Bad thoughts OCD

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I am a new member of the list. My 15 year old daughter was diagnosed with OCD a

few months ago. She has mainly the intrusive/ " bad thoughts " kind. I'm wondering

what experience others have with helping their children with this; someone

commented recently on ERP and the parent's role being different with this, which

I can definitely see.

She is seeing a good therapist and is on medication and has improved somewhat

since it was at it's worse. But it seems like every week there is a new twist

and it can be very discouraging.

I'd be glad for any thoughts you have,

[Guest guest]

Hi - welcome! My son has contamination OCD based on bad thoughts about a

certain person. Bit of a mix. I'm sure it's been distressing for you but I'm

glad your dd is improving! Could you tell more about what your therapist is

doing and what med dd is on?

Rhonda

Bad thoughts OCD

Hello,

I am a new member of the list. My 15 year old daughter was diagnosed with OCD

a few months ago. She has mainly the intrusive/ " bad thoughts " kind. I'm

wondering what experience others have with helping their children with this;

someone commented recently on ERP and the parent's role being different with

this, which I can definitely see.

She is seeing a good therapist and is on medication and has improved somewhat

since it was at it's worse. But it seems like every week there is a new twist

and it can be very discouraging.

I'd be glad for any thoughts you have,

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Welcome to our group!

Our son is 20, he was 15 at severe onset, but we realize now it was always there

to some degree. He has contamination, " just right " , and scrupe type OCD, but

his main challenge is more what is often termed " Pure O " , thoughts without

compulsions. Usually they are doing mental rituals though, whether they

recognize it or not.

We have not had much success with formal treatment, limited access to expertise,

but our son does understand ERP and knows how to manage the OCD(not that he

follows that all the time!). Mostly he needed to first gain insight, meaning he

needed to learn that the OCD was not " him " . For some time he was really lost to

the OCD and believed the thoughts were true, he didn't think he existed anymore.

At that point treatment was futile.

Dont' know if this is an issue with your daughter, having insight? But it is

somewhat common with teens and identity, self-esteem stuff that the OCD can go

after. On some level I think they know what is real, but when the OCD is

intense, or attacks a core identity issue for a teen it can be impossible for

them to not believe it is true.

All that to say, age and stage plays into this disorder. Maturity, ownership,

cooperation etc, are all issues with most teens, and come into play with the

treatment of this disorder. Not sure if this is the case for you, just relating

our experience of it.

A really good book about bad thought OCD is, " The Imp of the Mind " , Lee Baer. I

think it's the only book our son ever looked at about OCD. He definitely found

descriptions of what he was experiencing anyway. It helped me to understand how

the OCD was attacking him, and gave me ideas on how to better manage. They do

give ideas on doing ERP with the thoughts too.

Things I do - identify something as OCD(to externalize it), not respond to

things my son says, if he starts amping up over something I ask him to stop or

remove himself and if he does not I remove myself. I try very hard not to

engage, but to remain neutral (all the while telling myself it's the OCD taken

over my son, he'll be back!). Talk back to the thoughts, tell " them " I'm not

listening, they are not true, sometimes essentially bossing them back for my

son(before he could do this himself). I will use humour a lot, but this depends

on your child and where they are with it.

Basically, you want to say or do the opposite of whatever the OCD wants. So, if

your daughter is afraid she might do something, such as harm you (which is

common OCD thought), you counter that thought by taking the power away from it.

It is best that your therapist give strategies for the how of this.

Some things that are done - recording the thought and listening to it, writing

out a thought and reading it, anything that will " expose " them to the thought

and have them raise the anxiety around it until they " habituate " to it.

Basically you make the thought become boring. The challenge is that they want

to avoid the thought, or suppress it, which only gives it more power. They must

be willing to allow the thought and just let it be there, and not do anything to

try and nuetralize it out, ie mental ritual -easier said than done, as I'm sure

you well know.

What kind of thoughts does your daughter have? Is she asking you for

reassurance? Or does she try to engage you in other ways to help her? It is

really common that the OCD will morph and switch from one thing to another in a

desperate attempt to maintain itself. It is like the whack a mole game for a

while, but eventually if they stick with the ERP they learn what they need to do

and it will get more and more quiet.

Warmly,

Barb

Canada

Son, 20, OCD, LD Plus

>

> Hello,

> I am a new member of the list. My 15 year old daughter was diagnosed with OCD

a few months ago. She has mainly the intrusive/ " bad thoughts " kind. I'm

wondering what experience others have with helping their children with this;

someone commented recently on ERP and the parent's role being different with

this, which I can definitely see.

>

> She is seeing a good therapist and is on medication and has improved somewhat

since it was at it's worse. But it seems like every week there is a new twist

and it can be very discouraging.

>

> I'd be glad for any thoughts you have,

>

>