7 yr old diagnosed with OCD

Optione

Mon, Jul 18 2016, 7:53 pm

amother wrote:

The therapist was trying to get dd to touch the bed and then sit on it. She was willing to do that but ultimately completely unwilling to lay down. Same thing with our refrigerator. Dd would put her hand in it and even open it and look inside, but was unwilling to eat or drink anything from inside. No amount of pleading, begging, bribing would get her to budge 1 inch.

Oy! Where does she sleep if she won't go on her bed?
Can you try a different therapist? If this one isn't helping significantly, then it may be worth a shot to try someone new...

amother

Taupe

Mon, Jul 18 2016, 8:05 pm

amother wrote:

There really should not be any pleading, begging, and bribing in a well planned ERP. The child should be fully on board with the plan and willing to work the program, and the parents should not be coercing compliance or putting his or her anxieties on the child. The child should feel safe with the program. It sounds like there may be more going on at home that would be building the child's resistance and anxiety.

amother

Lilac

Mon, Jul 18 2016, 8:05 pm

Optione wrote:

Oy! Where does she sleep if she won't go on her bed?
Can you try a different therapist? If this one isn't helping significantly, then it may be worth a shot to try someone new...

She will sleep on the couch or on the floor. Again, the fact that people sit on the couch and put their dirty shoes on the floor making them much more "dirty" then her bed makes no difference. This hasn't happened in awhile because I always keep extra new bedding in the house as this comes up every few weeks. I'm just discouraged with therapy because we've tried a few highly recommended ones but at the end of the day her mind is made up and certain things are contaminated and there's no convincing her otherwise. She also does this with her clothes and shoes
She encourages me to get her cheap stuff because it can become contaminated for any reason at any moment. I also feel very alone because I've never met anyone including researching online, with a similar problem.

FranticFrummie

Mon, Jul 18 2016, 8:46 pm

This is a very good book, and it gives an interesting insight into what people with OCD are thinking. https://www.amazon.com/Heres-D.....86654 (Read the reviews first, people have very mixed opinions on this.)

Usually, rituals are used to help "prevent something horrible from happening", even if they know that touching the doorknob three times will not really keep an airplane from falling onto the house. It's very disordered brain patterns, and no amount of logic will work. You have to literally reprogram those pathways through guided exercises.

amother

Brown

Mon, Jul 18 2016, 9:19 pm

You sound like an excellent mom. I would say please don't give up! My son wouldn't touch his food if it touched anything or his dirty hands. With the therapist he was eating candy that was on the floor (I couldn't handle it) but he did it... It was a whole process but the therapist tackled each compulsion . Please try another psychologist who might be a better match for your daughter.

gilamom

Mon, Jul 18 2016, 11:06 pm

I don't know if this will help since everyone's anxieties are so different but in any case, my DD was diagnosed at five years old. She would cry constantly about things that were out of her (and our) control, one example is she used to wake us up multiple times per night to ask us to 'fix her covers' meaning she wanted to lay flat on her bed and have the covers straightened out over her body so there were no creases. Her teacher mentioned Mondays were the hardest for her because she had a hard time getting back into the swing of things after the weekend.

Maybe I should have continued to look for more therapists but I didn't-the ones we saw didn't help and if anything made her anxiety worse so we stopped. She's ten now and baruch hashem has learned to 'manage' her anxiety for the most part. What helped the most is constant talking and not dismissing her anxieties or fears as silly or meaningless. The talking about what's bothering her doesn't help instantly but I've found that my calmly stated comments and questions will work their way into her head when things have quieted down because she'll come to me the next day and repeat what I've said or ask me a question about something I mentioned. It's not always easy but I will say it's gotten easier, I wish you the best of luck.