OCD is sneaky, it often gets our kids to do compulsions that they may not even realize are compulsions! One common mental compulsion is neutralizing intrusive thoughts. Does your child have to compulsively pray, repeat a phrase or word or have a positive thought to neutralize a “bad” thought. Those are all examples of mental compulsions.
OCD wants us to take its threats seriously. It wants us to debate with it, argue, and come up with solutions to circumvent the issues it presents. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast, I explore how these issues can show up and how we can teach our kids and teens to not get caught in OCD’s trap.
How our kids talk to their OCD can make or break their long term progress. Do they argue, debate or try to distract themselves from OCD’s banter? Or do they outsmart OCD accepting the thoughts or even sarcastically agreeing with them? In this week’s Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about how to talk to OCD in a way that will propel their progress.
Anxiety and OCD can cause our children to act in ways that can be overwhelming, disheartening and sometimes even hurtful. It is easy to fall into the trap of taking our children’s anxiety or OCD personally. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk about the many ways we can take our children’s anxiety or OCD behaviors personally, and what we can do instead.
We will all fall short sometimes and so will our children with anxiety or OCD. They will avoid, they will crumble, they will give in to their anxiety or OCD. That is all par for the course. More often than not they will view these situations as “failures.” They might beat themselves up or use the experience as evidence that they can’t do it again.
Helping the Siblings of Kids with Anxiety or OCD Anxiety and OCD don’t just live within our child, it lives within our home. It impacts everyone in the family, including the siblings. What happens to the sibling when all eyes are focused on the child with anxiety or OCD? What happens to them when there are big meltdowns, panic attacks, and overwhelm. What happens when […]
How to Stop Panic Attacks from Ruling Your Child’s Life Sometimes we focus so much on how to stop panic attacks that we miss an even bigger problem, avoidance. What’s even more debilitating than panic attacks is the panic around having them. Panic attacks create a knee-jerk reaction of avoidance. They might avoid going to school, going out with friends, or going to the movies. […]
How to Lovingly Detach from Our Kids Anxiety or OCD Kids with anxiety or OCD need an anchor. They need us to be a rock that helps ground them through the chaos. Unfortunately, we cannot do that when we are so immersed in their struggles that we are drowning right along with them. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast, I talk about learning how […]
Beating OCD or Anxiety Starts with Accepting This So much of anxiety or OCD is the illusion of control. If I do this, then nothing bad will happen. If I wash enough, I won’t get contaminated. If I say this in my head, the discomfort will go away. If I ask this question (again), then I’ll feel reassured. The only problem is we don’t have […]
When OCD is Misdiagnosed as Learning Issues OCD doesn’t just stay in our home, it likes to wreak havoc in all areas of life, including at school. OCD intrusive thoughts and compulsions can make a child look like they: Struggle to read Struggle to write Struggle to do math equations Struggle to complete assignments Struggle with comprehension Struggle with focus Struggle with expression Struggle with […]
Helping Kids Discover Core Fears Driving Anxiety or OCD Our kids can have a million different intrusive thoughts, anxious feelings and compulsive behaviors. But often there will be a core fear that groups these fears together. It is important to note, that regardless of what theme or core fear a child has, the framework of how to address OCD or anxiety is exactly the same. […]
Letting Go of How Life Should Be We have expectations about how our children’s lives should be. We have expectations about how our family should be. This can be reinforced by friends, family or even the school system. So what happens when all those expectations fall short? What happens when we look at our reality and it doesn’t match up? Parenting is messy and we […]
Issues that Like to Partner with Anxiety or OCD Anxiety and OCD don’t live in an isolated bubble. I wish they did! But unfortunately they often like to hang out with several other issues. The tricky part is knowing how to handle those issues differently, because they require us to do so. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast, I talk about five common issues […]
Kids Who Worry Stuffed Animals and Toys Have Feelings Most kids get attached to stuffed animals or cute toys. But what if they thought those objects had feelings and it was their job to keep them safe? When you add anxiety or OCD into the mix, it could become a full time job. It can impact their sleep. What if I roll over them? It […]
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