childhood ocd - AT: Parenting Survival for All Ages

PSP 333: Should You Tell the School About Your Child’s Anxiety or OCD?

Parents often ask me if they should tell the school about their child’s anxiety or OCD. The answer isn’t a simple yes or no. There are things to consider. Like does their anxiety or OCD impact their academic performance or ability to function at school? Is there a chance that they will be mislabeled or misunderstood due to their anxiety or OCD? In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explore the areas to consider when weighing the pros and cons of telling the school about your child’s anxiety or OCD.

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PSP 332: Understanding Relationship OCD in Kids and Teens with Kristina Orlova

It is helpful to understand the many different disguises OCD can wear. When we understand how OCD can show up, we can nip it in the bud more often. Relationship OCD is often talked about in an adult context, but it impacts kids and teens as well. I invited Kristina Orlova, an anxiety and OCD therapist and creator of OCD Academy, to come onto the AT Parenting Survival Podcast to help us understand ROCD better.

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PSP 331: The Biggest Misconceptions Parents Have About Child Anxiety and OCD Therapy

When your child is in therapy or you are searching for an anxiety or OCD therapist, you might have expectations and assumptions about how treatment should go. Often those expectations and assumptions are inaccurate. I invited therapists Dr. Josh Spitalnick and Marti Munford from Anxiety Specialists of Atlanta, to sit down with me on the AT Parenting Survival Podcast to discuss the most common misconceptions they see among parents.

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Helping Kids with Anxiety or OCD and Sensory Processing Issues

Helping Kids with Anxiety or OCD and Sensory Processing Issues This episode is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the guidance of a qualified professional. Anxiety and OCD don’t live in a bubble. Often kids with anxiety and OCD have sensory processing issues as well. It can help to understand what is sensory, what is anxiety, what is OCD and what […]

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Is Your Child Catching New OCD Compulsions?

Working on OCD is like pulling weeds. Our kids are slowly taking their garden back by eliminating one OCD compulsion at a time (or several at a time!). The less they do compulsions, the weaker OCD becomes. But what if they let some new compulsions grow some early roots? What if they focus so hard on the weeds in front of them, they miss the new weeds starting to form in the distance? What if they want people to see a clean garden, so they hide the new weeds to everyone but themselves? In this week’s Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about the importance of pulling out those small OCD weeds and preventing any new OCD compulsions from ever taking root.

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PSP 329: What to Do When Your Child with OCD or Anxiety Won’t Discuss it

Often parents give up before they even start because their child with OCD or anxiety refuses to talk. It is easy to think there is nothing you can do if you can’t get your child to discuss their anxiety or OCD. But there is always a place to start, always.

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When Your Child’s Faced with Anxiety or OCD Struggles Do They Give Up Before They Begin?

How does your child talk to themselves when faced with anxiety or OCD struggles? How they show up to these anxiety or OCD issues can make all the difference. Do they cheer for themselves or do they cheer for anxiety or OCD? In this week’s Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about how our internal dialogue around anxiety or OCD is crucial.

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Would Your Child Notice Other OCD Themes?

OCD comes in many disguises. OCD is OCD and it is treated as such, but it can be easy to miss new intrusive thoughts and compulsions. That is because OCD can morph and present in a completely different way. The best way to approach OCD is to educate ourselves and our kids in the many ways it can show up. It can help to learn about other OCD experiences and common OCD intrusive thoughts and compulsions. When you do this, you and your child will be able to catch new OCD struggles before it can grow big roots. Then you’ll approach it the same way you do with any other OCD theme using ERP, Exposure Response Prevention.

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PSP 327: Reducing Inflammation to Improve Mental Health

We are hearing more and more about how inflammation is implicated in many mental health issues including anxiety and OCD. But what does that mean? Are there ways we can see if our child is struggling with inflammation? Are there things we can change in their diet or lifestyle that will reduce inflammation?

I don’t know those answers, but I do know someone who does! That is why I invited Dr. Ann Kulze, a renowned physician and founder of the Healthy Living School to come and talk to us. Dr. Ann has been featured on the Dr. Oz show, Oprah and Friends Radio, Time, and WebMD sharing her expertise in this area.

