RE: Ask Dr. Chansky (and anyone else with insight)

[Guest guest]

Jeff,

My 9 year-old son has the same kind of obsessions your daughter does-violent,

sexual thoughts. Yes, it is such a blow when it's first discovered and

confessed, but it's no different than any other kind of obsession-germs, etc.

It just manifests itself in a different way. With my son, he is so concerned

about being " good " , that he naturally goes to the worst fears he could possibly

have, which is that he is ultimately evil, sick, bad, gross. ERP, which is what

I discovered on this list to be the best treatment, has helped my son a great

deal. I think it gave my son a " yeah, whatever " attitude towards the obsessive

thoughts he was having and no longer becomes quite as anxious. I think there

are a lot of " quirks " with the OCD kids.....I'm like you-in hindsight, you start

seeing a lot more in your child that you never noticed before the diagnosis.

Good luck,

in Southern IL

Ask Dr. Chansky (and anyone else with insight)

My seven year old daughter was officially diagnosed with OCD about one

year ago. The onset was very extreme and bothersome. She was

expressing violent and sexual thoughts that came out of nowhere. After

eliminating other problems (such as abuse) and other psychiatric related

illnesses, a psychologist diagnosed her with OCD. He worked with my

daughter's primary care doctor to prescribe 25mg of Zoloft. We probably

saw the psychologist about 3 times and he did not suggest any further

treatment other than the medication. Since the first incident of

inappropriate thoughts, she has had only one other (each occurrence

lasts a couple of days). Although now I am recognizing a lot of her

other " quirks " as what they are, OCD symptoms, such as, her need for

cleanliness, her need for reassurance, etc.

Having said all this, I feel like she is functioning fine in school (she

is also taking Strattera for her ADHD), gets along with her friends,

does relatively well in her family life.so.my question is.Do I need to

do more? When do you know that medication is not enough? When is a

good age to start effective therapy? And could therapy potentially

eliminate the need for medication?

I am new to these postings and in reading them, it sounds like most of

the children are in therapy and on medication. Could my daughter just

have a less severe case of OCD that does not require therapy or am I not

being proactive enough?

Thanks for any insight you can share, based on the limited information.

LKS

[Guest guest]

, thank you for your thoughts...

What is ERP? How do I go about getting my daughter this kind of

assistance? Is your son also on medication?

And if you do not mind, another question...I shared my daughter's

violent and sexual thoughts with my good friends, because I was at a

loss and confided my worries with them. Well, it backfired, it kind of

freaked them out about letting my daughter play with their daughters. I

guessed they feared that she would share the inappropriate thoughts with

their children or act on them. I assured them that she was just as

uncomfortable with her thoughts as we are and that there was no chance

she would express her thoughts with her friends. I assured my friends

that children that suffer from OCD do not act out their thoughts. All

is better now with my friends; however, I am still bothered by their

concerns.

Now, after reading some postings, it seems that there is some violence

associated with OCD. Where is the violence coming from?

LKS

Re: Ask Dr. Chansky (and anyone else with

insight)

Jeff,

My 9 year-old son has the same kind of obsessions your daughter

does-violent, sexual thoughts. Yes, it is such a blow when it's first

discovered and confessed, but it's no different than any other kind of

obsession-germs, etc. It just manifests itself in a different way.

With my son, he is so concerned about being " good " , that he naturally

goes to the worst fears he could possibly have, which is that he is

ultimately evil, sick, bad, gross. ERP, which is what I discovered on

this list to be the best treatment, has helped my son a great deal. I

think it gave my son a " yeah, whatever " attitude towards the obsessive

thoughts he was having and no longer becomes quite as anxious. I think

there are a lot of " quirks " with the OCD kids.....I'm like you-in

hindsight, you start seeing a lot more in your child that you never

noticed before the diagnosis.

Good luck,

in Southern IL

Ask Dr. Chansky (and anyone else with

insight)

My seven year old daughter was officially diagnosed with OCD about one

year ago. The onset was very extreme and bothersome. She was

expressing violent and sexual thoughts that came out of nowhere.

After

eliminating other problems (such as abuse) and other psychiatric

related

illnesses, a psychologist diagnosed her with OCD. He worked with my

daughter's primary care doctor to prescribe 25mg of Zoloft. We

probably

saw the psychologist about 3 times and he did not suggest any further

treatment other than the medication. Since the first incident of

inappropriate thoughts, she has had only one other (each occurrence

lasts a couple of days). Although now I am recognizing a lot of her

other " quirks " as what they are, OCD symptoms, such as, her need for

cleanliness, her need for reassurance, etc.

