The Clinic for Impulsive and Compulsive Disorders offers specialist assessment, treatment and advice for impulsive, compulsive and behaviourally-addictive conditions. The Southern Health service operates in collaboration with the University of Southampton.
About the service
The team supports adults aged 18-65, who are under secondary or tertiary community mental health care at Southern Health or its linked Trusts (those merging as part of 'Fusion'). The referring team must be in a position to consider treatment recommendations given, and implement them if in agreement. Typically this would mean that the patient being referred is due to remain under the care of the referring team for at least 3-6 months.
The service provides support where specialist diagnosis and/or medication treatment advice is needed for one or more of the following suspected (or known) disorders:
- Hair pulling disorder (trichotillomania)
- Skin picking disorder (excoriation disorder)
- Adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) - patient must have had an ADHD diagnosis during childhood or adolescence to be referred
- Tourette's Syndrome
- Kleptomania (compulsive stealing disorder).
Please note, for Gambling Disorder please visit the Gambling Disorder pages.
What we do
Initial diagnostic and treatment advice assessment
We provide a single assessment, with recommendations for management and treatment to the patient’s mental health team. The assessment is usually conducted via videocall, though we can also see people in person at College Keep.
Follow-up treatment advice for patients previously seen through the service
Follow-up advice is initiated via a re-referral. This would typically involve a review of case notes and telephone discussion with the patient’s secondary care consultant.
Accessing the service
Access to the service is by referral only and patients must already be accessing secondary or tertiary community mental health care at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust or a linked Trust (i.e. a Trust that has joined as part of the 'Fusion' process). If a patient meets the criteria, the referrer will:
- inform the patient's GP of the referral
- ensure the patient has consented to the referral and is willing to be contacted by our service, including via telephone and email
- inform the patient that the service is a research clinic, and ask if they agree to being contacted about research studies by our service (participation in a particular study is voluntary and all research is ethically approved).
Please note, you cannot self-refer to this service.
How to find us
Address: College Keep, 4-12 Terminus Terrace, Southampton, SO14 3DT
Contact information
Further information
If you are a medical professional (or part of a team supporting a patient who meets the criteria and could benefit from the service), you can obtain a short referral form by emailing Mary Houston: M.S.Houston@soton.ac.uk.