Helping Kids with Intrusive Thoughts We all have intrusive thoughts, but when you have OCD those thoughts get stuck in your head. They get loud and constant and are hard to ignore. So how is someone meant to get any relief from OCD and these thoughts? It is often the opposite of what you may think. OCD wants you to argue with it. It wants […]
Inside the Mind of A Child with Emetophobia | The Fear of Throwing Up One of the most common anxiety and OCD themes is the fear of throwing up, also known Emetophobia. It impacts kids of all ages, and has the power to completely debilitate a person. In this week’s, AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk to my own eight-year-old daughter about her struggles with […]
Helping Kids Understand Misophonia | Sound Rage “Just deal with it! No one likes the sound of his chewing.” That’s often how parents deal with Misophonia, a neurologically based disorder where auditory stimuli is misinterpreted in the central nervous system. When parents misunderstand Misophonia it leaves kids feeling overwhelmed and guilty. They might wonder, why can’t I tolerate certain sounds like everyone else? In this […]
What to Do When Therapy isn’t Enough for a Child with Anxiety or OCD Your child needs help, but therapy isn’t cutting it. Maybe it’s because she refuses to go or perhaps it’s because her issues are just too intense for outpatient therapy. What’s a parent supposed to do when the help isn’t helping? Outpatient therapy is where the road starts, but not where it […]
How to Handle the Stress of Raising a Child with Anxiety or OCD Raising a child with anxiety or OCD should come with a warning label, “Warning: May be hazardous to your health.” Being a rock to a child that is often flailing in the sea of chaos, can be draining to even the best of us. It can wear you down, destroy your sleep […]
What is HOCD and Why is it Never Talked About? “Can I private message you.” Is normally how it starts. “My child has an issue that I am nervous to discuss in front of others.” More often than not, they want to talk about HOCD, also known as Homosexual OCD. I prefer the newer term, Sexual Orientation OCD, as it is more encompassing and much […]
Things Kids Can Do to Prevent OCD from Getting Worse When our kids have OCD it can feel like we are losing control. New compulsions are popping up all the time and all our efforts can seem futile. That is why it is so important to give our kids the tools to help themselves. Educating them on what OCD is and how it works is […]
How to Help Kids with OCD Checking Behavior It starts off with a little nag. Did you do it? Are you sure? The uncertainty grows. The nagging impulse grows. Check! Check again! Until eventually the child caves and checks. But OCD checking behavior is a trap. Mental quick sand, I like to call it. It catches people in a vicious loop that they can’t get […]
How to Spot OCD Symptoms in Teens Most kids with OCD go into adulthood without a diagnosis. This means years of feeling different. Years of feeling ashamed. And years of little to no support. If parents and therapists can learn how to spot OCD symptoms in teens, we could help them save years of unnecessary pain and suffering. OCD requires a very specific therapeutic approach […]
What is Emotional Contamination OCD? OCD can wreak havoc in any family. But one sub-type of OCD that can be particularly painful is emotional contamination OCD. Emotional contamination issues can hurt family relationships and confuse parents. Sadly most people, even mental health professionals, understand very little about how OCD can manifest. OCD isn’t just about germs and constant cleaning. OCD has many themes and sub-types. […]
Moving our Kids with Anxiety or OCD from Dependency to Resiliency We all do things for our kids. But there comes a time when we do too much. We inadvertently send a message that they are not capable of doing things for themselves. Ironically this directly impacts their ability to independently fight their anxiety or OCD. In this episode of the AT Parenting Survival […]
Helping Kids Realize that Avoidance Grows Anxiety & OCD One of anxiety and OCD’s favorite behaviors is avoidance. Avoidance grows these struggles quicker than any other behavior. Anxiety will whisper, “just don’t go.” OCD will plead, “just don’t touch it.” The more our kids avoid (and the more we help them avoid), the bigger these issues grow. In this week’s kids YouTube video, I talk […]
Three of the Most Commonly Missed Compulsions in Childhood OCD OCD loves to hide. It loves to go undetected. We often think that compulsions are obvious behaviors, like over washing or over straightening. Things that we can see. Things we can measure. But compulsions are often so much more complicated than that. They can be subtle. They can hide in plain sight. In this week’s […]
Helping Kids with OCD Realize Reassurance Can be a Compulsion The compulsion is disguised as reassurance. You think you are talking to your child, but you are really talking to OCD. “Will I get sick if I…” “Am I a bad person if I…” “Do I have a fever…” “Did you touch that?” “Can that hurt me…” “What if I called you a bad name […]
As a parent to children with anxiety or OCD, our “normal” wasn’t that “normally” anyway. But now this new normal is taking us to new heights of abnormal.
In this week’s podcast episode I tackle the most common struggles parents are having as they continue to raise kids with anxiety and OCD during this pandemic.
