Hi! New here.

[Guest guest]

Welcome !

My now 12 yo son was diagnosed with OCD at age 9. He also has a host of other

alphabet soup after his name. You have noticed a truism of OCD, namely that the

symptoms morph over time, i.e. once one symptom subsides another takes it's

place. My son began as a washer, and now is a worrier (among other things).

I'm afraid that is the nature of the beast, so to speak. However, with

effective CBT and ERP, our kids can learn skills to boss back the ocd.

Regarding reassurance seeking -- Kathy and are much better at explaining

how to respond -- or NOT to respond when kids fall into that pattern. For the

most part, you have to set limits as to how often your daughter may ask, and you

must stick to those limits. You respond with " No, that's not contaminated. "

period. Then when she asks again tell her that you answered her question and

she may not ask again for X number of minutes. It will make her very anxious,

and you very anxious. I have certainly fallen into the trap of enabling,

however, and it just perpetuates everyone's misery.

As to your older daughter -- there is more than a little speculation that eating

disorders and BDD (body dysmorphic disorder) are related to OCD. If you visit

the OC Foundation's website -- www.ocfoundation.org -- you will find all kinds

of helpful information. My response to every set of initials that has been

applied to my son is to read compulsively <VBG>. There are some excellent books

that are available through the OCF, amazon.com, or your local bookstore. Some

of my favorites are March and Mulle's book, OCD in Children and

Adolescents, and Tamar Chansky's new book, the name of which escapes me at

present.

You will find lots of support and friendship here, as well as excellent advice.

We've all been there done that (again and again).

:--) Jule in Cleveland

[Guest guest]

Hi:

Where do you live? If you indicate the general area after your signoff

perhaps someone on the list lives near enough to make a recommendation of a

good CBT therapist in your area. Otherwise you might want to write the OC

Foundation at info@... and request a local referral. Their

web site is http://www.ocfoundation.org. The foundation keeps a list of

professionals interested in providing CBT. I understand this list is not

prescreened. You may want to go to your nearest OCD support group meeting

and get recommendations from people living with OCD or their family

members. The OCF website lists OCD support groups by geographical area.

We have been less successful at finding good CBT therapists through

physician referrals. Many CBT therapists work in their own practice and

are too busy to network and share their areas of work interest. Here there

is little cross-pollination between psychiatrists and psychologists.

Perhaps it is the same in your area. Another helpful resource can be

contacting your local university and asking for a referral to their

clinical psychology program. There you can ask if anyone is familiar with

OCD treatment and CBT. I did find a helpful doc this way, but we would

have had to move to another island for several months of treatment and this

would have been quite challenging for our family.

Other sources of possible therapist referrals include the ADAA and the

AABT. Both organizations have websites and are non-profit organizations.

Their lists are also not pre-screened. For us, word-of-mouth from other

OCD parents has been the best way of finding qualified docs. If you are

willing to travel to a center which provides outpatient treatment, if you

share your location I can suggest something relatively (haha) nearby.

Many mental health professionals consider anorexia nervosa an OC spectrum

disorder. From reading posts on the OCD-L it seems that women in

particular suffer from this along with their OCD. Quite a number seem to

find a way to overcome this as they become adults. There is a special

eating disorders and OCD clinic in Rhode Island that you might want to try.

Being angry and resistant to treatment is a very normal symptom in

teenagers and pre-teens, I am sure you have read a lot about it already on

this list.

Hope this helps, good luck, take care, aloha, Kathy (H)

kathyh@...

At 02:58 AM 09/05/2000 +0000, you wrote:

>

>I have a 9 year old daughter who was diagnosed with OCD in April. We

>have seen the signs of it since she was in preschool but kept

>thinking it would go away. She has lots of checking behaviors and

>rituals. She developed a tic in 3rd grade and got to the point where

>she wanted help. Our family doc started her on Zoloft this summer.

>She is taking 50 mg daily.

>She is a very bright, happy girl and has had a really good attitude

>about dealing with her OCD. She sees a therapist who is not trained

>in CBT. Neither the therapist nor our insurance company has any

>information about CBT in our area. Could anyone suggest a website

>that might give us some leads?

>Her 13 year old sister does not have the same types of OCD behaviors,

>but she is showing signs of anorexia and is obsessed with her

>appearance. We have made an appointment at a local eating disorder

>clinic, but she is resistant and angry. We are wondering how closely

>anorexia is related to OCD and if we should look into CBT for her as

>well.

>I can't tell you how beneficial it has been for me to read the posts

>on this site. Hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend!

[Guest guest]

Hi ! where are you?

I believe that others have directed you to resorces for cbt therapists, so

I wont repeat it again!

You mention that your 13 yo is overly concerned with her appearance. How

far does this go? What makes you think she is anorexic or too concerned? you

dont seem to suggest that she's narcisistic, so I'm guessing that she doesnt

like what she sees in the mirror? How does she discribe herself? She may

have Body Dismorphic Disorder or Anorxie/Bulimia... have you read up on all

these diagnosis?

What I like to remind people is to take care of themselves! Having a

child with any kind of disorder/disability is exhausting! It is important

that we take the time for self care. Some of us make a point of going out

somewhere regularly, others have quiet time at home. Many of us see a

therapist, are on anti-depressants, etc. I hope that you have the chance to

go for a walk, read a novel, take a class, or sew... have some ME time!

take care, wendy in canada wb4@...

_________________________________________________________________________

Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at

http://profiles.msn.com.

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Kathy was nice enough to give me this website and I will gladly pass it on. It's great.

www.ocdhelp.org.

Hope it helps.

Terry

Hi! New here.

