I know there are several people on here who have OCD themselves or children with it. What have you found to help when a certain thought won't quit bothering you? Ds (7) was diagnosed with Tourette's this past month, but has OCD more prominent than tics. The tics we live with when they come up, but they are usually gone in about a month. It is the obsessing over something that is killing me. Just the other night, ds saw a picture on tv that scared him. He fretted over it all night, and the next day, he would randomly worry about it again. I try to talk him through it, but he just can't let things go. Sadly, he and I agreed yesterday that this will be his first Halloween not going trick-or-treating with friends. We are not big into the holiday, but we do enjoy hanging out with friends (will still do that part) and then letting the kids go around seeing costumes and trick-or-treating. I told him that he can't go if something on tv scares him, there will be too many scary costumes. He actually agreed that he should not go, because it would cause him to many bad thoughts. I would love to hear what thought process or coping strategy others use to get over obsessive thoughts.
I can give some general advice, but not really specific advice because everyone who has OCD experiences can experience different obsessions and different things will help them overcome those things. I sometimes struggle with the type of person I "think" I am (in my OCD thoughts). I sometimes envision myself as the worst type of person alive (and I do mean that). Once I recognize that they are OCD thoughts and not real heartfelt thoughts that helps. Sometimes it helps for a long period of time and sometimes it only helps for a short period of time. My son also struggles and once he was thinking that he wanted to hurt his dog. I knew he would never want to hurt the dog. It was a crazy random thought without a connection to who he really was. I told him that in his heart he didn't want to hurt the dog, that it was just a thought, but not a heartfelt thought. If you think about it, he wouldn't have worried if he didn't care about his dog. If he feels more comfortable not going, I would let him skip the events that make him uncomfortable. Sometimes though, it is not a good idea to let someone avoid their OCD fears. Let's say that someone is very afraid that the door is not locked. If you let them check it multiple times, you actually FEED the OCD. In this case, it is best not to allow them to do the thing that makes the discomfort go away temporarily. It can be VERY hard to NOT do an obsession that comforts you. I also would not make a big hairy deal about all the unusual things that he may do or say. Pick out one thing at a time to work on. Let him know that you won't help him avoid this certain thing and then gently work on it. I should say that in all reality, you should work with a counselor on this. The above information is coming from an OCD survivor, but I am in no way a counselor. I just know that feeding OCD in a lot of cases only makes the OCD stronger. Giving in is usually just a very fleeting relief. Please realize that this disorder is very painful and can be debilitating at times. I have never missed work because of it (that I can remember). I have, however, had many days where it was hard to function minute by minute. It can be so bad for some people that they only have relief when they sleep on their bad days (been there, done that). You may already know this, but some people don't realize the pain of mental illness (oh, how I hate to say that).
I'd look into finding someone to help your son with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy if the OCD effects what he can do or is severe. Avoiding his triggers can actually be reinforcing his OCD. (though with the fear of something scary at his young age, I'd say that's a fine line.)
Have you heard of or tried inositol? It's a supplement that apparently has a marked impact on helping with OCD/anxiety issues. Here's a link to an OCD site [if you scroll down to 'nutritional therapy,' you'll see a blurb on it: http://www.lef.org/protocols/emotional_health/obsessive_compulsive_disorder_01.htm I only just heard of it because my daughter's been offically diagnosed as having generalized anxiety, and the doctor recommended Paxil [very low dosage]. I ran across inositol in researching for the anxiety issue. My doctor has said to give it a go and let him know if it works. It's one of a few supplements that I've seen that has stood up to clinical trials and can work on par with the SSRI's.
My husband has OCD. His has more to do with the door locking variety mentioned earlier. His obsessions and compulsions were bad enough when he got help that medication did more good than when he was trying to modify his behavior. Once the medication was working he found he just wasn't thinking about the doors being locked or not like he used to. With our kids--one has TS, but both have had obsessions in the past--we have gone straight to scripture when the fear has ahold of them. We talk about how we can know that the thought is not part of them since we know that fear is of the devil. Knowing who they are in Christ is key to conquering those kind of obsessions. We would then pray for the Lord to cast all fear and doubt away. It took a long time for my Dd to get over some of hers. We just had to remain understanding and matter-of-fact about it being irrational and a trick to try to trap her in her fear. Another idea I got from a friend was to have a prayer target, since praying about the fear you have can actually get you to obsess on the fear even longer. What she did was recommend having something specific to pray about completely unrelated to the obsession to be your go-to prayer so your mind would be totally away from your obsession and at the same time be productively praying for someone or something else. It is important to have a predetermined thing to pray about so that the obsession will be immediately met and defeated. It worked for her very well (her obsession was bad thoughts about her young children getting hurt in accidents). Hope some of these ideas help.
