OCD Therapy & Worries

[Guest guest]

We started therapy on Friday with a new person at Duke, for our 7 year old

daughter. I felt that Meg and our family was more understood - in 10 minutes

than in the last year. That alone was a relief. So now, we are doing a

heirarchy of fears, as her homework for the week. I am amazed at how willing

she is to do this work - and how calm about it. She has been refusing to do a

temperature chart for months - and now overnight, is telling me what each thing

on the list would be. The difference, I think, is that I came to understand how

many mental rituals she has - one of which is that she cannot be specific about

something, for fear that she is lying. So we are doing ranges (ex: if I did not

confess to mom - that would be a 3-5). Interestingly, one of her top fears is

that the new therapist, Ms. Pat, would not help her if she lies about one of the

fears. On the positive side, this seemed to really indicate how much she wanted

to get help. She was very happy to feel understood there. On the negative

side, I was amazed that she came up with about 25 fears to list, in the first 2

days. Ouch. Stuff I had no idea about, like if she is at school & a " sick kid "

goes by, she'll wash to up above her elbows. I feel oddly hopeful and

overwhelmed by the road ahead.