RE: Newbie here...

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

My 7 year old has either OCD or anxiety, the first therapist said OCD and

the psychiatrist said anxiety. We were not happy with the first therapist

because all she did was talk and my son did not seem to get anything out of

the therapy even after 4 sessions. In the past month his symptoms became

much worse and he was also crying for help. We decided to start medication.

I told myself that if he was physically ill instead of mentally ill, I would

not hesitate to give him medicine that may help. We are starting with a new

therapy in the next couple of weeks. I too believe that therapy is key to

learning to live with anxiety or OCD, but have read that many people need

medication in order to calm down enough to make use of the therapy. I

realize that everyone is different and am not pushing you to medicate your

son, just sharing my thought process and why we chose to start him on a

SSRI. Since he has started, his symptoms have definitely decreased in

frequency and intensity.

Good luck!

Annie

_____

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of pamptracy

Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2008 8:59 AM

To:

Subject: Newbie here...

My 7 year old son has OCD. He is very germaphobic and washes his

hands and other body parts frequently. He cries for help and it

breaks my heart. I've done a lot of reading on OCD and we even read a

couple of the books together (Up and Down the Worry Hill and What To

Do When Your Brain Gets Stuck). We've gone to several different

people for CBT and ERT and they say they do it but then seem to just

talk most of the time if not all the time. We just moved to SC and

his OCD is worse when we're at home. I think it's the house although

it could be DH or even me. Do we stress him out? The past couple

days we have actually left the house! He's better when we're not

home. My DH tries to convince him things are clean. I walk a fine

line between trying not to enable him and trying not to make his

anxiety worse. The social worker and psychologist are pushing meds.

I'd be okay with that if I really felt CBT and ERT were given a real

good try first. My son is very willing. His symptoms aren't too bad

from what I've read. He has also been diagnosed with generalized

anxiety and ADHD. They want to medicate him for that too. Since he

started the new school he's been improving. This makes me question

whether meds are really necessary. Please help! I think what we

really need is a good therapist! I just can't find one and asking if

they do CBT and ERT isn't enough. Anyone is SC? Thanks!