Violet17

Thanks so much for all of these points they've given us lots to consider, and I'll get to reading the link you've shared. Many thanks V

Hi Hal, Thanks for the welcome and the encouragement. No he hasn't being seeing a therapist for long at all, he's had about three appointments and missed his last scheduled one because he was too anxious to attend. Yes, us as a family think it's a good idea to consider medication, unfortunately my brother seems to be very anti medication. He is hesitant to even open up a dialogue about it and just repeats he is fine. I think it plays into one of his fears about being hospitalised and categorised as insane, a narcissist or a psychopath. He considers medication as a downward slope. Obviously this should be his decision but it's really difficult watching him suffer. Currently and for the past few days he isn't leaving the house, eating or sleeping much and is almost in a constant paranoid phase of thinking something in his house is going to put him in the hospital. We can't encourage him to go for walks or to come back and stay with my parents for a bit. I'm not sure what the next best step is to do?

Hi, my brother in his 30's has recently told myself and the rest of our immediate family that he suffers with OCD. This has come as quite a shock and we are doing our very best to be supportive and learning more about the condition by reading about it. He has recently had a lot of stress in his life and his intrusive thoughts/OCD have compounded and he seems to be in a downward spiral. We've found him a therapist who specialises in CBT and we are trying our best but he seems to be getting more depressed and not functioning very well. My Dad has helped by paying his rent for a couple of months and he has been in contact with his GP about his anxiety, but his appetitive in decreasing and he can't seem to be able to concentrate on anything, we try to encourage him to do his breathing exercises, encourage him to come on walks with us which he does. But he can't seem to be able to engage or distract himself from his anxieties. I'm worried about this downward slope and would be grateful for any advice. Many thanks