Kathie

[Guest guest]

Hey,

We'll be watching for her!!! Did you know that there is a tv star who wrote a

book about his OCD? He was the one on the nickelodeon show that slimed

people--that in itself was pretty amazing. Can't remember the name, but someone

here can...

Obsessions with a capital " O "

Well, we made it through both Hannukah and Christmas (yes, we celebrate

both in our mixed family) without incident. Billie chose not to attend all

of the various parties and activities that we usually do but did

participate in some. I think this was actually good judgement on her part.

We are always way over scheduled at this time of year. I think she's

beginning to get a sense of how much she can do and how much is just too

much. In addition to everything else, we have neighbors in for dinner on

Christmas Eve and my brother-in-laws family here for dinner Christmas night

every year. By the time the last guest left Christmas night she was wiped

out and had a bit of a melt down but all in all things went well.

Especially in light of the fact that her asthma has been really bad for the

last week complete with lots of extra meds and nebulizer treatments 4 times

a day

Because of her asthma flare up she was unable to go on a ski trip with the

rest of our family and her cousins. (I was never planning to go...no

vacation time) She hasn't seemed to mind. Being away from home over night

often makes her anxious. However, since the rest of the family left

yesterday she has Obsessed about her " acting career " . She is in a kid's

theater group and loves it. She will be going to a performing arts day

camp this summer. She aspires to be " an actress on TV " . For the past

several days every time we turn on the TV there is a commercial about a

talent agency that's doing a casting call in our area over the next couple

of weeks. She has non-stop talked about/agonized over her " acting career " ,

when will it start..when will she appear on TV...what will her friends say

when they see her on TV...what role she would like to play on each of her

favorite shows...writing scripts in her head. Today we went to the

library. You will probably not be surprised to hear that she took out 2

thick books of children's plays and has spent a good chunk of the afternoon

reading them. (Hey, at least when she's reading about it she's not TALKING

about it!)

Mind you, I definately prefer this to the obsessions of a few months ago

where she obsessed constantly about the " bad guys " and all the possible

ways they might murder her. But I gotta tell ya, this acting obsession is

beginning to get on my nerves. Since she and I are the only ones in the

house, I just needed to tell this to someone and I elected all of you who I

know will appreciate this situation. I know that it's probably a response

to all the holiday stuff, being sick, and part of the family being away.

In general she is doing much better than she was 3-4 months ago. I'm so

thankful for CBT and Zoloft. Most of the time she's almost her regular self

these days. Hopefully she's just having an OCD Moment (a very LOOOOng

moment) and it will soon pass.

Thanks for listening!

Kathy

Mom of Billie, 10 OCD, Coming soon to a TV screen near you!

--

Kathy Mac, LICSW

email: macdonald@...