- Date posted
- 26w
My daughter is spiraling
She's been dealing with this for years but I've never seen her like this. She has her first visit with a nocd therapist tomorrow. How can I help her?
She's been dealing with this for years but I've never seen her like this. She has her first visit with a nocd therapist tomorrow. How can I help her?
It’s heartwarming to see a parent care so much. I don’t have that, so it made me a little emotional. If she needs space, give it to her. Encourage her to drink something cold—it can help with panic. Applying something cold to the back of her neck and chest can also be calming. Taking deep breaths every few minutes might help too. Sometimes lying on the floor can be grounding. It sounds ironic, but physically grounding yourself can be surprisingly effective. I’ve found that letting myself cry on the floor helps; eventually, the intense feelings peak and pass. Watching a comfort show, snuggling up with a blanket, or just letting the emotions out can also be soothing. I don’t have the best suggestions, but as someone who constantly spirals and deals with intense panic attacks, these are things that have helped me, even if just a little. I hope her session tomorrow goes well!
Thank you so much!! Those are great suggestions.
It seems simple but just be present. Physically and emotionally. Let her know you are there and available if she needs you. Asking too many questions or giving advice can sometimes be more stressful in the moment, but being there when she panics or cries or wants to talk is huge! Let her know she’s not alone although it likely feels that way in her head - you are there to fight with her and for her. Growing up, my mom was the only one there for me with this and it helped tremendously. I’d get annoyed at times with too many suggestions that I couldn’t deliver on, but valued her being present and trying.
Thank you. As a mom it is difficult to remember not to try to come up with solutions.
I also want to mention that since she is an NOCD member, you can get access to a parent/loved one support group on Mondays. It’s through the apps group features
I didn't know that! Thank you. I will definitely look into that.
Welcome to NOCD! I am so glad your daughter will be getting help for this. Her therapist will support you as well. Please do check out the family support group referenced dslite. We also have resources for you on the NOCD YouTube channel, I have linked a few below for you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVIeBV9M-c&t=4s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jzHHjSI4Ek&t=4s
Hello Anonymous, Congratulations on the start of your daughter's treatment journey! I hear that you want to help her. At NOCD we offer education sessions to family members as a service. If your daughter is a minor, this will be part of the process and will be discussed with you in session. If your daughter is an adult, then you can ask her if she be willing to involve you in the process, to receive education from their therapist on how to help. Please reach out to our care team at care@nocdhelp.com to ask for an education session to facilitate this process. I hope this helps to answer your question and know that at NOCD, we are always here to help!
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My daughter was just diagnosed with OCD, and is in denial. Her brother is the source of contamination for her. Everything he does, triggers her. She will not be in the same room as him, and it's only getting worse. If you were a child in denial, refusing medication and therapy, what helped you to finally accept help?
I’ll be starting NOCD therapy on Monday, any words of advice?
My little sister is 13 we’ve taken her to a child psychologist and she was diagnosed with OCD and social anxiety and I believe germaphobia. The psychologist said that he can’t properly diagnose her with autism until her anxiety symptoms are treated. But I am very positive that she is also autistic as I am autistic and know the symptoms vary well. She was given a medication at a low dose, I don’t remember what kind, she had been taking it even tho she did not want to for a couple of months. It seemed to be helping her anxiety immensely but I believe she is scared of how the medication changes how she feels and she doesn’t like the taste. So they switched medications and that one was even worse because the taste was too strong she didn’t even try it for more than a day so there’s no way of knowing if that one was better for her or not. These are both liquid medications btw we used juice for her to drink it. Since then she hasn’t taken any medication and she has said that she doesn’t want to. We can’t force her to take the medication as that would obviously be counter productive. But since then her ocd and germaphobia have gotten progressively worse. On top of not wanting medication she doesn’t like the idea of using any coping skills like deep breaths or breathing exercises to calm down and doesn’t like the idea when I talk about ERP or therapy or any kind of treatment that could help. It seems all the ideas either make her uncomfortable or scare her. I fear somewhat that my own ocd compulsions have made her think that this is normal and doesn’t need treatment and I don’t know what to do to help understand that treatment and change isn’t scary. I also fear that I’m not approaching this right and my mom doesn’t understand ocd like I do so I feel like it falls on me to help her through this and help my mom understand what we need to do to help her. I’m sorry this is so long. thank you for reading this. She’s really struggling and it’s affecting my own mental health too and I don’t know what to do. If anyone has any tips or advice please that’s all I’m asking for.
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