7 hours agoShareSaveNat Wright,health producer and Sophie Hutchinson,health correspondent ShareSaveBBCThe number of 16-24 year olds in England reporting symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD, has more than tripled in a decade, BBC analysis of NHS data has found.The condition is now the second-most widespread mental health disorder for young adults, according to statistics from a major NHS England survey.”OCD, I like to think of it as a bully, it attacks everything, everything you care about, everything you love,” says Sophie Ashcroft.”A lot of people do associate OCD with cleanliness, and being clean, and getting all your socks in a certain order. It’s so much more than that.”The 22-year-old is one of a number of young people and their families to have contacted us through Your Voice, Your BBC News explaining how they can’t access NHS treatment for their symptoms.Those who could get seen spoke of a shortage of expert staff and effective treatments.The average referral time figure for young people to be seen at a national OCD centre in London was 41 weeks last year, nearly three times as long as it was five years previously.The government told us it was “turning services around”, hiring 8,500 extra mental health workers, delivering more talking therapies and providing better access to help through the NHS App. It also said it was expanding the rollout of mental health support teams in schools.Sophie sometimes struggles to leave her home because she feels compelled to repeat small tasks – such as getting into the shower or cleaning her teeth – to dispel intrusive or distressing thoughts.”If I had a bad thought during the day, it would ruin the rest of my day. I’d think something bad was gonna happen,” she tells us.’Behind closed doors it’s sheer panic’The people who have contacted BBC News say lives have been devastated, with some families who haven’t been able to get NHS help telling us they have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on private care.Charities insist there is an OCD crisis and say the figures should be a wake-up call for the government.OCD symptoms can affect adults and children, and can begin as early as six years old – but they are often triggered during puberty and early adulthood.Sophie’s symptoms first appeared when she was aged nine, she says, but it was a decade later, when a close friend died, that things became a lot worse.To dispel troubling thoughts, she says it led her to repeat actions again and again – things most people would consider mundane and would do without a second thought.”It’s something telling me you have to do that again, you have to hug that person again, and it just takes over,” says Sophie. “It’s such an awful, awful feeling.”Despite all this, Sophie has just finished drama school. “I’m really, really good at hiding it, but behind closed doors it’s sheer panic,” she explains.Getty ImagesAbout 370,000 young people in England reported OCD symptoms in the financial year 2023/24, our analysis of the latest NHS Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (June 2025) has found.That is more than three times the number from 2014, when the figure stood at around 113,000.It means OCD is now second in the list of named mental health disorders – placing it and other anxiety disorders well ahead of depression:Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) 7.6%Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) 5.7%Phobias 4.8%Depressive episodes 3.8 %Why is OCD on the rise among young people?Improved awareness of the condition has likely contributed to people seeking help, say experts – but, according to charities and many of those with OCD, societal problems, combined with the pressure of social media, are the main driver for the reported rise.Leigh Wallbank, chief executive of charity OCD Action, describes many young people’s lives as a “pressure pot”.”They’re facing financial issues, educational issues, global issues – the environment is such a big issue,” she tells us. “I think of them living in this pressure pot, and then underneath that, giving heat to this pressure pot, is social media.”The Covid-19 pandemic also played a part, says Minesh Patel, associate director of policy and influencing at the mental health charity, Mind.The pandemic put a “particular and unique strain” on people with OCD, with disruption to routine, an inversion of social norms and a hyperfocus on hygiene, he says.”Barriers to social interaction, including treatment and support services, meant that many coping mechanisms were disrupted or unavailable for an extended period of time,” he adds.NHS help for OCD patients includes specialist talking therapy called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) – which can include Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP).Through ERP patients are helped to manage their anxiety by gradually being exposed to their fears, while preventing them from performing their usual compulsive behaviours.Medication is also offered – usually a type of antidepressant.Getty ImagesBut not everyone can access these treatments.Sophie was t …
