My son has ocd and Social anxiaty and He strouggles with both. Now he is in a position when he can’t go to University (architecture) because he has to have some kind of tactics where the anxiaty doesn’t overwhelm him and he feels good so he is able to hang out with his friends. Is this pushing the anxiaty of some kind or a compulsion because it exhausts him?
Hi, I would definitely look into an OCD specialist therapist as they are best equipped to help. I had therapists do CBT with me and it really didn’t help. I also went and saw a psychiatrist who helped prescribe me medication that has helped me so much. I would encourage you to have your son talk with a NOCD specialist. Online therapy was great and convenient for me and tbh a little less scary and awkward. You can also use this link https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/obsessive-compulsive-ocd To find an OCD therapist. Your son is so lucky to have a mom like you trying to help him!
I am not a therapist so I am offering my opinion based solely on my experience. If your son is avoiding situations to keep his anxiety in control - I would say that the avoidance is a compulsion and is ultimately making ocd stronger. Again, I urge your son to discuss this with his therapist because the therapist would be the best to judge the situation. And if he doesn’t have a therapist , one with erp training and ocd specialist is the way to go.
He is seeing now a third CBT therapyst but they are giving him all kinds of exape tactics to avoid anxiaty and the ocd is stronger and stronger. I know NOCD is the best for treating ocd but I’m litlle afraid of this online therapys . I see where they go wrong but I can not interfere in therapy. He says he simply can not tolerante anxiety and they give him as I sad escape tactics that only make the problem deeper.
@Suzana CBT therapy does not work - I have had ocd for 40 years with CBT and it makes ocd worse not better. Again, I am not a therapist but I know from my own experience that ERP is the only way. There are professionals outside of NOCD that are erp trained. I cannot encourage him enough to seek out erp therapy.
@Suzana CBT therapy does not work - I have had ocd for 40 years with CBT and it makes ocd worse not better. Again, I am not a therapist but I know from my own experience that ERP is the only way. There are professionals outside of NOCD that are erp trained. I cannot encourage him enough to seek out erp therapy.
Well tha therapyst Said do the exposure but they also gave him the method how not to be anxious while doing it. I’m not the therapyst either but I see That’s wrong. You have to tolerate anxiaty no matter how strong it is in that exposure or am I wrong?
@Suzana ERP teaches a person how to tolerate the anxiety that comes with OCD. ERP also starts with a hierarchy of fears - we don’t start with the scariest one first. We work on the easier ones first to get used to erp and then work our way up the list. Yes, learning to live alongside the anxiety is the ultimate goal.
That’s ok but when you have fear That’s conected with socializing and you have to socialize for 5-8 hours every day the exposure is just too big.
@Suzana That is what I am saying ti you. That is a high end exposure and any authentically trained erp specialist would not start there. I am not sure if your son is able to advocate for himself but if an exposure is too difficult - he needs to tell the therapist to tone it down. ERP is not meant to scare us - it is meant to help us. We have a say in our treatment - and we need to voice our concerns to the therapist.
@Suzana That is not to say that erp won’t feel scary at times but if done correctly it will help us.
Also I noticed you mentioned your son can’t tolerate any anxiety. A therapist doing ERP with your son would start off with small less anxiety inducing exposures and build up from there. They won’t overwhelm your son or give him something too much to handle right away.
@ The problem is that he has to go to University every day and he can not dose the exposure. I understand that not every CBT theraphyst knows how to do Erp wright but we have to try. Turning to NOCD is an option but somehow I have the feeling that , ocd , is to big deal to treat it online. He started with medicine antidepresant 10 days ago so we hope that will help too. Thank you all for your help.
@Suzana NOCD is definitely equipped to deal with ocd online. The service is basically just like a therapist appointment, face to face, just online over a camera. I was really bad off and an online NOCD therapist really helped me. They will help make a plan and come up with exposures your son can do.
My son has OCD and I’m starting to catch him lying about thing related to OCD. For example, he’s always gotten good grades and he’s bright but with OCD he misses a lot of school due to anxiety. When he misses school he needs to make up his work. I’ll remind him to go to x teacher and get with them about the assignment. After school I’ll ask him about it and he’ll say she wasn’t there or that he talked to her and they made a plan. He recently admitted that sometimes he’s lying about what really happened. He said the teacher will have said to come at 1:00 but OCD said he could only go at 2:33 or 2:34 (very specific) so since the teacher wasn’t available at that time he didn’t go. I’m trying to understand a way to help with this. Some sort of ERP he could do and help with understanding if I should be concerned there is more lying going on. Any tips?
My son has been diagnosed with OCD, but the therapist that we are seeing doesn’t specialize in OCD. They put him on medication that caused severe side effects. After we stopped the medication, they just seem to almost wash their hands of the situation. This is a center with therapists, psychiatrists, an inpatient unit, a detox, a built-in pharmacy, etc. Yet, they can’t help my child unles it’s through medication. I’m fine with meds if they improve quality of life, but they harmed my child when he tried their first line of defense med for OCD in children. The other meds are in the same class, and we just can’t risk what happened to happen again. Just a little while ago my son and his dad were playing a video game. I guess my son hit a wrong button by mistake. This sent him on a loop of having to reset the game a handful of times. He needed my husband to reset his end of the game too. My husband didn’t understand what was happening, and this led to more emotion and frustration from my son. At this point my husband is upset, so I come in to defuse the situation. I’ve learned that the calmer I am, the better. My husband is trying, but he gets overwhelmed with the behavior. This is our life on repeat. I am so afraid for my child. We need help. Does anyone have any advice in dealing with OCD in children. I just want my son comfortable and happy again. Thank you, Christine
OCD is crazy and ridiculous. Why make me anxious over meaningless thoughts. Or is it that I’m anxious and my mind is throwing me hundreds of thoughts to try and figure out why I’m anxious. I guess it doesn’t matter what comes first but sometimes it can be frustrating that I get heart drop sensation when and ocd thought comes to mind. None the less opening up ocd to my friends and family has provided me a good system. Although I still struggle like right now I’m at the bar eating some ramen seeing people be in the moment enjoying life while I’m discussing my OCD can be depressing. None the less I made have leaps and bounds and even with the misery of OCD I still see life as such a gift.
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