Do We Have to Shake Hands?

OCD Organizations

OCD Organizations

• Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation - the OCD organization. Visit and join!
  
  
• ANANKE (Norway) - "Støtteforening for folk med tvangslidelse (OCD) og pårørende".
• ANANKE (Sweden) - "Vi är en rikstäckande idéell förening med uppgift att stödja människor som drabbats av tvångssyndrom."
• ANANKE i Nordöstra Skåne & Blekinge (Sweden)
  
  
• OCD-foreningen (OCD Foundation in Denmark) - "OCD er en tilstand med tilbagevendende tvangstanker og / eller tvangshandlinger." A new, but growing, site with information, contacts, links, and more - all in Danish.
• OCD (Denmark) - "Velkommen til OCD på subnet.dk!" A new, but growing, site, subtitled "Psykiatri og Psykologi - en samling af links".
  
  
• Zwangsstörungen - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Zwangserkrankungen (DGZ). (From Atsilusgi's OCD Page)
  
  
• OCD Vriendenkring (Holland) - "Met OCD gaat het om een ziekte waarbij de kwaliteit van het leven in aanzienlijke mate wordt aangetast door angst, dwanggedachten en rituelen. Voor mensen die hier aan lijden of er meer over willen weten is deze club."
  
  
• Anxiety Care - is a London, England charity that "tries to help people suffering from anxiety disorders to plan, initiate and carry through their own recovery programmes alone, with the support of charity volunteers, or under the direction of a mental health professional". The web site has a chat room and an interesting, although somewhat out-dated, article on OCD.
• Awareness Foundation for OCD and Related Disorders - founded by (among others) James Callner, maker of the films The Touching Tree and The Risk. The foundation offers workshop speakers, films/videos, and books; some video clips are available on the web site.
• Clutterers Anonymous - a 12-step program for dealing with hoarding.
• Obsessive Action - is a London, England charity established "to advance awareness, research, understanding and treatment of OCD". (A fancier home page has not been updated since 1997, so I would steer clear of it.)
• Obsessive Compulsive Anonymous - a 12-step program for OCD sufferers.
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorders Support Group, Inc. - in Australia. Or is it the Anxiety Disorders Foundation of Australia, Inc.?
• Obsessive Compulsive Information Center - "a resource for information on obsessive compulsive disorder and related disorders ... more than 15,000 references on file". You can contact the Center's librarians to perform literature searches, to get bibliographies, and to get copies of individual articles. Simple queries are free; more complex ones cost money. Guide books and information packets are also available for sale. OCIC is part of the non-profit Madison Institute of Medicine.
• Obsessive Compulsive Information and Support Centre, Inc. - an active and well-rounded OCD organization that gives educational presentations, operates support groups, promotes research, and more. (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)
• OC and Spectrum Disorders Association - formerly, the OC Foundation of California.
• Ontario Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Network - used to be a site that portrayed a promising, Canadian counterpart of OCF or OCSDA. They had an impressive and informative on-line newsletter - where did it go?!
• Our Courage Defines Us (OCDU) - an "informational and support source for sufferers" of OCD. The organization publishes a quarterly newsletter; the articles from the first issue are on-line. The web site also features a message board and chat room; you need to register (for free) in order to access them.

Related Organizations

• American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) Facts for Families - has information on OCD in children and adolescents.
• Anxiety Disorders Association of America - has a lot of information on anxiety disorders, including an overview of OCD, an OCD self-test, and information on how to get help.
• Family Village - a "Global Community of Disability-Related Resources", has a concise page of links to organizations and information relating to OCD.
• First Steps to Freedom - offers various services for people with OCD and other anxiety disorders.
• HealthyPlace.com Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Community - is a new mental health site offering information, E-mail lists, chat rooms, etc.
• Internet Mental Health - "a free encyclopedia of mental health information" designed by a Canadian psychiatrist. The OCD page has an on-line diagnosis feature; separate, comprehensive bibiliographies of research papers on diagnosis, treatment, and cause; and a number of on-line, OCD articles from the Harvard Mental Health Letter.
• Messies Anonymous - helps messy and disorganized people.
• National Anxiety Foundation - has information on OCD.
• PsychCanada.com - "information about Depression, Social Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder & Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder".
• The Really Helpful Programme - has factsheets on a variety of subjects; the OCD factsheet includes the names and addresses of some psychiatric organizations in Wales.
• Tourette Syndrome Association

Support Groups

• Dr. Jonathan Grayson - of the GOAL (Giving Obsessive-Compulsives Another Lifestyle) support group fame.

• Hudson Valley OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) Support Group (Poughkeepsie, NY, USA)
• Mental Health Association in Vanderburgh County - has an OCD support group. (Southwestern Indiana, USA)
• Newmarket OCD Support Group - in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
• North East Valley Division of General Practice, Victoria - has an overview of the symptoms and treatment of OCD, as well as the addresses of some OCD support groups in Australia.
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Page - a support group?
• OCD Australia - has various types of information on OCD, mostly links to other sites on the web, but it does have a good list of support groups.
• OCD Support Group (Christchurch, New Zealand) - has a very nice web site. Its informative newsletters are available on-line in PDF format.
• Opening New Doors - is a support group in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
• The South African Depression and Anxiety Disorders Support Group - has information on OCD and other anxiety disorders.
• Spokane OCD Support Group - in Spokane, WA, USA.
• SupportWorks® Online - lists OCD support groups in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, USA. The main page appears to be a good resource for people wishing to start their own support groups.