Since its first publication in 1999, the OCD Workbook has become among the most trusted and recommended OCD resources available. Many readers have opened the pages of this beautifully candid, honest, inspirational and humorous book, only to find parts of their lives mirrored within the explanations, thoughts and experiences of the author. OCD is one of the most common mental health conditions and is thought to affect 2-3% of the UK population at a clinical level, while many more may experience some symptoms which interfere with their life. There are a number of exercises in this book that, when done consistently, will lessen the noises raging in your brain. Chloe discussed this avoidance with her mum and they decided to use the timetable to schedule in tasks to complete throughout the week.

This book had a lot of useful explanations of OCD and activities to try and measure your OCD problems and self-treat it. There is a chapter to help you understand how common these types of thoughts are when you have OCD, and advice on how best to challenge and test these thoughts. To get a score that will indicate how much the compulsions are interfering in your life, simply add up the numbers that you have circled for each of these questions. It offers detailed information on the many different manifestations of OCD, including rumination OCD; explains the differences between normal and obsessive worries; provides clear step-by-step information on treating one's individual problem; discusses real-life case studies and examples; and gives advice and support for friends and family of OCD sufferers. This book, written by experts, explains OCD in its many forms in simple terms and the practical steps in how to overcome it.Chapter 7 helps you understand your anxious feelings, as understanding anxiety is an important first step in recovering from your OCD. It offers day-to-day coping strategies you can start using right away, along with proven-effective self-help techniques that can help you maintain your progress.

There is a question-and-answer section, which will give you advice on how to overcome any problems that you may encounter when trying to make progress. I could also visualise how helpful this will be for my families and give them the language to increase their confidence.

Highly recommended not only for patients but also for practitioners looking for material to use in their practices. I'm very self-aware and I've done a lot of reading around mental health, some of it good, some of it absolute bullshit. However, the book is divided into many sections of different types of OCD problems, so not every section will likely be applicable.