Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Clinical Review

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

BMJ 2006; 333 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.333.7565.424 (Published 24 August 2006) Cite this as: BMJ 2006;333:424

Rapid Response:

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

We read with interest the extremely helpful article by Heyman,Mataix-
Cols and Fineberg. The reference to the stepped-care model outlined in the
NICE Guidelines was particularly informative and easy to read. However, we
thought it may be useful to make people aware that there is a dearth of
services for the most severely ill patients with OCD. Indeed, for those
patients who require inpatient treatment as listed under Step 6 of the
NICE guidelines (www.nice.org.uk), there is only one 24-hour staffed NHS
facility who can deal with patients who are unable to cope with less
intensive support. This has been reported elsewhere (Drummond, 1993;
Drummond,Pillay,Kolb and Rani, 2006). Full details of the service can be
accessed via http://www.swlstg-
tr.nhs.uk/services/behavioural_and_cognitive_psychotherapy_unit_national.asp

References:-
Drummond,L.M. (1993) The treatment of severe, chronic, resistant Obsessive
-Compulsive Disorder.An evaluation of an Inpatient Programme using
Behavioural Psychotherapy in combination with other treatments. British
Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 223-229.

Drummond,LM, Pillay,A.,Kolb,PJ and Rani,RS (2006) Specialised
Inpatient Treatment for Severe, Chronic, Resistant Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder. Psychiatric Bulletin, 30, in press.

Competing interests:
None declared

Competing interests: No competing interests

07 September 2006
Lynne M Drummond
Consultant Psychiatrist and Senior Lecturer,
Anusha Pillay, R. Shashi Rani, and PeterJ. Kolb
St George's, University of London, SW17 ORE