§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines her Department has issued to health care professionals for dealing with people who suffer from obsessive and compulsive disorders.
§ Mr. YeoThe care and management of people suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorders is a matter for the health professionals involved, taking into account the views of the sufferers and their families.
§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what counselling is available to people who suffer from phobias, obsessive and compulsive disorders and anxiety attacks.
§ Mr. YeoCounselling may be available through primary care services including counsellors attached to general practitioner practices. Voluntary organisations specialising in such disorders may also provide counselling. Hospital psychiatric departments offer a range of treatments for such disorders, on referral. The Royal College of Psychiatrists has published a patient fact sheet on anxiety and phobias, a copy of which will be placed in the Library.
§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding is available for self-help groups which support(a) sufferers of obsessive and compulsive disorders and (b) sufferers who are dependent on benzodiazepines.
§ Mr. YeoLocal self-help groups are expected to undertake their own fund raising. Groups constituted as voluntary organisations may apply for funding from social 181W services departments, district health authorities or other local grant-giving agencies such as charitable trusts. In 1993–94 the Department of Health will be grant aiding several national voluntary bodies active in this field, including the National Association for Mental Health (MIND) and Phobia Action.