Some people experience more than one of the above phobias, for example a social phobic may become agoraphobic because of their fear of meeting people. Someone with a fear of flying may be claustrophobic and not be able to use the train or the metro. Most OCD sufferers fear that harm of some kind will come either to themselves or to those they love, or in some cases, even to strangers. They think that, by performing their rituals, harm can be evaded or lessened. There are usually strong compulsions to perform the ritual immediately.
Some sufferers report intrusive obsessive and repetitive thoughts which are difficult to control.
Sometimes depression is present too. The phobic sufferer tries to avoid the situation they fear, which may lead to them being unable to work or to have a social life. The OCD sufferer usually finds that the problem invades the whole of their life, whereas the phobic sufferer sometimes escapes the problem by avoiding the situation they fear. Eventually work and home-life suffers, leading to relationship breakdown in extreme cases. FRCPsych Underpinning the work of TOP U.K. is the research carried out by the world-renowned psychiatrist Professor Isaac Marks MD, FRCPsych.