Talking Therapies ‘saved my life’ says Doncaster taxi driver Alan Bell.
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00:00I'm a taxi driver.
00:11And where do you live?
00:14Stainforth, near Doncaster.
00:15So why did you get referred to Talking Therapist?
00:19Because it was making...
00:20I've got OCD and it was making me depressed and anxious and it was getting worse and worse
00:28every year.
00:29And I wasn't coping very well and it was a horrible, horrible thing.
00:34So can you tell me what you did as part of your OCD?
00:38Checking things, counting in my head.
00:40For years I've had a clock going in my head.
00:42Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.
00:44Now that's less.
00:45It's barely stopped.
00:46But I used to get my wife to say things repeatedly, my son to say things repeatedly.
00:53If one of them smiled or laughed and not a certain look on the face and said how mad
00:58it is, I used to say, can you do that again?
01:01What again?
01:02That facial expression.
01:03And if I walk around Tesco and there's a bit of music comes on and my wife's dancing a
01:08bit, I used to say, can you start dancing again?
01:11And there's people walking past thinking, what's she doing?
01:15So that was very embarrassing for them too.
01:18And it actually led to us not going out as much because I couldn't control what I wanted
01:22them to do.
01:23How many years did you have OCD?
01:25I still got it from 15 and I'm nearly 60, so 45 years.
01:32So what made you seek help?
01:35Everybody was telling me, all my loved ones were telling me, you need to go to doctors.
01:40And I just realised it was time because I was getting worse and worse.
01:44I was drinking too much, not while I was working, but I used to work nights, so I'd drink when
01:50I wasn't working and then morning after I'd be all right.
01:54But it's just that cycle of never ending depression.
02:01You feel low in yourself, you feel embarrassed, you feel inadequate.
02:06All that adds up to getting really depressed.
02:09So you went to the doctors, got referred to a mental health nurse.
02:12She referred me to you.
02:13Who then sent you to Talking Therapies.
02:16So how has Talking Therapies helped you?
02:19Massively.
02:20It's changed me.
02:21It's saved my life.
02:25The people in it, everybody in it, are so intelligent, I can't, it's brilliant, it's
02:32saved my life.
02:33So how did they do that?
02:37By teaching me various techniques and by explaining to me.
02:41You've got to face your fears.
02:44So if you face your worst fear and then you're all right after it, the fear about touching
02:50that or touching that goes away.
02:55That's brilliant.
02:56So if anybody else is watching this video and thinks, you know what, I'm a little bit
03:00like that or I'm like that, what would your advice be?
03:04Go to your doctor.
03:05Or you can even self-refer to Talking Therapies I think, can't you?
03:09Just do that.
03:10So cut your doctor out.
03:12My doctor were brilliant, but not all doctors are.
03:15So go to Talking Therapies, give it a go.
03:18What have you got to lose?
03:20They will help you.
03:22They really will help you.
03:24You've got to trust them, because they know what they're doing.
03:30And it's worked for you?
03:31Yeah.
03:32I mean, they've got years and years of experience.
03:35I've got 45 years of experience.
03:38So we were a good match up.
03:41That's excellent.
03:42Thank you, Alan.
03:43Okay.