

The thing is when I was suffering from OCD, even websites like this or the IOCDF website didn't help me get help. I noticed a lot of people here are doubtful of their OCD. So in my website I have a page dedicated to helping people figure out if they have OCD (the main part of it saying if you think you do you probably do kind of thing)

Remember no website can diagnose OCD in an individual- nor should it aim to. So no website will tell you for certain that you have or haven't got OCD. That's deliberate, not an oversight.

The purpose of the official websites is to guide people who think they may have OCD through the process of getting a formal diagnosis from a medical or health professional and then helping and supporting them through the therapy phase and on to recovery. 

I think you'll find however much information you give, however clear you make it, there will always be people who struggle to see how the examples or general information available relates to their individual experience. Some remain doubtful about their OCD because they are so deeply convinced the thoughts have to mean something or must be real, 'It can't possibly be OCD, can it?' That's where the doubt lies, not with a lack of information.

Similarly, there will always be a few people who are confused about what exactly it is they are experiencing and 'if you think you have OCD then you probably have it' could be misleading or miss the true diagnosis. Worst case scenario they may think they now know what's wrong and not seek further help, delaying the correct diagnosis and appropriate treatment for it.

I assume you're doing this blog to help as many people as possible, so in that spirit if you think there are ways the OCD-UK site (or forums) could be more helpful or comprehensive please suggest them here. Working together we can pool resources to refine the content. And of course the charity site is regularly updated as new developments in the field emerge so hopefully we're giving the most-up-to-date and most appropriate advice available.

Although the OCD-UK site welcomes visitors from all over the world, it is aimed primarily towards helping those in the UK. I know Ashley does a lot of work helping individuals from other countries to access their local resources when asked, but the charity's 'where to find help' pages would be confusing if they tried to cover every part of the globe routinely.

We have a huge new visitor 'click-rate', much more than an individual blog is ever likely to receive (however well written.) I'm not saying don't do your blog, the more blogs addressing OCD the better  but please share ideas with us on what you think is missing too, or say how you think we could be doing it better. Feedback is important to us.

Edited September 24, 2016 by snowbear

[Ashley]

16 hours ago, svr said:

The thing is when I was suffering from OCD, even websites like this or the IOCDF website didn't help me get help.

That's a fair comment.  

I really want our services and websites to be more helpful so please do let us know what you think we could change/add to our websites that would have helped you. If possible we will of course do that.

I read some of your suggestions, and our main website goes someway to do that.  Our new website is being rewritten (which I must talk to SNowbear about :D) and I have a few ideas for a couple of new resources to help.    One thing we won't be doing is having an OCD test of any kind, but that kind of diagnosis must come from a professional.   But if we have the right content on our website then hopefully the majority of people will be able to gauge close enough if they have OCD and of course throughout the site we do encourage people to see a professional.

We will be created a better pathway to understand how to access treatment page too, although this is UK based.  What I will do is ensure our resources page is better linked so it leads to OCD organisations around the world so that people from overseas can find an organisation closer that may be able to help too with local treatment pathways.

But please do get in touch with me via PM or post on here if you feel there is a gap missing then we will do our best to plug it

 

[svr]

Those were good points, Ashley, snowbear, and taurean. I looked at the main portion of this website and there is a lot of good information about OCD. I'm not sure yetttt just becuase I haven't looked deeply enough if it would cause the past me to get help but it's possible. (It could even be that it was updated since when I was struggling with OCD, which is great!) Since my goal is to help have resources about OCD on the internet, I will certainly read over this website more and if I have any suggestions I'll pm or let someone know what I think.

I guess the main reason I wanted to write my website was because it takes so long for a person to get help on average for OCD (the info here was something like around 10 years. which is believable to me) that I wanted to expedite that process and I felt like if a website had more in depth information or helped me shed doubts faster it would have been very helpful earlier for someone like me, before the horrible severe OCD kicked in. I also see a lot of people on this forum questioning whether they have OCD, when all of the people I saw definitely do and I wish there was information online to kind of "convince" people (only those that HAVE OCD) that they should indeed seek help now and ask multiple professionals. Also, I just noticed just how effective OCD treatment can be (if you or a psychologist just keeps pushing you). I just want to stand on a mountaintop and shout "Refrain from the OCD action! Repetition! Do some exposures to get better faster! You WILL get better!" Haha. Anyway, I'm done babbling on. I'll still write my blog as you guys said just bc the more ones out there the better. (By the way my website/blog is http://ocdresource.blogspot.com/ - just a draft right now.) And I might look over and pitch in some suggestions here. I also do recognize that where I'm from OCD treatment options differ from in the UK. So this website is definitely way better suited resources wise for people in the UK than someone from the US could provide.

Edited September 25, 2016 by svr