Child Anxiety OCD

You Will Recognise Child OCD When You See It

Look, let's be honest, most of us have a favourite book or piece of music that we just never get bored with - over time that is. I love 'Bridge Over Troubled Waters' and I always will, but I don't listen to that one track excluding all others.

Hmm, I guess you have give teenagers a little more space here - I vaguely remember being young and playing some tracks until the whole family was sick of them!

But there is a difference in the intensity with which the activity is approached and the repetitive nature which spills over into a necessity - a need which a child with OCD has little or no control over.

Even though a young person knows what they are doing is pointless, the child's anxiety builds rapidly if they don't complete the ritual. If the ritual is interrupted, then back a child will go and start over again.

It's a remarkably relaxed child who doesn't have any doubts or little worries, but if life seems to be worrying them more than it should for your little person, or preventing them doing things, going places and enjoying life, you are right to be concerned and there are a number of other symptoms to look out for, the most common of which I've listed below.

Children with an anxiety disorder like OCD can be very secretive and go to great lengths to hide their habits, while others may ask you to participate in rituals, for example checking all the draws, cupboards and under the bed at night - quite possibly more than once.

There are also other common signs that child OCD may be a problem, so let's have a look at them.

• Excessive worry about what other think of them


• Constantly worrying about family members and what might happen to them


• Collecting and usually hoarding things (it can be anything) and absolutely refusing to part with them (you will know this if you see it, believe me)


• Overly concerned with being clean and/or excessive hand washing. If you notice your child has dry chapped hands, or is going through rather a lot of soap, constant showers - be aware


• Excessive concern with dirt and germs and avoiding any activities in which getting dirty is possible


• Extravagant tantrums if a ritual they perform is prevented or interrupted


• School performance and achievement drops


• Attendance at school becomes a battle


• Spending less time with friends, where rituals can't be performed


• A desire for symmetry. By this I mean ornaments in the precise spot they are placed. Books in strict order - whatever that may be, pictures must be absolutely level (Yes so do I as an adult, but as a child, like most children I didn't even notice picture frames, nor care how wonky they were)


• Strange requests for phrases or words to be repeated and often in a particular way


• Poor time management - can be because a child has so many rituals to perform before going out or to school, they are late

There are two main schools of thought

Psychological Causes

Some children believe thinking bad thoughts is just as bad as doing a bad thing and end up convinced they are bad inside. Other children take full responsibility for everything that goes wrong, often believing their bad thoughts are to blame anyway.

Genetics

There are those who believe OCD may be hereditary because it does tend to run in families. Brain scan images do show different brain activity sometimes, in some people who have OCD.

And there is a third unpublished witch doctors theory - mine!

I've taught a lot of kids with a whole variety of social and emotional issues, syndromes and disorders. Other than that Meghan's theory on child OCD has no substance in science whatsoever - just experience, so please don't ask for numerical data. Case studies yes, by the dozen!

Meghan's Theory

I have never yet come across a child - or an adult for that matter, where OCD is the whole story. All have other problems going on somewhere either historic or current and the only conclusion I can draw from this, is that OCD in children might be better regarded as a symptom.

Which means to address child OCD you need to dig deeper and find out what else is going on or what triggered it into starting.

I know I'm probably inviting outraged rebuttals from adults who have been told 'You're just so OCD'.

No you are not.

You just have habits and are more fussy about them than the rest of us. I have a friend who is very fussy in her personal grooming. Two hours getting ready for a girls night in! She cleans her house every day, not a speck of dust to be seen. Takes me half an hour to dress for a wedding. Really. Yep, plenty of cobwebs in my house too!

We are all so different in what we do and how we accomplish tasks

Some of us are exquisitely organized in everything - others (like me) are organized professionally, but personally either don't care, don't have the time to care or don't notice the chaos surrounding us!

I'd bet the way we are is a lot to do with watching our parents. Again, her parents keep a pretty perfect house and they have never had any pets, ever. My mom on the other hand took the view you are a long time dead - why waste your life dusting? (2 kids, 3 dogs, rabbits, hamsters, a wicked tempered parrot.....oh - and a one uddered goat called Dolly).

