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Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder Counselling in London | Treatment & Therapy

What is Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder?

Individuals with an Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (also known as OCPD) are concerned about efficiency, perfectionism and control. They are reliable, credible, orderly and methodical, but their inflexibility makes them unable to adapt to changes.

They experience difficulties making decisions because they fear they have failed to consider all the pros and cons of the options available. They take their responsibilities seriously, but due to the fact that they do not tolerate errors or imperfections, they often have difficulty completing their activities.

Unlike Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder is not characterised by repeated and unwanted obsessive thoughts and by ritualistic behaviours that the subject feels compelled to perform.

Individuals with Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder are often men of action and success, particularly in science or in other intellectual fields where order and attention to details are required. However, their excess responsibility makes them so anxious that they can rarely enjoy the outcome of their work and successes.

Those with OCPD do not feel at ease about  showing their feelings, in interpersonal relationships and in situations where they have no control (because they have to rely on others or are unpredictable).

The onset of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder usually occurs in adolescence or early adulthood.


Symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder

The essential features of a personality disorder are impairments in personality functioning and the presence of pathological personality traits. According to the DSM-V, to diagnose obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, the following criteria must be met:
A. Significant impairments in personality functioning manifest by:
1. Impairments in self functioning (a or b):
a. Identity: Sense of self derived predominantly from work or productivity; constricted experience and expression or strong emotions.
b. Self-direction: Difficulty completing tasks and realising goals associated with rigid and unreasonably high and inflexible internal standards of behaviour; overly conscientious and moralistic attitudes.
AND
2. Impairments in Interpersonal functioning (a or b):
a. Empathy: Difficulty understanding and appreciating the ideas, feelings, or behaviors of others.
b. Intimacy: Relationships seen as  secondary to work and productivity;  rigidity and stubbornness negatively affect relationships with others.
B. Pathological personality traits in the following domains:
1. Compulsivity, characterised by:
a. Rigid perfectionism: Rigid insistence on everything being flawless, perfect, without errors or faults, including one's own and others' performance; sacrificing of timeliness to ensure correctness in every detail; believing that there is only one right way to do things; difficulty changing ideas and/or viewpoint; preoccupation with details, organization, and order.
2. Negative Affectivity, characterised by:
a. Perseveration: Persistence at tasks long after the behaviour has ceased to be functional or effective; continuance of the same behavior despite repeated failures.
C. The impairments in personality functioning and the individual's personality trait expression are  relatively stable across time and consistent across situations.
D. The impairments in personality functioning and the individual's personality trait expression are not better understood as normative.

Treatment for OCP Disorder in London

The most effective treatment options for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder are Schema Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Psychodynamic Counselling.

For more information about talking therapy and treatment programmes available at our Clinics in London please visit our Treatment page.


Getting Treatment for OCP Disorder in London

We offer Psychological Therapies for OCPD at our clinics in Central London.


Team

All our Therapists offer Psychological Therapies for OCPD. Click here to meet the Team.


Fees

Sessions with our Psychologists are by prepaid appointments only. You can find out more about our fees on our Fees Page.

Recent Blog Posts on OCPD

Recent Blog Posts on OCPD

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