How do you help a teen who refuses help and gets very angry when you mention her OCD. If we leave her alone and do not mention it, yet give into her accommodations, she is fine. Seems perfectly happy. However, when we bring up the subject and try to work on things she turns into a totally different person…shouting, angry, disrespectful, talks about running away. The accommodations she needs are destroying family life for our other children so we definitely need to work on things but to keep the peace we default to giving in and walking on eggshells. Medication is not in the picture as taking it triggers her OCD She believes it might make her OCD worse or send her to hell(part of her scrupulosity) or make her feel horrible so she refuses meds altogether. Thank you so much! This is absolutely so incredibly difficult. 😢

Bleeding1nk

171d ago

unfortunately theres no way to force her to get better. id see if you can alter the accommodations in any way. set your boundaries, try not to show anger or frustration, that might scare her, and wait for her to come to you. i wish i had better help, but theres not much to do. i dont know much about erp yet, so i cant say for certain, but id maybe look into that as well? you should be able to do some without a professional, as long as your careful. when she gets angry, try to comfort her a little, wait for her to calm down.

Lms526

171d ago

This is a tough situation. Its just like dealing with an addict. If they aren't ready to stop using, going to treatment won't help one bit. Its time for some tough love. Tell your daughter that you love her and want to help her. But let her know that you will no longer accommodate her OCD. Tell her that if she wants treatment, you will help her. The key is to make this HER problem. You need to stand your ground and not enable her. Some people need to hit absolute rock before they recognize they need help. It won't be fun to watch, but it is the best thing you can do for your daughter. Trust me, when she gets miserable enough, she will be ready for treatment. But you can't force her into treatment. Recovery from OCD is possible, but it takes time and requires doing hard and uncomfortable things. It requires hard work. But I would definitely suggest talking to an OCD therapist for help and support.