Compulsive behaviours vs. OCD

[Guest guest]

I was remembering more about what the psychiatrist told me about my

son. I was complaining to him about my son's compulsive behaviours

and without actually asking me any more than " Does he have problems

with contamination " which I couldn't honestly say he does, he said he

only has compulsive behaviours.

We are now seeing a new doctor and I haven't talked much to him about

this, focusing instead on the anxiety. I realize now the 2 are

linked. When I think about what he said, it is ridiculous. He says

he has no obsessive thoughts to cause the compulsive behaviours so he

doesn't have OCD. What does he think fearing sleeping because bugs

will eat him is? That went on for a year. He is still very young

and has a lot of difficulty talking about what bothers him. He just

learned this summer that he has more than 2 emotions (angry and

happy). What does he think causes the need to dress all in the

colour green or we can't go out the door? Why else would he spend

more time sorting and arranging his toys than actually playing with

them? He only started playing with toys this year.

We have been seeing a social worker and she is doing behaviour

modification therapy for him which I just realized is not the same as

CBT. I will have to talk to her about this. Giving rewards for

behaving differently isn't enough for him. I can see it frustrates

him. He wants the reward but he can't bring himself to do what I

have asked. We are working on self-esteem. He is supposed to tell

himself " I can do it " before starting his homework. He gets points

to trade in for rewards. He won't say it. I don't think he can. I

see her again tonight. We'll see.