How Eating Disorders and OCD Can Team Up (and What to Do About It)

How Eating Disorders and OCD Can Team Up (and What to Do About It)

In this video, I talk about how OCD can show up in eating disorders, including: Seeing calories as a form of contamination, Avoiding people or places as a compulsion.

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PSP 414: How to Handle OCD Meltdowns Without Making Them Worse

PSP 414: How to Handle OCD Meltdowns Without Making Them Worse

If your child has OCD, you’ve likely witnessed an OCD-driven meltdown—intense distress triggered by an intrusive thought, fear, or the inability to complete a compulsion. These meltdowns can be overwhelming for both you and your child. And while it’s natural to want to soothe their anxiety in the moment, some responses can unintentionally reinforce OCD.

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Why Your Child’s OCD Gets Worse When They Try to “Figure It Out”

Why Your Child’s OCD Gets Worse When They Try to “Figure It Out”

If your child is stuck thinking, “I just need to figure this out, and then I’ll feel better,”—this video is for them. OCD loves to trap our kids with OCD in endless mental loops, convincing them that clarity or certainty is just one more thought away.

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Why OCD Makes Your Child Doubt Everything (Teach Them How to Fight Back!)

Why OCD Makes Your Child Doubt Everything (Teach Them How to Fight Back!)

Has your child ever known something was true but still felt unsure? Like, “Did I cheat on that test?” or “What if I accidentally said something bad?” That’s OCD creating doubt—over and over again!

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PSP 399: Why the Core Fear Matters in Anxiety and OCD

PSP 399: Why the Core Fear Matters in Anxiety and OCD

Does it really matter if you understand the core fear related to your child’s anxiety or OCD. The short answer – yes. 

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PSP 396: A New OCD Tool to Help Kids Practice Their Skills at Home

PSP 396: A New OCD Tool to Help Kids Practice Their Skills at Home

Often it is hard to get our kids into OCD therapy, and when we do, it can be an uphill battle to get them to practice those skills in between sessions. That is why I’m so excited to offer another tool to your at-home toolbox! 

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Getting Through the Holidays with Anxiety and OCD

Getting Through the Holidays with Anxiety and OCD

The holidays can bring us warm and cozy feelings, but it can also trigger our child’s anxiety and OCD. When we proactively address those potential struggles and plan ahead, we can reduce how those triggers impact their holiday and winter break.

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PSP 392: What Stories are You Telling Yourself About Your Child’s Anxiety or OCD?

PSP 392: What Stories are You Telling Yourself About Your Child’s Anxiety or OCD?

We may not have full control over our child’s recovery around anxiety or OCD, but we can control how we show up to their struggles. This can be tricky when our mind is bogged down with what-if scenarios. 

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Does Your Child Need to Identify Their Core Fears to Conquer OCD?

Does Your Child Need to Identify Their Core Fears to Conquer OCD?

OCD can create many different themes and compulsions. It can feel like whac-a-mole, but often there are only one or two core fears that are fueling all of this chaos. When your child is able to identify their core fear they’re able to tackle the head of the beast and have more success long term.

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What’s Your Child’s Ground Zero for Their Contamination OCD?

What’s Your Child’s Ground Zero for Their Contamination OCD?

Contamination OCD is one of the most debilitating OCD themes because it can get out of control pretty quickly. When OCD tells you that you cannot touch something it starts an avalanche of rules and hypervigilance that can take over your life.

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Would Your Child Notice Other OCD Themes?

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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OCD Coping Strategies vs OCD Treatment Strategies for Kids

OCD Coping Strategies vs OCD Treatment Strategies for Kids

There is a difference between OCD coping strategies and OCD treatment strategies. When we talk about OCD treatment we are focusing on ERP, Exposure Response Prevention, a type of CBT, cognitive behavioral therapy. In order to get relief from OCD we tell kids to lean in and often do the opposite of what OCD compulsions want them to do. But what do they do to cope with the stress, anxiety and overwhelm OCD typically brings with it? What do they do when OCD symptoms are taking a toll? In this week’s YouTube video I talk to kids and teens about the difference between OCD coping strategies and OCD treatments and how to do both.

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Did I Miss Something? Rewind and repeat OCD compulsions

Did I Miss Something? Rewind and repeat OCD compulsions

OCD isn’t always about fears, sometimes it is about feelings. A feeling of incompleteness is common in OCD. One way OCD shows up is in the feeling you didn’t “catch it all.” You might have a feeling of incompleteness or it might trigger other themes like, “am I lying if I said I read this?” Or “will something bad happen if I don’t reread or rewatch this?” This can cause people with OCD to read and reread lines, paragraphs or chapters. It can make people rewind and rewatch videos over and over again. It can make you ask people to repeat themselves or explain themselves over and over again.

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