To Melinda B - reply from Dr. Geller

[Guest guest]

sorry for delay melinda

backed up with e mails

lot of childhood rituals such as insistence on specific cups etc are normal

only one study looked at this and they found that kids with later ocd had more

" ordinary " childhood rituals

the extreme frustration and the length of time involved eg an hour, that you

describe are worrying signs of ocd

on the other hand its also common for ocd symptoms to present and then disappear

entirely in kids at this age

so I would not be too pessimistic

also washing rituals are not part of the usual childhood rituals and more likely

represent some oc symptoms

its very possible that these will wax and wane

in our study most of the kids with subthreshold or subclinical oc symptoms did

NOT go on to have full blown OCD later

best wishes

dg

>

> My 14 yo has OCD, I also have a 4 yo and am starting to really think she also

has OCD. How can you tell with a child of this age whether it's OCD or just a

picky/testy preschooler?

>

> A few brief examples:

>

> For about a year she's been picky about cups, must have a coozy, direction of

the coozy

>

> must have the same pillow case all the time

>

> Very picky about her clothing, matching etc, can take an hour to get dressed -

same with her hair some days, she gets angry if its not right

>

> Very touchy when drawing, if it's not exactly just so she gets very

frustrated, screams etc

>

> Today was a little more extreme. She touched the kitchen counter and insisted

her hands were dirty and she had to wash them, I assured her I had just cleaned

it, I even licked it, she still had to wash

>

> Then dinner time was very extreme, she had to have a specific spoon but kept

wanting to wash it and dry it over and over, it wasnt right, she got so out of

control she was hitting, screaming, etc - she was hungry but would not eat until

the spoon was right this took about an hour

>

> Thank you for your time.

>

> Sincerely,

> Melinda Barkstrom

>