Waiting for therapy to start can be frustrating and we’re often left treading water with no help or support. But that’s not to say you can’t do something, that’s why we have some guidance for you on our preparing for therapy page.
Aspects of therapy that we are all able to get started on include:
You are reading: Ocd self help books
- education: The more we understand OCD and how CBT works, the better our chances of managing and overcoming it
- hierarchy: create your toc hierarchy, a list of anxiety-provoking situations, most of which are anxiety-provoking at the top, least at the bottom
- little exposure exercises: If you feel up to it, you can try approaching one of the least anxiety-provoking situations to get used to dealing with anxiety
To help you accomplish some of these steps, you may want to access some self-help resources. There are many ways to educate yourself about OCD, with self-help materials often offering advice on how to apply CBT techniques. self-help services include:
- self-help books
- support groups
- online discussion forums
- online OCD therapy courses
But choose wisely, the internet and social media are full of material on OCD that isn’t always helpful or accurate. same with ocd books, in recent years we have seen an avalanche of ocd titles on the shelves, some are interesting but not always useful.
self-help books
Knowledge really is power when it comes to OCD, so for the vast majority reading self-help books will be positive. Even if it doesn’t help them get better, it should give them a good foundation and understanding for when they start their therapy.
Usually people don’t get well with self-help alone, one reason is that no matter how good self-help material is, it’s only useful if the reader correctly interprets what they read. self-help materials can never replace the support and motivation provided by a good therapist. But the more you understand about OCD, the more you’ll be able to make better use of your therapy once it starts.
Although we all have our own favorite self-help book, sometimes users like to take useful snippets of content from multiple books and create their own useful self-help text box. The following books are available from OCD-UK, Amazon, and some Water Stones. all good bookstores can order them using the isbn code.
Break Free from OCD – This remains our favoured self-help book because it focuses on the cognitive aspect of CBT, not just the behavioural/exposure aspect that many books focus on.
our full list of recommended reading (all by respected authors or toc specialists), including the (isbn):
- Knock Free by challacombe, bream-oldfield, salkovskis. (0091939690)
- fitzgerald’s knock knock exercise book. (1473601347)
- Overcoming obsessive-compulsive disorder by Veale & willson (1849010722)
- pulling the trigger: OCD, anxiety, panic attacks and related depression by shaw & callaghan (1911246003)
- brain block by schwartz. (006256143x)
Some readers will want to learn more about OCD (especially family members), so books that are more factual about OCD can sometimes be helpful. the following books are intended for health professionals, but are still readable by laymen:
tcc for toc –
See Also: 7 New Real Estate Books to Read in 2022 – leverage.com
This book, written by the same authors as Break Free From OCD, is actually aimed at therapists, but it’s still incredibly informative, and if it’s affordable, we encourage people to read it. Please note that this is not written as a self-help book.
- cognitive behavioral therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder by bream, challacombe, palmer & salkovskis. (0198703260)
- obsessive-compulsive disorder (the facts)by rachman. (019956177x)
- obsessive-compulsive disorder (palgrave insights in psychology)by davey. (1137308680)
Some of our users are reluctant to buy products like books because of their real fears about toc, for example some people feel they can’t get books in the mail. however, you can access many of the books online through kindle that can be read through a kindle device, or any smartphone or tablet.
Books on Prescription 
Books on Prescription is a national scheme where GPs and other health professionals can recommend a self-help book which the patient can borrow from their local library for as long as they need it. The patient can choose from a range of self-help books which have proven value in helping people who suffer from common mental health problems such OCD. The Books on Prescription was already available in Wales, but in 2014 was also launched in England.
In June of this year, the Reading Well for Mental Health program was launched. the new 37-title book list that contains information, self-help and memoirs with expert partners and offers guidance and support to those living with mental health needs and their carers, including OCD but also other issues such as stress, depression, anxiety, sleeping problems and low self-esteem. the following titles available for ocd and bdd are:
- Get Rid of OCD by Challacombe, Oldfield, and Salkovskis
- Body Image Problems and Body Dysmorphic Disorder: The Definitive Treatment and Recovery Approach by callaghan, o’connor & catch stick
Other books on prescription titles for anxiety and depression include:
- overcoming depression and low mood by williams, chris
- mind over mood: change how you feel by greenberger and padesky
- overcoming depression: a self-help guide by gilbert
- overcoming anxiety: a self-help guide by kennerley
- overcome anxiety, stress and panic by williams
ocd support groups and discussion forums
Other self-help resources include community-led online forums and support groups. A good community group can make a real difference by guiding and helping people. however, not all groups are run with a positive recovery approach and for that reason ocd-uk is very careful to only list support groups that are run to approved standards.
ocd discussion forums
ocd-uk has its own discussion forums that are completely free to use, with separate forums available for people with OCD and family members. it is free to use and users can create an alias, so they can remain anonymous. Usually, even overnight, if someone posts a message seeking support, it’s not uncommon to get at least one reply within an hour.
some additional features, such as the chat room, are limited to ocd-uk members, but the support forums are free to all. the forum is fully moderated and you can freely register at:
- https://www.ocdforums.org/
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To register, users must visit the forums, register an account, and then verify the account by clicking the automatic link sent by the system. at the moment users cannot register with @gmail.com accounts.
If you are a member of ocd-uk, please email us your selected username and we will give your username full ocd-uk membership permissions to access the added areas of the forum.
ocd support groups
there are over 100 support groups across the uk, some are run by ocd-uk volunteers, others are independent. on our website we have listed the ones we have endorsed. We make sure to train and support ocd-uk volunteers who want to run a support group, and often fund the rental of meeting rooms for those groups with our limited resources.
Just as anyone can call themselves a therapist, anyone can start a support group, so we are very careful to include a support group only once we have spoken with the facilitator and made sure of suitability of the groups.
To find an ocd-uk approved support group, they should visit our maps page on our support groups page. This list is not exhaustive and there may be other OCD groups out there, but we only provide information for groups that we have been asked to list and have been approved by our team.
tcb online
There are some commercial online therapy courses that a person can take to get help. Like self-help books, these are only useful if the reader correctly interprets the meaning of the information, but they can certainly be helpful. most tend to be based on erp rather than cbt, but they are still useful resources. We can’t list commercial programs, but we can recommend the following non-commercial online CBT run by an American charity, the Peace of Mind Foundation which was established by Liz Mcingvale, who suffers from OCD.
- https://www.ocdchallenge.com/
online knock tests
There are many OCD tests online, some frivolous, but there are some that claim to be serious self-diagnostic tools, even on the most reputable OCD websites. These are all notoriously unreliable and should not be taken as any sort of guide or indication that a person does or does not have OCD. These types of online OCD tests are simply not accurate enough to provide any guidance, and certainly not for a formal diagnosis, so we recommend that you always see a trained healthcare professional for a diagnosis.
what to read next:
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