Guest guest Posted October 27, 2005 Report Share Posted October 27, 2005 We don't have experience with a MUSIC fixation, but fixation on other things ... skateboarding, paintballing... I know exactly what you are explaining though and I think this is a typical OCD " thing. " The fixations/obsessions do change over time - if that's any consolation - tomorrow or next month it just might be superheros or cars. Ya never really know what's up ahead until you get there. In a message dated 10/27/2005 4:56:16 PM Eastern Daylight Time, blancaprov356@... writes: DOes anybody know or have heard of a child with OCD based on his fixation for music? We feel like we don't really undertand all of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 27, 2005 Report Share Posted October 27, 2005 Blanca, Though the fixations can and do change I would guess that since he is talented at music that it will stick around in some big way. For example, my son (ocd and now 14) was and is a talented artist - drawing to soothe himself at 3 years old - teaching himself to oil paint at 9 years old, etc. He reminisces about when he was your son's age - he says, " remember when I thought my stuffed animals would attack me at night if I didn't give them equal time and arrange them in a certain way to make them happy? " and I say, " No, I remember you arranging your animals but I never, never knew about why you were doing it. " He spent much of his early childhood creating things, either with a pencil or with tape/sock/spoons or whatever he could find. And, no, his friends did not share his obsession/passion. At four years old they're just bound to act four and respond to the demands of ocd in a four year old way. It may help to add that now, a freshman in highschool, he has picked out the college he wants to go to so he can study animation and work for pixar - he's also happy and healthy and (though he always had to work hard at it) has a lot of friends, some close, some just 'old friends' from early school. I remember how it pained me to see his social skills in action - it improved over time. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 27, 2005 Report Share Posted October 27, 2005 re: " He reminisces about when he was your son's age - he says, " remember when I thought my stuffed animals would attack me at night if I didn't give them equal time and arrange them in a certain way to make them happy? " and I say, " No, I remember you arranging your animals but I never, never knew about why you were doing it. " , As best you can recall, did your son seem at all upset about his animals, or did he seem to enjoy arranging them? My son (now 7)owns a ton of Beanie Babies, and he went through a stage where he would tuck several of them in " bed " at night. Each would be covered with a tissue or an article of clothing, and sometimes each would be placed in some kind of container as a " bed " . He seemed to enjoy doing this, and seemed proud of the creative ideas he had come up with for their " beds " . I never thought of this as an OCD thing because he seemed happy about it, but your post sure sounded familiar. Would you mind elaborating? Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 28, 2005 Report Share Posted October 28, 2005 For what it is worth, I have heard that Mozart was believed to have had Tourette's - which fits into this family of disorders. By the way, my son is musically talented too - he is 12. He also has been through many phases of obsessions (not OCD-type) since he was a toddler. There was heating and cooling systems (couldn't go anywhere unless he could go to the outside of the building to see their unit). He would scream and throw a fit unless we took him to see it. There was also calendars, clocks and anything else with numbers. He could tell time to the second (both current and futuristically) before his 4th birthday by asking me a bazillion questions about the clock and the numbers and markings, as I begged him to wait (nonstop questions). He then moved into a fascination with lawn mowers - could make the exact sound (rhythm, etc.) with his mouth of every lawnmower in the immediate neighborhood, then there was the presidents and all their stats, then globes/maps, etc., then football - knows a tremendous amount of stats on many teams for many years before his time, then he went into skateboarding, and now it is music (guitar, drums, piano, whatever - has always had a natural ear for music). These obsessions were ones that he enjoyed though (only frustrated when he couldn't absorb every bit of knowledge he wanted about them), but I guess this often goes along with someone with OCD. However, these obsessions were never ego-dystonic for my son (but he would have some quirky aversions to some things - such as like you mentioned about your son's worries about Beethoven - my son would become very upset if he heard music he interpreted as sad, etc.). At the time, I just attributed it to his high intelligence (was tested intellectually gifted in 1st grade). The ego-dystonic obsessions didn't really begin until later (4th grade) - although he was always somewhat self conscious socially. You may see these characteristics in your son as he grows too. On medication and with treatment, he is doing much better socially and has lost a lot of his self-conscious nature, and his obessions such as music are more balanced with other things. > > Thank you to all that wrote back. It gave both my husband and I a > sense of " We are not alone " security. To respond to the messages on > Ethan, well, we have tried to distract him, it is very hard and he > grabitates back to music after a few minutes of another activity. It > did not use to be this way. He does seem less able to now to focus > on other things. As I write this e-mail, he is supposedly having a > quiet time with books, but I hear the maracas and guitar in his > room. (so much for a quiet time). Anyway, the