Abstract

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.

Jo Derisley, ClinPsyD, AFBPsS, DipCogTher, is Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of East Anglia, and Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Norfolk & Waveney Mental Health Care Trust, UK. She has written several articles on the subject. Isobel Heyman, MBBS, PhD, MRCPsych, is Honorary Senior Lecturer at the King's College Institute of Psychiatry, London, and Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital, UK, where she leads the national and specialist OCD and related disorders clinic for children and young people. She has published numerous articles on this subject. Dr Heyman and Dr Derisley represented childhood OCD in the NICE Guideline Development Group, and contributed to the written national UK guidelines for the management of OCD. Sarah Robinson, BSc, is Assistant Psychologist at the national and specialist OCD and related disorders clinic for children and young people at the Maudsley Hospital, UK. Cynthia Turner, PhD, MClinPsych, is Honorary Lecturer at the King's College Institute of Psychiatry, London and Senior Clinical Psychologist at the national and specialist OCD clinic for children and young people, Maudsley Hospital, UK. She specialises in the treatment of OCD and anxiety disorders in young people, and has written treatment programs for these disorders, as well as book chapters and scientific articles.
This clever book cuts through the clutter of medical jargon providing an easy to follow approach to overcoming obsessive thoughts and behaviors. With advice for parents and exercises for children and teens, the authors reassure the entire family while offering concrete ways to "break free".
Inside TSA: The Quarterly Newsletter of the National Tourette Syndrome Association, Inc.
Breaking Free from OCD should be a staple book for OCD sufferers and their families. It ditches confusing medical jargon in order to give constructive and helpful information and advice. It is the kind of book which I wish I had owned when my OCD was at its worst, one which shows that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and shows you how to get there.
Joe Wells, author of Touch and Go Joe: An Adolescent's Experience of OCD
It is written by four experts in the field who all specialise in OCD and children/young adults. It is written in a very approachable, non-threatening tone without being patronising or over-simplified... I would not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone dealing with a young person with OCD.
ASTeens
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.
Flannan Geaney, Chartered EP
Debate - British Psychological Society
Breaking Free From OCD is written by a range of experts in the field who have extensive knowledge and experience of working with children and young people with this disorder. The book is, I feel, an invaluable step-by-step guide for young people and their families as well as being an excellent resource for the counsellor/therapists.
Counselling Children and Young People
When I discovered that my child had OCD I read many books on the subject but none as clear or well laid out as this one. I wish I'd had this to read right at the start...essential reading for anyone who has been recently diagnosed with OCD or suspects that their child may be suffering from it.
Journal of Mental Health
The guide does offer some excellent information for parents who want to tackle their child's OCD so I would most definitely recommend it to them.
Children & Young People Now
I knew when I was presented with this book I was reading a something quality from a leading expert. This book is definitely ideal for young people and their families.
OCD Today
I found this an extremely encouraging book, accessible to young people and adults alike, also doctors, teachers, family members and mental health workers, in fact anyone who wishes to understand more about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, a troublesome condition that is often kept secret but is actually far more common than people realise.
No Panic Magazine
This is an excellent self-help book for young people who are suffering from OCD and their families and/or carers but it is also an invaluable resource for clinicians, teachers and other professionals who may be working with children with these difficulties. There are several excellent self-help books for OCD currently available but, as a mental health professional working in this area, I consider this to be one of the best I have come across.
Nasen Special
The book takes readers through the treatment of OCD in logical manner, making it really easy to follow an understand for young people and their parents.
Youth in Mind
Do you have troublesome habits that get in the way? Do you have worries that bother you much more than you should? THIS BOOK MAY BE FOR YOU. The hardest thing for anyone to control is their own mind. This book points the way, to you and to those close to you, to free yourself from OCD.
James F. Leckman, MD, Neison Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology, Director of Research, Child Study Center, Yale University
In this marvellous book the authors provide the key information that teens and families need about OCD and its treatment. Highly recommended not only for patients but also for practitioners looking for material to use in their practices.
John S. March, MD, MPH, Professor and Chief, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Program for Child Affective & Anxiety Disorders, Duke University
It is easy to read, absorb and understand with definitions introduced slowly, clearly and repeated at intervals, along with real examples to perhaps identify with... I would not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone dealing with a young person with OCD.
BFK Books