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Helping Kids Understand OCD Distraction vs Refocusing

Helping Kids Understand OCD Distraction vs Refocusing This video is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the guidance of a qualified professional. When your child is bombarded with OCD intrusive thoughts they might be on the hamster wheel of distraction. In fact it is the most common way to get relief from OCD intrusive thoughts. Unfortunately, this avoidance only grows OCD […]

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PSP 322: Finding Happiness During Difficult Times

When we are raising kids with anxiety or OCD it can take a toll on our own level of happiness. We can be consumed with fear, overwhelm and the what-ifs of tomorrow. But our child’s journey with anxiety or OCD is a marathon not a sprint. If we live in crisis mode all of the time we rob ourselves and our family the joy life can bring. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk about how to find moments of happiness even during difficult times with your child’s anxiety or OCD (or any difficult time for that matter).

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PSP 320: Are You Defining Success Around Anxiety or OCD in a Helpful Way?

How do you define success when it comes to getting anxiety or OCD under control? What does “recovery” look like to you? What does it look like to your child? How we view success and how we convey it to our kids is critical. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast, I explore what a healthy view of “success” looks like and how to communicate that effectively to our kids.

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Ask the Child Therapist Episode 92 Kid Edition: How to Use Imagery to Cope with Anxiety or OCD

If you have a child with anxiety or OCD they are bombarded daily with horrible, upsetting thoughts. This sea of overwhelming images and ideas can drown kids and pull them into a dark abyss. It can be hard to cope with anxiety or OCD when you are constantly fighting these thoughts.

Kids will often ask what they can do to get some relief from these thoughts, images and ideas. One of the best weapons I have used in my practice is teaching kids to create a “world.”

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PSP 315: Turning OCD Pain into Passion | Shaun Flores

Shaun Flores had been suffering from OCD for years without knowing it. He hopped from OCD theme to OCD theme, listening to OCD’s lies and searching for certainty with each new worry. It wasn’t until 2022, when he finally met the right therapist, that he learned that all of his fears had one explanation, OCD. Shaun has turned his OCD pain into a passion to advocate. Since his diagnosis he has added a new face to the OCD advocacy scene. A face that was desperately underrepresented. As a black man, he is helping normalize a disorder that doesn’t care about race, ethnicity or gender. In this week’s episode of the AT Parenting Survival Podcast, I had the honor to talk to Shaun about his journey with OCD and the incredible work he is doing to help others.

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PSP 314: How to Help Kids Who Won’t Use Coping Skills

We all want our kids with anxiety or OCD to use coping skills to deal with anxiety, overwhelm, and dysregulation. But what happens when they refuse to use them? In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast, I talked to my go-to expert on coping skills, best-selling author and therapist, Janine Halloran. In this episode, Janine and I discuss why some kids refuse to use coping skills and what approaches to use in order to help them embrace these tools.

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Tag: childhood ocd

PSP 333: Should You Tell the School About Your Child’s Anxiety or OCD?

PSP 332: Understanding Relationship OCD in Kids and Teens with Kristina Orlova

PSP 331: The Biggest Misconceptions Parents Have About Child Anxiety and OCD Therapy

Helping Kids with Anxiety or OCD and Sensory Processing Issues

Is Your Child Catching New OCD Compulsions?

PSP 329: What to Do When Your Child with OCD or Anxiety Won’t Discuss it

When Your Child’s Faced with Anxiety or OCD Struggles Do They Give Up Before They Begin?

Would Your Child Notice Other OCD Themes?

PSP 327: Reducing Inflammation to Improve Mental Health

Helping Kids Understand OCD Distraction vs Refocusing

PSP 322: Finding Happiness During Difficult Times

PSP 320: Are You Defining Success Around Anxiety or OCD in a Helpful Way?

Ask the Child Therapist Episode 92 Kid Edition: How to Use Imagery to Cope with Anxiety or OCD

PSP 315: Turning OCD Pain into Passion | Shaun Flores

PSP 314: How to Help Kids Who Won’t Use Coping Skills

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