Assessment

Are you unsure if you have OCD, anxiety or another mental health difficulty? Many mental health conditions overlap and can look similar, even to those who work every day in mental health settings. 

OCD is one difficulty that is often misdiagnosed, which is why it is important to speak with a psychologist or psychiatrist 

who is familiar with OCD.  

At SO Psychology, we discuss together the pros and cons of exploring a diagnosis. Often engaging in assessment and diagnosis is a validating journey, to feel heard and seen. When individuals attend for assessment it is often the first time they have vocalised their 

intrusive thoughts or compulsions. 

Shelley provides a safe space and normalises this experience. 

At SO Psychology, we provide assessment and can provide diagnosis for children, teens and adults. 

Note that a psychologist is unable to prescribe medication, this needs to be provided by either your GP or psychiatrist. 

At SO Psychology we assess children and teens by observing symptoms, gathering information from family and from the young person. 

It is essential to differentiate OCD symptoms from other similar conditions that may include anxiety, recurrent thoughts and repetitive behaviours. Shelley will gain an understanding of any family accommodations that occur also that may be maintaining the symptoms. We use gold standard tools in all assessments. .   

A diagnosis of OCD is provided if the young person is experiencing obsessions or compulsions which are distressing, interfering with important areas of functioning and are time consuming.  We also assess the severity of the symptoms. This can help to navigate our therapy approach.

If you are interested in exploring a diagnosis of OCD, anxiety, phobias or other related disorders, we also provide gold standard assessment for adults. 

During assessment, we will differentiate symptoms from a variety of mental health disorders that may look similar. If an individual meets criteria for a disorder, we will assess for severity and talk with you about the best approach for treatment. 

Diagnosis is provided based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). 

An assessment will take approximately 3 sessions (50 minutes each). 

These typically include a clinical diagnostic interview with the individual (and/or parents if child or teen). 

A variety of formal assessment measuring tools will also be used. 

These may include measures such as the Child Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (C-YBOCS), the Family Accommodation Scale  (FAS), the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS), or the Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R).