OCD Action

sar
Member

my son has OCD he is 10yrs old i fear i have lost him. he has 28 rituals that only started in september. school and doctors can only advise us but we are on a waiting list for help, we may have to wait 4 months.

Wed Nov 23 2011 7:02:15 #
Truddles
Member

Hi Sar,

You haven't lost him, however much it may seem like it. If this is OCD there are effective treatments in the meantime there are things that you can do to help, try not to reassure him instead give plenty of encouragement, don't join in with his rituals or adapt family life to accommodate them. Did you manage to get the book that I mentioned in the following thread http://www.ocdaction.org.uk/forums/topic/help-12 ? As it will show you how to help your son especially whilst he's waiting for treatment.
You could also copy some of the material from the Resource Centre to take into the school to help them to help your son.
Have you joined either Parents' Support Project or the forum for parents on OCD at School Project ?
Both of those would enable you to talk to other parents whose children have OCD.

Wed Nov 23 2011 8:41:23 #
sadie
Member

Hi Sar,
Sorry to hear you have such a long wait ahead. As Truddles mentioned, there are some very good books which you could read which might help in the meantime. We are using Talking Back to OCD by John S. March with Christine M. Benton with our therapist and you can also work through it on you own.

Does your son know that it is OCD that he has? We found that as soon as we had that diagnosis, it helped our son by recognising that it is an illness with a name.

We also got some other books recommended in a link by Truddles.

http://ocdyouth.iop.kcl.ac.uk/default.aspx

Your son may relate to "Touch and Go Joe" .

Finally, I found the Parents Support Group Seminar really helpful. There is an internet Q&A seminar planned for 20 Dec (I think thats the date). You can register for it by going through the Parents Support Group and emailing Ilana.

Hope things improve for you soon.

S x

Sat Nov 26 2011 11:50:46 #
BT
Member

I do appreciate that giving reassurance can be counterproductive, but I have to say that as someone who was severely ill with OCD as a child, withdrawing reassurance from a young person could cause great distress. I think professional guidance might be needed first.

Sat Nov 26 2011 13:33:58 #
slogsweep
Member

Sar, first of all, well done.

I was misdiagnosed with GAD as an 11 year old and denied CBT. If they have found the OCD at his age, he can be free of it in a comparatively short amount of time and enjoy his teenage years, rather than be put through ten years of pain, confusion and embarrassment before finding what the heck was wrong with me. By getting treatment now your son has such a good chance of leaving this disorder behind, however severe it is now before being exposed to the big wide world.

Persevere but be aware that recovery is considerably easier in children than adults. He will I am sure be fine, and if he does not make a full recovery, there are many people together with OCD as we are that understand and can support each other through the condition.

Really though, well done for having the guts to go through treatment with him now. Please let us know how you get on,

Very best wishes,

Slog

Sat Nov 26 2011 15:20:02 #