Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

What is the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Course?

Our Obsessive Compulsive Disorder course consists of eight two-hour group sessions; one review and one individual follow up at the end of the course. The course is based on the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy approach. It provides information and teaches skills to help understand how OCD is maintained and how this can be changed.

Session involve a mixture of information giving, group discussion, group exercises and skills practice. The course is designed to be educational, and skills focussed and is not ‘group therapy’ or a forum for addressing individual personal problems (although these will of course be the focus of skills practice).

The course will be run remotely so access to a device capable of making video calls (a mobile phone, laptop, tablet, desktop computer with camera) and an internet connection will be required. Resources will be available online and you will be asked to complete a weekly set of questionnaires to help you monitor progress, so access to the internet and a work email address will also be required.

Course Overview

 

 
Session 1: Understanding OCD
  • Introduction to the group and what to expect (ground rules)
  • What is OCD?
  • Socialising to CBT using 5 areas model
  • Goal setting.
Session 2: Becoming aware of our baseline and goals
  • The meaning of intrusions and their impact on compulsions
  • Unhelpful thinking styles or biases
  • Common themes in OCD (i.e.: Striving for certainty or perfect control of thoughts). 
Session 3: Applying the techniques to our own hierarchy
  • Developing alternative meanings
  • The continuum technique
  • Thought suppression
  • Strategies for reducing intrusive thoughts.
Session 4: Bringing our techniques to practice disproving our thoughts
  • Designing behavioural experiments and ritual prevention during them
  • Challenging the need for certainty and its relation to checking
  • Challenging estimations of danger with probabilities or %.
Session 5: Challenging overestimation of danger
  • Cognitive challenging techniques for overestimations of danger
  • Behavioural experiments in session
  • Review of unhelpful thinking styles or biases when conducting the experiment.
Session 6: Challenging overestimation of responsibility
  • Cognitive challenging technique for the perception of having responsibility
  • Behavioural experiments in session
  • Review of unhelpful thinking styles or biases when conducting the experiment. 
Session 7: Reflecting on ending
  • Trouble shooting ending
  • Practice the cognitive challenging techniques
  • Reflecting on ending.
Session 8: Blueprint
  • Follow-up appointments option
  • Continuing trouble shooting,
  • Review of common themes in OCD
  • Bringing your positive qualities into focus
  • Blueprint
  • Sharing of resources
  • Revision/group feedback