Guest guest Posted March 18, 2004 Report Share Posted March 18, 2004 Oh, we are very familiar with the " evening out " part of OCD! My daughter has always had this problem, to varying degrees. It is an easy one to work on - have your son deliberately tap one time on one side and not the other. Or if he has to tap six times on the left, have him only do five times on the right. It's the same basic idea as all ER/P - he needs to get used to the uncomfortable feeling of not having things be even. My daughter manages to beat this one back very easily, although it usually reappears in some slightly different form. in NV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 18, 2004 Report Share Posted March 18, 2004 Hi JA, I suggest " messing it up " as an ERP approach. He could do the tapping compulsion " wrong " on purpose, make it uneven or wrong cadence or whatever is *not* quite what OCD wants. My daughter sometimes then would " do it right " in her brain or even blink the rest of the pattern, so be aware that kids might have other, subtle ways of carrying out evening-up compulsions. Kel and I got pretty far down the road with nothing fancier than just " messing up " compulsions. This was especially handy for " on the spot " ERP when something popped up and I didn't have an exposure thought up yet :-) Take care, Kathy R. in Indiana ----- Original Message ----- > I need some ideas... we manged to get over the other obsessions and > now here is the new one, Tapping! He taps on one side and has to tap > the other side to be even, he doesn't know why, I asked him if there > was a feeling inside while he did this, he doesn't know. This is a > hard one to put on the behavior ladder. I have had such success > between the behavior group and the Prozac, but I am not sure how to > approach this one, I know it is a slippery sloap to other counting > stuff. Any ideas would be very helpful, JA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 Well, I think we got somewhere today, he admitted that if he does not do it, " THE BOO " said his parents will die, that is a victory in its self, don't you think? So, we responded with ways to make fun of the boo, and that he has to realize that " the Boo " lies, has bad ideas, etc. I feel like my son is beginning to get it, but not strong enough to fight it. He is beginning to look tired, like the rest of the kids in the ERP class, and it makes me wonder if maybe he is doing this another way, like your daughter. He is also beginning to have small problems in school, forgetting homework, etc. just seems distracted. Oh how I hate this...just watching this change your kid and not knowing what to expect next. His math skills are amazing, a little compulsive, he adds up everything, mins in the day, if I am away, how many mins I was gone, etc. At least the tapping replaced the suicide thoughts and the jumping out the car door - thats a big plus. Does this ever get easier, or do you just become numb? JA Kathy wrote:Hi JA, I suggest " messing it up " as an ERP approach. He could do the tapping compulsion " wrong " on purpose, make it uneven or wrong cadence or whatever is *not* quite what OCD wants. My daughter sometimes then would " do it right " in her brain or even blink the rest of the pattern, so be aware that kids might have other, subtle ways of carrying out evening-up compulsions. Kel and I got pretty far down the road with nothing fancier than just " messing up " compulsions. This was especially handy for " on the spot " ERP when something popped up and I didn't have an exposure thought up yet :-) Take care, Kathy R. in Indiana ----- Original Message ----- > I need some ideas... we manged to get over the other obsessions and > now here is the new one, Tapping! He taps on one side and has to tap > the other side to be even, he doesn't know why, I asked him if there > was a feeling inside while he did this, he doesn't know. This is a > hard one to put on the behavior ladder. I have had such success > between the behavior group and the Prozac, but I am not sure how to > approach this one, I know it is a slippery sloap to other counting > stuff. Any ideas would be very helpful, JA Our list archives, bookmarks, files, and chat feature may be accessed at: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group// . Our list advisors are Gail B. , Ed.D., Tamar Chansky, Ph.D., Aureen Pinto Wagner, Ph.D., and Dan Geller, M.D. Our list moderators are Birkhan, Castle, Fowler, Kathy Hammes, Joye, Kathy Mac, Gail Pesses, Kathy , Vivian Stembridge, and Jackie Stout. Subscription issues or suggestions may be addressed to Louis Harkins, list owner, at louisharkins@... , louisharkins@... , louisharkins@... .. --------------------------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 Thank you, what are the other ways? That's the best news yet, that it is easy to make go away. Here is a question: Do we get to keep the OCD behavior that we like, and dump the rest? Just kiddding. JA efowle@... wrote:Oh, we are very familiar with the " evening out " part of OCD! My daughter has always had this problem, to varying degrees. It is an easy one to work on - have your son deliberately tap one time on one side and not the other. Or if he has to tap six times on the left, have him only do five times on the right. It's the same basic idea as all ER/P - he needs to get used to the uncomfortable feeling of not having things be even. My daughter manages to beat this one back very easily, although it usually reappears in some slightly different form. in NV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 20, 2004 Report Share Posted March 20, 2004 ----- Original Message ----- > At least the tapping replaced the suicide thoughts and the jumping out the car door - thats a big > plus. Does this ever get easier, or do you just > become numb? JA *****(((Hugs))) JA, yes it gets easier, because our kids get better. Unfortunately even spectacular progress can seem glacial at the time because we and our kids are so eager to get back to " real life. " Something that helped me early on in my daughter's treatment was to keep short notes on progress, symptoms, things successfully bossed back, things she could do easily that she couldn't do before, etc. If I missed some days (or weeks) so be it, I wasn't wanting to put yet another burden on myself. But I was amazed to find as I looked over my entries, that she *had* made steady progress (with a few bumps) right along. The setbacks, problems, upsetting obsessions, limits, tears, anger and frustrating compulsions that interfered with daily life--THOSE I focused right in on and remembered clearly. But the good stuff, I overlooked. I don't know how typical this is but keeping short " progress notes " did help me shift my perspective more to the positive. I think it's like my arthritic knees. On days they are really bothering me, boy I notice the pain. But on days when I get out of bed and they *don't* hurt, I don't notice the absence of pain. I don't seem to give my knees another thought until they start hurting me again. Kathy R. in Indiana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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