two dr's. we have > seen have agreed that he does not have aspergers or any type of > autism. They both diagnosed him with ocd/add. > We did not take the medicine because it was hard to justify > medicating him when he seemed to be functioning fairly ok. Now, both > my husband and I have now seen how much his life is getting affected > by his OCD. > Ethan does have some irrational fears for example. He does not want > to hear Beethoven's song he composed when he found out he was going > deaf because it scares him so much. He will cover his ears and > scream to make it stop, so I have to skip to another song. Ethan can > also tell you the names of any instrument you show him. He mostly > picks out musical books at the library. He can hear a song and tell > you what notes it is playing. Now that Disney put out the new > show " Little Einsteins " that is all he will watch. > Even if we took away all of his instruments, he would make new ones > somehow. Pots,pans, drumming on lamps, furniture, etc. We cannot > wait for his appointment. We now know he really does need help. His > friends now have to tell him that they really don't want to make a > band or play with his instruments anymore, and he gets this very > confusing look on his face. > We will have to face family because most of them are in denial and > just say Ethan is just good with music and nothing else. Thank you > again for all your input. It was so so helpful to find out there are > other kids out there struggling with the same thing. Blanca > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 28, 2005 Report Share Posted October 28, 2005 For what it is worth, I have heard that Mozart was believed to have had Tourette's - which fits into this family of disorders. By the way, my son is musically talented too - he is 12. He also has been through many phases of obsessions (not OCD-type) since he was a toddler. There was heating and cooling systems (couldn't go anywhere unless he could go to the outside of the building to see their unit). He would scream and throw a fit unless we took him to see it. There was also calendars, clocks and anything else with numbers. He could tell time to the second (both current and futuristically) before his 4th birthday by asking me a bazillion questions about the clock and the numbers and markings, as I begged him to wait (nonstop questions). He then moved into a fascination with lawn mowers - could make the exact sound (rhythm, etc.) with his mouth of every lawnmower in the immediate neighborhood, then there was the presidents and all their stats, then globes/maps, etc., then football - knows a tremendous amount of stats on many teams for many years before his time, then he went into skateboarding, and now it is music (guitar, drums, piano, whatever - has always had a natural ear for music). These obsessions were ones that he enjoyed though (only frustrated when he couldn't absorb every bit of knowledge he wanted about them), but I guess this often goes along with someone with OCD. However, these obsessions were never ego-dystonic for my son (but he would have some quirky aversions to some things - such as like you mentioned about your son's worries about Beethoven - my son would become very upset if he heard music he interpreted as sad, etc.). At the time, I just attributed it to his high intelligence (was tested intellectually gifted in 1st grade). The ego-dystonic obsessions didn't really begin until later (4th grade) - although he was always somewhat self conscious socially. You may see these characteristics in your son as he grows too. On medication and with treatment, he is doing much better socially and has lost a lot of his self-conscious nature, and his obessions such as music are more balanced with other things. > > Thank you to all that wrote back. It gave both my husband and I a > sense of " We are not alone " security. To respond to the messages on > Ethan, well, we have tried to distract him, it is very hard and he > grabitates back to music after a few minutes of another activity. It > did not use to be this way. He does seem less able to now to focus > on other things. As I write this e-mail, he is supposedly having a > quiet time with books, but I hear the maracas and guitar in his > room. (so much for a quiet time). Anyway, the two dr's. we have > seen have agreed that he does not have aspergers or any type of > autism. They both diagnosed him with ocd/add. > We did not take the medicine because it was hard to justify > medicating him when he seemed to be functioning fairly ok. Now, both > my husband and I have now seen how much his life is getting affected > by his OCD. > Ethan does have some irrational fears for example. He does not want > to hear Beethoven's song he composed when he found out he was going > deaf because it scares him so much. He will cover his ears and > scream to make it stop, so I have to skip to another song. Ethan can > also tell you the names of any instrument you show him. He mostly > picks out musical books at the library. He can hear a song and tell > you what notes it is playing. Now that Disney put out the new > show " Little Einsteins " that is all he will watch. > Even if we took away all of his instruments, he would make new ones > somehow. Pots,pans, drumming on lamps, furniture, etc. We cannot > wait for his appointment. We now know he really does need help. His > friends now have to tell him that they really don't want to make a > band or play with his instruments anymore, and he gets this very > confusing look on his face. > We will have to face family because most of them are in denial and > just say Ethan is just good with music and nothing else. Thank you > again for all your input. It was so so helpful to find out there are > other kids out there struggling with the same thing. Blanca > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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