A step-by-step Cognitive Behavioural Therapy plan for adolescents with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Part of the Reading Well scheme. 35 books selected by young people and health professionals to provide 13 to 18 year olds with high-quality support, information and advice about common mental health issues and related conditions.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a potentially life-long debilitating disorder, which often emerges during teenage years and affects as many as 1 in every 50 people. Young people living with OCD experience recurrent obsessions or compulsions that are distressing and interfere with their social lives, relationships, educational functioning and careers.

Written by leading experts on OCD, this step-by-step guide is written for adolescents with OCD and their families, to be used in home treatment or as a self-help book. Using the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which is the proven method for helping those with OCD, it offers teenagers a structured plan of treatment which can be read alone, or with a parent, counsellor or mental health worker. The guide provides useful advice and worksheets throughout.

This self-help book for young people is an invaluable resource for adolescents who have suffered from, or know someone who has suffered from, OCD, their families, teachers, carers, and mental health professionals.

"Breaking Free from OCD (...) is presented as a "self-treatment programme", which aims to: (a) explain what OCD is; and (b) how to fix it... The book includes a broad range of useful worksheets... Each chapter contains a final section entitles "Advice for Parents or Carers", which is designed to support and guide the "young person" completing the programme... This resource may be useful for a school counsellor parent, or trusted adult, who could use it as the basis for supporting a young person presenting with OCD." - Debate - British Psychological Society