PSP 050: Explaining OCD to People Who Don’t Get it: Helping Siblings, Family & Friends Understand OCD

PSP 050: Explaining OCD to People Who Don’t Get it: Helping Siblings, Family & Friends Understand OCD

Do you know what is almost worse than having a child with OCD? Seeing your child be surrounded by people who just don’t get OCD. Siblings who tease their brother or sister for their “strange” behavior. Partners who tell your child to “just stop!” Relatives who think they are being helpful when they tell you “they’ll grow out of it.” And teachers who don’t understand how your child can have OCD when they just don’t see it. Explaining OCD to people who just don’t get it can be daunting. OCD can be complicated even for parents to understand.

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Ask the Child Therapist Episode 58: How to Not Get Sucked into Your Child’s OCD Loop

Ask the Child Therapist Episode 58: How to Not Get Sucked into Your Child’s OCD Loop

How to Not Get Sucked into Your Child’s OCD Loop Can you open that for me? Can you hand that to me? Can you clean that for me? Can you tell me I will be okay? Can you be sure that won’t happen to me? Can you say that back to me one more time? There is one thing that most kids with OCD have […]

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Ask the Child Therapist Episode 51: What does Symmetry OCD Look Like in Children: Learn How to Help Them.

Ask the Child Therapist Episode 51: What does Symmetry OCD Look Like in Children: Learn How to Help Them.

She grabs the door. She pulls once with her left hand and then once with her right. She sits waiting for the bus. Tap tap goes her left foot. Tap tap goes her right. The teacher hands out crayons. The little boy next to her hands her five. Five is not right, she quickly hands one back. She waits for her mom to pick her up. Her eyes scan the corners of the building. One, two, three, four she counts to herself. All is safe. All is right in her little world controlled by symmetry OCD. Symmetry OCD is almost always missed by parents. The subtle movements to balance the body, the small gestures to tap just right. The mental games hidden in the dark recesses of the mind. It is often only discovered after years of balancing. Years of counting. Years of compulsions. Let’s talk about how to spot Symmetry OCD and how to help kids who have that OCD theme.

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Ask the Child Therapist Episode 46: Child OCD & Anxiety: Helping Siblings Understand What is Happening

Ask the Child Therapist Episode 46: Child OCD & Anxiety: Helping Siblings Understand What is Happening

You are in the car trying to coax your child to go to school. You are in their bedroom trying to help them calm down. You are at the dinner table, negotiating what they will eat. All the while, little eyes watch from a distance. They watch as they are late to school. They listen as they wait for you to come into their room. They silently eat as all eyes are focused on the little mouth that refuses to eat. They quickly move out of the way, when angry, anxious fists come flying in their direction. Having a sibling with child OCD or anxiety can be overwhelming, confusing and scary.

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Ask the Child Therapist Episode 44: Child OCD: How to Explain OCD to Kids

Ask the Child Therapist Episode 44: Child OCD: How to Explain OCD to Kids

Her small frame sits, hunched over on my therapy couch. She looks at the ceiling. She looks at the floor. She looks everywhere and anywhere as long as it is not my eyes. Finally, she opens her mouth to speak. “I have bad thoughts.” She whispers. “Sometimes to get rid of them I have to do things in threes.” She sits, waiting for the condemnation. Waiting for the concern and judgment to ooze from my face. I sit nodding and she continues. She tells me things I have heard a zillion times before. Things that come from living in the shadows of child OCD.

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Ask the Child Therapist Episode 43: When is it Time to Consider Anxiety or OCD Medication for Kids?

Ask the Child Therapist Episode 43: When is it Time to Consider Anxiety or OCD Medication for Kids?

Your child is balled up on the floor – again. She has been like this for hours. Nothing you do or say seems to penetrate her wall of pure terror. You remind her of all the tools she’s learned in therapy, but the words just drip off her limp body. It looks like another school day will be passing her by. How long can this go on? When should you start considering anxiety and OCD medication for her?

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PSP 025: Child OCD is Not Just About Germs | 8 Common OCD Themes

PSP 025: Child OCD is Not Just About Germs | 8 Common OCD Themes

Your child is doing another “quirky” behavior. It seems like it is always something. You remember the time she had to twirl as she entered a room. And then there was the time that she had to blow on her fingers. You stare as your daughter is tapping the kitchen table four times with each finger. What do these behaviors mean? Once a well-intentioned friend suggested it was child OCD. You had scoffed at the idea. She obviously didn’t know your daughter. Her room looks like a bomb hit it and don’t even get you started on her hygiene. But if it isn’t child OCD, what is it?

So many parents dismiss the possibility of childhood OCD because they don’t understand it. OCD isn’t just about germs. OCD isn’t about being neat and orderly. Sure, those are two components in some OCD themes, but what about the thousands of other themes?

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Ask the Child Therapist Episode 34: Do You Want to Help Your Child with OCD? Try ERP!

Ask the Child Therapist Episode 34: Do You Want to Help Your Child with OCD? Try ERP!

A child with OCD sits in my office. I ask if she is ready. She gives me a nervous nod. I place a Clorox wipe in her hand. She begins to breath heavily. Her OCD convinces her she is holding a death wipe. She imagines her hands spreading the contamination throughout her body, the poison flooding her veins.

I am not having a torture session, I am treating a child with OCD.

OCD is like a game of chicken. A game I am determined to help her win. We are calling OCD’s bluff, refusing to blink.

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PSP 020: Parenting Children with OCD | Doing the Opposite of What Feels Right

PSP 020: Parenting Children with OCD | Doing the Opposite of What Feels Right

Your child is begging you for reassurance. This is the tenth time in less than fifteen minutes. Do you give it to them again? And again? When does it end? Are you helping them when you get sucked into their OCD compulsions? No one ever tells you how to parent children with OCD!

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OCD in Children: Are you Completely Missing the Signs?

OCD in Children: Are you Completely Missing the Signs?

OCD in Children: Are You Missing the Signs If you or someone in your family has OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) – your child is more at risk of getting OCD. OCD in children is believed to be inherited. So, along with eye color and hair color – your child can get OCD and Anxiety. [to listen to the podcast version of this click here] I have […]

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