I have a 9 year old daughter who was diagnosed with OCD in April. We have seen the signs of it since she was in preschool but kept thinking it would go away. She has lots of checking behaviors and rituals. She developed a tic in 3rd grade and got to the point where she wanted help. Our family doc started her on Zoloft this summer. She is taking 50 mg daily.She is a very bright, happy girl and has had a really good attitude about dealing with her OCD. She sees a therapist who is not trained in CBT. Neither the therapist nor our insurance company has any information about CBT in our area. Could anyone suggest a website that might give us some leads?Her 13 year old sister does not have the same types of OCD behaviors, but she is showing signs of anorexia and is obsessed with her appearance. We have made an appointment at a local eating disorder clinic, but she is resistant and angry. We are wondering how closely anorexia is related to OCD and if we should look into CBT for her as well. I can't tell you how beneficial it has been for me to read the posts on this site. Hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend!You may subscribe to the OCD-L by emailing listserv@... . In the body of your message write: subscribe OCD-L your name. You may subscribe to the Parents of Adults with OCD List at parentsofadultswithOCD . You may access the files, links, and archives for our list at http://www.egoups.com/group/ . Subscription issues, problems, or suggestions may be addressed to Louis Harkins, list owner, at harkins@... .

[Guest guest]

Interesting how you say the symptoms of OCD seem to morph. I have found the same thing with my 9 year old son. As fast as we seem to get rid of one habit he starts another one and it's always very subtle at the beginning so it gets a hold of him before we all realize it.

We have managed to get the reassurances down to one time but he has found a way around it by then asking another question directly after that you inadvertently find yourself answering until you realize what has happened.

Morph or mutate are definitely the right words. It's so exhausting.

We haven't found a therapist but we're working on it.

Terry

Re: Hi! New here.

Welcome !My now 12 yo son was diagnosed with OCD at age 9. He also has a host of otheralphabet soup after his name. You have noticed a truism of OCD, namely that thesymptoms morph over time, i.e. once one symptom subsides another takes it'splace. My son began as a washer, and now is a worrier (among other things).I'm afraid that is the nature of the beast, so to speak. However, witheffective CBT and ERP, our kids can learn skills to boss back the ocd.Regarding reassurance seeking -- Kathy and are much better at explaininghow to respond -- or NOT to respond when kids fall into that pattern. For themost part, you have to set limits as to how often your daughter may ask, and youmust stick to those limits. You respond with "No, that's not contaminated."period. Then when she asks again tell her that you answered her question andshe may not ask again for X number of minutes. It will make her very anxious,and you very anxious. I have certainly fallen into the trap of enabling,however, and it just perpetuates everyone's misery.As to your older daughter -- there is more than a little speculation that eatingdisorders and BDD (body dysmorphic disorder) are related to OCD. If you visitthe OC Foundation's website -- www.ocfoundation.org -- you will find all kindsof helpful information. My response to every set of initials that has beenapplied to my son is to read compulsively <VBG>. There are some excellent booksthat are available through the OCF, amazon.com, or your local bookstore. Someof my favorites are March and Mulle's book, OCD in Children andAdolescents, and Tamar Chansky's new book, the name of which escapes me atpresent.You will find lots of support and friendship here, as well as excellent advice.We've all been there done that (again and again).:--) Jule in ClevelandYou may subscribe to the OCD-L by emailing listserv@... . In the body of your message write: subscribe OCD-L your name. You may subscribe to the Parents of Adults with OCD List at parentsofadultswithOCD . You may access the files, links, and archives for our list at http://www.egoups.com/group/ . Subscription issues, problems, or suggestions may be addressed to Louis Harkins, list owner, at harkins@... .

[Guest guest]

I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Amy and I'm mom to two boys. Avery is

16 and has down syndrome and Zachery is 4 (he'll be 5 in 4 days, lol he won't

let us forget!) As you can see I'm new to your group but not new to ds. My

husband and I have been married for 18 years. We never intended to have our

kids so far apart, it just seemed to work out that way.

We live in East Texas in a rural community. We moved from a large city about a

year and a half ago. Avery had always been in both reg ed and special ed.

Since the move he is in the county coop about 20 miles from our house. We tried

the local school but on the second day the special ed teacher called me and said

he was too low functioning for her school and I needed to come and get him. Yes

I asked if she had heard of IDEA. lol So I didn't come get him but did wind up

changing him to the coop. I've been fighting for a long time for his education.

I decided at this point in our lives it was better for him to be somewhere where

they saw his potential and wanted to teach him. I do have to say that they did

in 4 months what I'd been fighting for years for. That is to teach him to read.

He's still not a great reader but is making strides. He loves his school and

his classmates. Getting him to go to school has always been a battle until now.

After 12 years of fighting to get him to school he now jumps out of bed and runs

to the bus. So something is working. The hardest part is self contained in a

different school isn't want I believe in, but it seems to be best for him. The

other hard thing is the friends he's making are pretty far away so he's had a

hard time getting to know kids in our town. He is now the waterboy for our

local highschool so that is helping. He has also joined a youth group in our

town and is meeting kids that way.

His first football game was last week and I have to say I was pretty nervous. I

heard a kid behind me say, that's Avery I didn't know he was doing this.

Another one asked who's that kid and they say that's Avery. lol So I felt

pretty good. I never know what to expect.

I am looking forward to getting to know all of you.

[Guest guest]

Hi Amy and Welcome to the group.

I am , mom to 9, claimed by 1 and parenting 2 grandchildren.

Of my children I have , 47, with down syndrome and I have Maverick 18 with

down syndrome and I have Logan 7 with down syndrome.

We are located in Arizona.

We look forward to hearing more about you and sharing with you.

[Guest guest]

-Hi Amy,

I am mom to three sons 26,21 and 14. My son is 14 with Ds. We live in

AZ. Welcome.

Janet

[Guest guest]

Janet,

How is doing in soccer?