What would you tell your younger self?

id suggest him to write down what he wants to speak about/what’s bothering him . a first appointment usually is just general stuff like why he wants to be in therapy, what he wants to work on, his goals & sometimes theyll have you rate stuff like “from 1-10 how stressed are you” etc . also, something comforting to tell him is that these therapists hear WORSE than he thinks. he might be scared of judgement, but assure him that therapists deal with the “worst” cases

I would tell him that: The first ERP session is a get to know you session. The ERP therapist has heard many things and they won’t judge him. He can be very general about his challenges at the first meeting. It’s okay to get to know the therapist better before getting into the nitty gritty. The therapy is there to help him. It will be okay - he’s not the only child his age with these problems. Your job as a mom is going to be hard once things get going as you will need to not give your son reassurances about his thoughts when he has “what if….” “What about…” type questions. Make sure you ask the therapist what your role will be and how they will communicate with you on how to best support your son. I’m sure there are great books and sites out there for parents but I don’t know of any. The best way to understand the basic concepts of how OCD is a barrage of thoughts and how to overcome them can be seen in the short The Noise in Your Head YouTubes by Reid Wilson. It is high level but informative.

Sorry that was so long. Good luck. 🍀

I’ve noticed a lot of the kids on here don’t want their parents to know how bad their OCD is / thoughts are. So let your son know that you love him no matter what his thoughts are. My son is 15 and doesn’t have OCD but has been in therapy for other issues. Once he was around 13 therapist confidently applied - your son might want to know that the therapist won’t share details with you - but confirm this with the therapist.

I think just be there for him and let him know it’s a safe place and he can absolutely go at his own pace. Whatever he’s thought or felt is totally okay.. and it’s now time to relate to the thoughts differently and that’s what therapy will help with. I wish I had known that ocd thoughts are just annoying little flies that buzz about our head and are not worthy of taking seriously. Ocd means we just get confused by a thought that has scared us so it’s sortof stuck in our heads and we end up doing stuff to reduce the worry it causes but it doesn’t really help.