Medication. Medication is truly critical in successful treatment of OCD. You need to go see an excellent child psychiatrist to help your child understand the benefits of medication and get your child on board. Medication changes everything and unfortunately, with OCD, medication is lifelong. But it works! And having OCD doesn't feel great but the medicine takes that ocd like discomfort away. No amount of therapy will be beneficial without medication too.

My son did about 9 months of OCD specific therapy through Bethesda Therapy and he is doing SO much better. His tics have almost disappeared as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of OCD kids get it from watching their parents. By you worrying about them getting into a college is a classic sign

Who cares if they go to college.

You need to take the DBT therapy as well, it changed our lives.

No. Kids with OCD do not catch it from watching their parents. It is, of course, highly heritable, but the OP did not cause OCD by worrying about college.

+100 OCD has consistently shown to be HIGHLY genetic, despite environment.

My young adult has it. She likely had it for many years before a therapist in her teens diagnosed her and said dd needed to see an OCD expert. She ended up doing an IOP junior year of high school for a few months. Then she was lucky to find a therapist who was a great fit and helped her develop tools. She saw several therapists before the IOP who weren’t a good fit so definitely don’t hesitate to move on if necessary.

My dd went to college and lives on her own with a job. She can manage her ocd but it is still difficult and something she will live with forever.

I agree 100% that children do not "learn" OCD from their parents.

That said, I do think it can be incredibly helpful for parents of kids with anxiety/OCD to "practice" CBT at home. E.g., deflecting when the kid with OCD is seeking reassurance, reminding them of their behavior management strategies, etc.

My DC was diagnosed with OCD as a young teen. We did a lot of ERP treatment with an OCD therapist and a full round of DBT as well. DC started out in community college and later transferred to a 4 year college, which was a good and manageable progression. My advice would be don’t look too far ahead. It’s a very up and down road.

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
Teen is 15
Refuses medication
Just started therapy this week with someone new as started with someone who knows DBT and exposure therapy.

Inference based cbt along with erp has helped my now 18yo ds. He was diagnosed with ocd 5 years ago. He hasn't been prescribed medicine for it. He has made huge progress in the past 2 years due to switching to a therapist who works exclusively with ocd and through maturing. He will start community college then transfer to a 4 year in state school. He sees his therapist once a month. Even though he is doing well, he has experienced set backs. Ocd will have to be managed for life and there are periods of "remission" as well as rough days and weeks. It has never again been as bad as it was when it emerged.

Anonymous wrote:A lot of OCD kids get it from watching their parents. By you worrying about them getting into a college is a classic sign

Who cares if they go to college.

You need to take the DBT therapy as well, it changed our lives.

No. Kids with OCD do not catch it from watching their parents. It is, of course, highly heritable, but the OP did not cause OCD by worrying about college.

Op, my DC diagnosed with OCD at age 8, so younger. They have been in therapy 3 years. Diagnosed with anxiety and ADHD at age 6. DC now a tween.

OCD does respond to treatment - for DC we also had to ge the meds right for both the ADHD and OCD/anxiety. Therapy alone did not work, even after 2 years with an amazing therapist who specializes in OCD — DC would just spiral in their OCD thoughts all day at school (holding it together but not learning) and then come home and just fall apart. DC recently changed ADHD meds and it had a huge impact on OCD thoughts - they are doing very very well right now - while thoughts and anxieties have not gone away, they are still able to have a “normal” life (they were not able to do many regular daily activities before therapy and meds).

Please try to see if you can get your DC to be open to meds, and find a therapist who specializes in OCD. Truly wishing you h th e best, and know it can get better than it is right now .

A lot of OCD kids get it from watching their parents. By you worrying about them getting into a college is a classic sign

Who cares if they go to college.

You need to take the DBT therapy as well, it changed our lives.

Why do they refuse medication? Have they discussed it with a good psychiatrist? Teens often have a lot of misconceptions about medication. They won't listen to you, but may engage with a professional.

OP here.
Teen is 15
Refuses medication
Just started therapy this week with someone new as started with someone who knows DBT and exposure therapy.

Does child have good therapist? Have you started exposure therapy? Highly recommend Dr Jessica handlesman at Kennedy Kreiger.

How old and what medications are they on? 8th grade to 10th grade was REALLY hard for my daughter. By 11th grade with a lot of help and medications, things started turning around.

Started to realize many of the "diagnoses given" was really very much untreated ADHD and once we focused on that more than the anxiety, everything fell into place. So many doctors and psychiatrists diagnose with anxiety, OCD, BPD, bi-polar. etc... when it is the ADHD in girls that show different and need help with.

Started doing DBT training 2x a week for a few hours after school. Lots of reading, journal, workbooks.

Switched to going to the gym before school in AM, Taking Adderall daily (not just school days) and Clonidine 2-3x a day to counter that agitated affects of the stimulant and give her a pause. Added Prozac to help with some fidgeting and OCD tendencies and I would say she is 90% better. The gym before school was huge and honestly I think just maturing as well. So much that she went off Buspar and we are considering going off Prozac soon.

My biggest piece of advice. Do NOT worry or bring college up. Work on the mental health and not the grades. They are only with you a few more years. The grades can come together later, you can do summer school, or you can look at community college for a few years as ADHD'ers tend to mature slower than their peers and that is OK. And if they are really struggling, I highly recommend PHP for a necessary 1-2 month regroup.

Work on positive reinforcements - also a huge plus. Good luck!

I feel like my teen has it all

ADHD
Anxiety
Separation anxiety
Now ocd
Fortunately we have an IEP for learning needs

This ocd diagnosis is crippling. I don’t feel like I will be able to get through high school or see how we can get to college with this.

Has anyone else been there, any advice? Should I just get ready for my child to not go away to college. I don’t see how a normal college experience will be possible.