Putting the Spotlight on Childhood Moral & Harm OCD with Aaron Harvey

A young girl worries she might stick out her middle finger, so she goes around keeping her hands in tight fists. Another boy worries he’ll go to hell if he lies, so he can’t even answer a simple question. A teenage boy is fearful he is staring at his teacher’s breasts, so he looks at the floor the entire day.

And the saddest part? No one knows these kids are even suffering. Not their parents, not their teachers, not their friends.

OCD impacts 1 out of every 200 kids, and frankly that is probably a very low estimate because it is often missed by parents or misdiagnosed by therapists not trained in OCD.

These kids are left to feel weird, perverted, evil, disgusting, sociopathic, suicidal, homicidal and sinful, even though they are none of those things.

If we could educate parents, therapists and kids themselves more about OCD, maybe these kids wouldn’t have to unnecessarily suffer. Maybe they could learn that they aren’t alone and that there is help.

I invited Aaron Harvey the creator of Intrusivethoughts.org and Made of Millions to come on the podcast and talk with me about this issue.

He is the perfect person to talk about moral and harm OCD, as well OCD in general.

On the surface, Aaron had it all. He was running his own successful ad agency that was doing very well. But underneath all that success was over twenty years of silent suffering. Aaron had OCD that filled his mind with intrusive thoughts and disturbing images that rarely ceased.

His struggles started at 12. A rough age for most of us, but nothing compared to what OCD can bring on.

We explore what it is like growing up with moral and harm OCD, and OCD in general. We discuss what parents can do to help their kids struggling with these issues. And lastly we talk about how we need to spread more knowledge and awareness about OCD. Way too many kids are suffering silently. That is unacceptable.

For a wealth of support and education, filled with real stories and inspiration, visit Intrusivethoughts.org and Madeofmillions.com. Together we can get this message out.