Not going to school: Is this the OCD or bad adolescence?

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone:

My dd 15 (grade 9) was dx'd with OCD at about age 5. Since hitting her teens,

she hasn't done much in the way of compulsions, it's mostly obsessions. One

compulsion though is around reading, so she no longer reads for pleasure because

of her need to re-read everything, a lot of her OCD centres around perfection.

She's had an IEP for a few years, and they only grade her on what she hands in,

and she has a bunch of concessions.

Last year, she got the highest mark for fine arts amonst all kids grade 8 (about

500), the rest, she scraped by. She's a gifted visual artist, and writer/poet.

Interesting, related to the social phobia post, she has a LOT of friends. The

problem is, she will find the time, and push past her OCD to go out with

friends, have sleepovers, they come over here, she stays out late, she's

experimenting with mind-altering substances.

But when it comes to school, she cries " I really try Mom, I just can't bring

myself to go. " Or she'll get up, and take 4 hours to get ready, and by then,

it's too late for the morning classes, then she mopes around and misses her

first afternoon class, then she says " what's the point " . Going out with friends,

she can get herself ready in an hour if she needs to, though she's often late

with them.

So, basically she's failing most major subjects. She's just missed too much

school and has handed in virtually nothing since Christmas. I'd like to

attribute this to the OCD, but then she's able to go out with friends, and do

" regular " teenage things. Her friends berate her and say " stop skipping school "

because they aren't doing it.

So I'd like to think it's OCD, but it somehow doesn't fit. Her p-doc is working

with us and the school consellor to help her through, and we'll say " we've

talked to them, now you just need to talk to the English teacher, or the Math

teacher, and they'll tell you what to do to catch up. " But she'll be too scared

" they hate me " (there's that OCD inability to read people with her too) and

never see them.

We started her on meds a few weeks ago, which she hasn't had since being on it

for about 6 months in grade 6. She's currently on 10mg Cipralex (Escitalopram)

for depression, and 25mg Trazodone (Desyrel) as needed for sleep. She tried 50mg

Hydroxyzine (an antihistamine) for sleep, but it made her too groggy duringthe

day.

A big part of the problem is her sleep, she has very bad habits. When she has a

bad day, she won't get out of bed until 3 or 4pm, then she can't go down that

night, stays up late, the cycle continues. I want to be sympathetic with her,

but more often than not, I'm upset with her that she can't pull it together to

go to school. Just to be clear, she skips school to sleep in or hang around the

house, then is out with friends at night.

She has raged at me that I HAVE to help her with her homework, and with two

other kids, I have set a rule of no help after 8pm, so now she never asks, and

is falling through the cracks.

Oh, one more thing, she is in a team sport where she pulls it together to make

ALL the practices (twice/week), and ALL the competitions (5 per year), because

of the pressure she feels, and she WON'T let the team down.

So (sorry for the long ramble), does this sound like OCD to you, the skipping

school, in your experience, or is this more like teenage angst and depression,

or just a kid who isn't trying hard enough?

Theresa (in Vancouver, Canada)