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According to the International OCD Foundation, it currently takes 14 to 17 years for someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to receive effective treatment. As we mark OCD Awareness Week 2023, clinical psychologist and anxiety specialist Karen Cassiday outlines the complexities around OCD diagnosis, shares ways to distinguish it from other, sometimes overlapping conditions, and explains why it is so important that clients with OCD are helped to find the right treatment path.

It may be mistaken for dissociative experiences, dysmorphia, even psychosis. But clients who are plagued by existential doubts and ‘what ifs?’ may actually be experiencing a lesser-known form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Dr Karen Cassiday, clinical psychologist and specialist in anxiety disorders, sets out the key differentiating features of existential OCD – and describes some of the disturbing ideas and desperate behaviours we may notice in its presence.