ocd - a strength??

[Guest guest]

Wow 7 goals??! That must be an incredible boost for his confidence! I love that

idea about complimenting OCD as a strength. What a great way to get a balance in

dealing with what seems like a prison chain around the neck! So, mathematical

ability, precision, all that stuff could be thanks to OCD. I'm sure your son

hates it when you give OCD the credit right? Yet it is sort of a personality

trait in some ways, that has to be worked with like any weakness (can become a

strength as well!). Imagine if it didn't even have a negative name like OCD!

What kind of ERPs would you do for perfectionism? How do you persuade your son

to do them?

Re: is this ocd?

Our son is generally doing quite well and will not for the life of him admit

that he has OCD although we know he does and I suspect we see only the tip of

the iceberg, but he has been this way his whole entire life so knows nothing

different. When he is happy and successful and doing well, he thinks he does not

have it . the las t time he was like this he tested moderate on YB score but he

seems mild to me and him. Because of that, I am not very good at keeping and eye

on OCD. I usually find I am surprised by it when it causes a problem and am

caught playing catch up even to this day thinking " oh, I should have seen that

coming- all the signs were there " He ihas not really been engaging with any

exposures on a long term basis in 3 years and takes 25 mg of zoloft (

homeopathic doses) at almost age 16. It is sometimes hard to sort out what is

OCD and what is just being a teenage jerk, but I usually try to look for

responses out of proportion to event or things that just dont make sense in the

context of real life and figure they are OCD. Usually he denies it thaen comes

around to agreeing later. I try to be very proactive on the school front these

days since this year that is where his only PROBLEMS have been. He has finals

next week and I have been in touch with all his teachers, and the 504 lady and

him to be sure we have a plan if he gets " stuck " . His 504 is written to

encourage hi to ask for help from me or his teachers and if he is stuck due to

ODC AND LETS SOMEONE KNOW, he will not be penalized from a grade standpoint for

late work ( although I argued that he should not have late work IF he asks for

help appropriately.

But then there is the stuff about OCD that is good too. We were having a

conversation the other day about marijuana ( big issue at our school) and I

asked him if he had ever bought marijuana and he said " MOM, are you

crazy??????!!!! I haven't spent a $ in 4 years- why on earth would I BUY

marijuana???!!! You gotta love $ hoarding!

Also, I am pretty sure his lacrosse skills ( and all athletic skills) are made

better by his perfectionism ( when he can stop yelling at his teammates for

infractions of perfectionism). He just had his first playoff game as the only

freshman on the varsity lacrosse team and scored 7 of the 11 winning goals and

assisted 3! The kid is a school hero and I suspect OCD plays a role in that

sense of EXACTLY where the goal is located in space etc

He had to mow lawns the other day for a wedding (loves mowing- loves the

symetrical lines) but hates weed whacking. I told him he needed to do a really

good job at the weed whacking - " Turn your OCD on " Wouldnt that be great- if you

had a switch and could use it just enough to be helpful but not enough to cause

problems?

But seriously, I try to keep an eye out and treat pretty aggressively with

exposures when I see something, and plan on hitting exposures a bit harder over

the summer about perfectionism which is currently his main interfering problem.