Prof Lynne Drummond
Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist — OCD & BDD Specialist
South West London & St George's Mental Health NHS Trust
Prof Lynne Drummond is one of the UK's most experienced OCD specialists. She trained under Isaac Marks, a pioneer of exposure therapy and one of the founders of evidence-based treatment for OCD, and Stuart Montgomery, known for his work on the pharmacological treatment of anxiety and depression. At a time when health anxiety was still considered a subset of OCD, these were the people shaping how compulsive disorders were understood and treated.
She went on to become the lead clinician for the nationally commissioned service for severe OCD and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) at South West London and St George's NHS Trust from 1985 to 2020 — one of only a handful of such services in the country.
Now retired from clinical practice, she holds the qualifications MBChB, MRCP (UK), and FRCPsych, and is a Visiting Professor at the University of Hertfordshire. She has published extensively on CBT, OCD, and anxiety disorders, and is the author of three books including Everything You Need to Know About OCD (Cambridge University Press). She currently focuses on writing, research, and working with public bodies to improve access to treatment.
We spoke to Prof Drummond about the relationship between OCD and health anxiety — why intrusive thoughts about illness follow the same compulsive cycle, and what the evidence says about breaking it.
OCD Explained: Intrusive Thoughts, Compulsions & Health Anxiety
44 minutes
Key takeaways
- • Health anxiety and OCD share the same cycle. An intrusive thought raises anxiety, then a compulsion — checking, Googling, seeking reassurance — briefly reduces it. But that reduction acts like a reward, making the cycle stronger each time.
- • Why reassurance doesn't work for health anxiety. The relief is temporary and the doubt returns. This can lead to unnecessary investigations and patients being labelled as "nuisance patients" when they're actually suffering.
- • ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention) is the core treatment. Face the anxiety-producing thought without performing the compulsion. One technique: record the fear in your own voice and play it on repeat until the anxiety drops — then carry on with your day while listening.
- • Health anxiety creates real physical symptoms. "Think about the pain in your right big toe" — and it appears. You're not imagining the symptom, but there's no medical reason for it. The more you focus on a body area, the more you feel something there.
- • You can't "snap out of" health anxiety. Nobody would wish OCD or health anxiety on themselves. Treatment works, but it needs to come at the right time — and if it doesn't work the first time, that doesn't mean it won't work later.
Published work
Free UK support mentioned in this conversation
- OCD Action — UK charity offering support, information, and advocacy for people affected by OCD. ocdaction.org.uk
- OCD-UK — National charity run by and for people with OCD, with helpline and local support groups. ocduk.org
- TOP UK — Triumph Over Phobia, offering self-help therapy groups for OCD, phobias, and related anxiety disorders. topuk.org
- Mind — Mental health information, support, and advocacy. mind.org.uk
- CALM — Campaign Against Living Miserably. Crisis support line open 5pm-midnight every day. thecalmzone.net
Learn more about the evidence-based approaches discussed in this conversation, or watch more conversations. If you're in crisis, see our crisis support resources.