RE: Re: Unsure parent

[Guest guest]

I would recommend the workbook " What to do When Your Brain gets Stuck " .  It is

written for kids and has some great ideas in it.  It sounds like that is what

is happening to her - her brain gets stuck on one thing and she cannot

physically move past it until her brain is happy and has done/said whatever it

thinks she needs to.

We dealt with the death and Heaven stuff awhile ago.  I was raised in a very

Catholic family, went to Church every week, went to Catholic schools, both my

husband and I.  But we currently do not attend Church on a regular basis. 

What I explained to both my dds (10 yo has OCD/GAD, 8 yo probably does but is

not dx) several years ago was that Heaven is what you want it to be.  They were

both so afraid of being lost, alone, without me and Dad, etc.  If you have ever

seen the movie " What Dreams May Come " , I explained it a lot like that.  We each

make our own Heaven and anyone/anything can be in it, even if they are not dead,

even if they are not human.  That helped calm them down a lot.  I KNOW our 10

yo could not handle the Catholic Church right now - we had thought about putting

her in Catholic school before she started Kindergarten, but figured that would

make her OCD/GAD worse.

Sharon

________________________________

To:

Sent: Monday, December 19, 2011 1:05 PM

Subject: Re: Unsure parent

 

Chris-

Thanks. She seems to be a worrier (as am I) and if she doesn't have anything

pressing to worry about, she will worry about other tthings...for example, this

summer she was not in school and we eliminated most pressures but she just one

night (in the middle of watching America's Got Talent) started worrying about

death. She was actually afraid of dying and spending FOREVER in Heaven. It was

the forever part that literally caused physical symptoms. We are church-goers

and she had physical reactions at church. We started working on techniques to

take her mind off the worries.

School soon started and about that same time we started ADD meds. She thinks it

helps her " stress less " . It seemed to be working...grades came up, reading

improved. Her only problem then seemed to be having a hard time if the class

was talking about something and she had something to add to the conversation, if

she couldn't add it she had trouble moving on to the next subject (would get

stuck on things).

Recently she has started the meltdowns again...first time was b/c she couldn't

get her bookbag packed quick enough or could not spell a spelling word or

couldn't get her work completed...during these " meltdowns " she seems paralyzed

(not physically, but mentally)... saying " I can't get it done " over and over or

" I'm scared " over and over??????

> >

> > hi. I found this group this weekend after our first appointment with a

therapist. My 7 year old has had struggles on and off for years. She becomes

very anxious over things that others may take in stride. At times she has

meltdowns (crying, screaming, repeating the same phrases over and over). We

have previously just prayed that she would outgrow it and we did start meds for

ADD (thinking part of her anxiousness was caused by zoning out at school and

then not knowing

>

[Guest guest]

Hi , My six, soon to be seven, year old suffers from OCD and his issues

all mainly deal with obsessions. The only compulsion I have ever notice with

him is excessive hand washing. What has really worked for my son is calling OCD

the " worry bug. " Whenever I first started talking to him about the " worry bug "

was a couple years ago. At first whever he mentioned the " worry bug " we would

tell the worry bug to go away! We would make a game like saying that we were

throwing the worry but out the window...or we flushed him down the toilet. Of

course the worry bug is persistant, so every time he came back we did the same

thing, not allowing my son to even consider the OCD thought for a second. We

would have him " boss back " the worry bug and he would tell the worry bug that he

was not going to listen to his nonsense. When we first did this I had to help

him a lot, now when the worry bug is bothering him he tells him to go away on

his own. It is very important not to entertain the OCD thoughts. My son would

try to explain to me the thoughts, and I never allowed him to think the OCD

thoughts were his own. It is important to let you child know that those

obsessions or intrusive thoughts are not their own, but the worry bug is

wispering in their ear and to not listen to him!I woud try to get your hands on

as may books as you can to teach you how to help your child break the cycle of

the OCD thoughts. My son has been doing exceptionally well...although he seems

to have a flare up in the springtime, for whatever reason! Take care,

Books I like: Freeing your child from obsessive-compulsive disorder: Tamar

Chansky The everything parent's guide to children with OCD: ,

and Costello

To:

From: bhamelburg@...

Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:39:26 +0000

Subject: Re: Unsure parent

My son is more obsessive than compulsive. A therapist once told me that

OCD is really anxiety to the tenth degree and I would agree. CBT works well for

GAD and OCD

Bonnie

>

> hi. I found this group this weekend after our first appointment with a

therapist. My 7 year old has had struggles on and off for years. She becomes

very anxious over things that others may take in stride. At times she has

meltdowns (crying, screaming, repeating the same phrases over and over). We

have previously just prayed that she would outgrow it and we did start meds for

ADD (thinking part of her anxiousness was caused by zoning out at school and

then not knowing what to do). Friday was the first time I thought this may be

OCD. Our therpist mentioned OCD (which he really thinks it is) or Generalized

anxiety. My question is about the compulsiveness...Do any of you have children

where it seems to be more about the obsessiveness and less about the

compulsivemeness? Just trying to figure this out so that I can help my sweet

girl.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I don't have any advice, but wanted to send you an e-mail and thank you.  Our

son is 14 and was diagnosed about 2 1/2 years ago with OCD.  Your son's

symptoms sound exactly like our's.  He too is less compulsive and revolves

around intrusive bad thoughts.  His compulsions are also asking me

continuely  for reassurance and to  " confess " everything that he thinks is

" wrong " .  Wow - I'd never heard anyone say exactly the same thing as we've been

living.  He lives with anxiety most days.  I basically have the same thing --

so it makes me sad to see him suffer as I have most of my life.  However, we

are now on 40 mg of prozac - which I believe is helping. 

 

Good luck and hang in there.  Thanks for helping me see that we are not alone.

 

 

To: " " < >

Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 12:17 PM

Subject: Re: Re: Unsure parent

 

My son's symptoms are less compulsive and revolve more around intrusive bad

thoughts. His compulsions take form in asking for continued reassurance and

confessing every thought he feels is unacceptable to me. He also shuts down with

severe test anxiety at school so getting him on a 504 so that he can have

untimed or extended time tests has helped a lot. I can relate to the meltdowns

and crying spells...this all has created a depression in him which is very

painful. & nbsp;So ocd can rear it's ugly head in different ways. & nbsp;

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

[Guest guest]

My son is 8 and has the same type of OCD. It's tough! Over the weekend we went

to the movies and it was rated PG. they said one curse word and now he can't get

it out of his head. Poor kid!! He is taking 6g of inositol but will be seeing a

Psyciatrist in a week to talk about meds.

Sent from my iPhone

> I don't have any advice, but wanted to send you an e-mail and thank you. Our

son is 14 and was diagnosed about 2 1/2 years ago with OCD. Your son's symptoms

sound exactly like our's. He too is less compulsive and revolves around

intrusive bad thoughts. His compulsions are also asking me continuely for

reassurance and to " confess " everything that he thinks is " wrong " . Wow - I'd

never heard anyone say exactly the same thing as we've been living. He lives

with anxiety most days. I basically have the same thing -- so it makes me sad

to see him suffer as I have most of my life. However, we are now on 40 mg of

prozac - which I believe is helping.

>

> Good luck and hang in there. Thanks for helping me see that we are not alone.

>

>

>

>

> To: " " < >

> Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 12:17 PM

> Subject: Re: Re: Unsure parent

>

>

> My son's symptoms are less compulsive and revolve more around intrusive bad

thoughts. His compulsions take form in asking for continued reassurance and

confessing every thought he feels is unacceptable to me. He also shuts down with

severe test anxiety at school so getting him on a 504 so that he can have

untimed or extended time tests has helped a lot. I can relate to the meltdowns

and crying spells...this all has created a depression in him which is very

painful. & nbsp;So ocd can rear it's ugly head in different ways. & nbsp;

>

> -- Sent from my Palm Pre

>

>