Having said all this, I feel like she is functioning fine in school

(she

is also taking Strattera for her ADHD), gets along with her friends,

does relatively well in her family life.so.my question is.Do I need to

do more? When do you know that medication is not enough? When is a

good age to start effective therapy? And could therapy potentially

eliminate the need for medication?

I am new to these postings and in reading them, it sounds like most of

the children are in therapy and on medication. Could my daughter just

have a less severe case of OCD that does not require therapy or am I

not

being proactive enough?

Thanks for any insight you can share, based on the limited

information.

LKS

[Guest guest]

Hi,

ERP is " Exposure and Response Prevention. " A therapist experienced

in treating OCD will use ERP along with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

(CBT). The OCD Foundation site will have info on this type of

treatment: http://ocfoundation.org

Also Dr. Penzel's website has articles that might be informative for

you: http://www.homestead.com/westsuffolkpsych/Articles.html

Sorry about how your friends reacted at first but am glad things are

better. It was a normal reaction and if one doesn't know much about

OCD, then of course there's the worry that the person might act on

their thoughts. Luckily this isn't true with OCD.

It's been a long day, so I'm not quite sure which posts you were

referring to re the violence? OCDers can have VERY violent

thoughts/obsessions but, as we've both said, won't act on them.

Where do they come from? These type thoughts are very common with

OCD. We've had discussions here about how it would seem impossible

for some very young kids to even know " enough " to have some of the

sexual/violent thoughts they have, but it's like when OCD affects

thoughts, they are " just there. "

So far as any actual violence - a lot of people/kids have comorbid

diagnoses, other things going on besides OCD. Also OCD can bring on

quite a rage/temper when it's severe; at that time, the person isn't

acting out on any thought, but more " reacting " to OCD/stress/anxiety,

outside stressors.... And, as discussed here, some medications can

bring on a bit of a bad temper/personality change, etc., in which

case another med might want to be tried if this doesn't change.

Well, don't know if I answered anything you didn't already know! My

15 yr old son has been dealing with OCD since 6th grade. He's not

known for a temper at all, but I note he does seem to begin to get

one when OCD acts up/waxes. I just count myself lucky in this case

that it's not my other 2 sons who are dealing with OCD as those two

would definitely be much, much harder to put up with temper/OCD-

wise!

Keep us updated on how things are going with all of you!

single mom, 3 sons

, 15, with OCD, dysgraphia and HFA/Aspergers

> , thank you for your thoughts...

>

> What is ERP? How do I go about getting my daughter this kind of

> assistance? Is your son also on medication?

>

> And if you do not mind, another question...I shared my daughter's

> violent and sexual thoughts with my good friends, because I was at a

> loss and confided my worries with them. Well, it backfired, it

[Guest guest]

Jeff,

Sorry for my late reply. I have been away from my computer for a few days.

Yes, my son is on medicine-Zoloft. There are so many that available, but that

has worked for my son. Since you have posted this, you have probably discovered

lots of useful information in the recent posts and getting help. It is tough in

our area to find someone who deals with OCD, but we found a child psychiatrist

who has a wonderful reputation.

I'm also so sorry about your friends' reactions. That is like " kicking you when

you're down " . It is just pure ignorance, though. Maybe information about OCD

would help them to understand. I don't know much about the violence actually

being played out. My son is not in the last violent-nor has he had any of the

rages many describe on this list. If your daughter is normally a gentle person,

she will remain so. Good luck,

in Southern IL

Ask Dr. Chansky (and anyone else with

insight)

My seven year old daughter was officially diagnosed with OCD about one

year ago. The onset was very extreme and bothersome. She was

expressing violent and sexual thoughts that came out of nowhere.

After

eliminating other problems (such as abuse) and other psychiatric

related

illnesses, a psychologist diagnosed her with OCD. He worked with my

daughter's primary care doctor to prescribe 25mg of Zoloft. We

probably

saw the psychologist about 3 times and he did not suggest any further

treatment other than the medication. Since the first incident of

inappropriate thoughts, she has had only one other (each occurrence

lasts a couple of days). Although now I am recognizing a lot of her

other " quirks " as what they are, OCD symptoms, such as, her need for

cleanliness, her need for reassurance, etc.

Having said all this, I feel like she is functioning fine in school

(she

is also taking Strattera for her ADHD), gets along with her friends,

does relatively well in her family life.so.my question is.Do I need to

do more? When do you know that medication is not enough? When is a

good age to start effective therapy? And could therapy potentially

eliminate the need for medication?

I am new to these postings and in reading them, it sounds like most of

the children are in therapy and on medication. Could my daughter just

have a less severe case of OCD that does not require therapy or am I

not

being proactive enough?

Thanks for any insight you can share, based on the limited

information.

LKS