I'm not saying it's always that way around - sometimes living in chaos leads people to dream about order when they have their own home to run, but we are all rooted in our childhood one way or another.

Child Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is so much more than that

The sheer need, the overwhelming driving force real OCD causes is not someone returning to check they locked the doors - or make sure the taps are off, unless you do it every day (and even having checked, check aagin).

Real child OCD is when a child washes or even scrubs their hands until they are red raw, then they do it again and again - and again.

Treatment Options for Children With Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

First off I'd better make it clear that if a child is too unwell for mainstream education, they are outside the scope of any advice I would feel comfortable offering, ok?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Very effective with OCD and so adaptable it works with quite young children. CBT homes in on the irrational thoughts and offers children another way of thinking and dealing with fears. CBT generally focuses on the future rather than the past so kids don't have to directly tackle a problem head on.

Drugs

Paroxetine fluvoxamine, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine and sertraline are anti-depressant drugs which can reduce the symptoms of child OCD and child anxiety.

But they don't address the root cause and have several side effects including nausea, drowsiness and a dry mouth. Recently they have been linked to depression when used to treat another illness.

In other words someone not depressed has become depressed taking anti-depressant drugs. Neat.

I expect you've guessed my feelings on this one, particularly for children.

Herbal Remedies

Again I need to be very careful here - I'm not recommending you try these without talking to a herbalist first. Additionally using herbal relaxants very much depend on age. Once a youngster gets to 9 or 10, you can talk to them about their treatment options and give them some choices.

Used alone or with CBT, herbal and homeopathic remedies can naturally bring your child peace of mind.

Some commonly recommended remedies include:

• Valerian


• Passiflora incarnata


• Hypericum perforatum (St John's Wort)


• Scuttelaria laterifolia (Scullcap)


Please discuss this option with your doctor or consult a homeopath or naturopath for advice.

Keep Family Life Normal

Your family life can so easily be changed to accommodate your child's obsessions or compulsions, because it's the easy option.

Don't do it. Keep family life as normal as possible for everyone - and for when your troubled child has recovered.

Helping a child with OCD can be a patience stretching process for you, your partner and any other children in the home.

If you possibly can, take time and unload your feelings. Friends with sympathetic ears and a shared cup of coffee can make a huge difference to your quality of life - so don't neglect yourself. Having done that, encourage other family members to chill out in their own way, away from the home if possible.

No matter how tired, irritated and fraught you feel when your child repeats a ritual yet again - please try to hide your disapproval, (or worse, disappointment) children with OCD have little if any control over their actions so being told off won't help at all and can make matters worse.

The chances are high that your child's confidence is low. Reward every success, no matter how small, because little steps given lots of praise make bigger steps more likely to happen.

Use relaxation techniques - 5 Ways To Relax Anxious Children These really do help anxious children let go and chill out, the more they do relax, the easier it gets.

Well, personally I wouldn't treat the OCD in isolation. I'd be digging deeper to find out the cause of the child anxiety that in all probability has triggered the OCD.

The areas I'd explore first, depending on age and circumstances of course, would be bullying, fear of failing (tests etc), any trauma that may seem minor to an adult......is not quite as minor to an eight year old.

Has there been a bereavement in the family - or a friends family? Children don't necessarily understand death until it is explained, all they see and feel is others grief, so that's one to consider.

Can I repeat my suggestion that you check out 5 Ways To Relax Anxious Children Relaxing really can help and these are methods I use daily.

I suggest you take a look at The Anxiety-Free Child program and at least collect your FREE email series on coping with child anxiety. The link is just below.

I've been using Rich Presta's program and methods for a while now - they work, it's that simple.

He suffered from anxiety as a child and I think that's why the program is so good. It comes at anxiety from the child's perspective.

The program uses adapted CBT techniques and shows you how you can work with your child to overcome their anxiety. if you check out my blog on anxiety you will see I recommend it there too.

I hope this has been useful to you and maybe helped you understand a little more about child OCD. If you're looking for more information, check out the other lenses below and also my blog posts on the RSS feed below.