Are you living or working with someone who has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)? Perhaps it's your partner or child; a parent, close friend or work colleague? Diagnosed as often as diabetes, the condition can lead both sufferers and those around them to feel isolated. However, you are not alone. This practical guide enables families, carers and friends to provide invaluable support for those with OCD. It aims to inform those living alongside OCD about the condition and to provide clear and compassionate strategies for them. With this new understanding, readers will feel better able to cope better with OCD manifestations. Commonly-experienced emotions such as bewilderment, frustration and sadness will gradually subside. The Essential guide to OCD includes interviews with those at the rock-face: relatives, friends and colleagues of those with OCD. The latest medical advances and effective treatments, such as CBT, are also explored with insight from mental health professionals. Helen Poskitt has written a chapter for Taking Control of OCD on the subject. Her novel, Rising to the Surface (Chipmunka), featured a heroine with OCD and is currently being re-issued. The author has spoken at two OCD Action Conferences; she has also written several blogs for the OCD Action website.