My daughter has ocd. The therapist ask us to set limits, but she reacts with severe anger attacks, like hitting her little brother, her parents and destroying things. How do you stop the circle of violence?

Well I had ocd when I was younger and it got pretty bad towards the end of high-school. Somthing that I used to do. Was have a code word for my trusted friends or family to let them know I'm having trouble. Not saying it's the same as me but things that tend to hit me is things I watch. When I get scared or underpressure. It can be overwhelming. I used to freak out over imagining the joker walking towards me when I was younger. That was because of me watching batman and the thought was overwhelming so I would cry and yell. hope some of this helped. Good luck

Thanks for you comment. Yes, we are working with an ERP therapist. We don‘t fight all her compulsion at once. We talk to her therapist how we can phase out family accomandation. Somedays it works great , but on other days she will totally loose control: beating her little brother, screaming and biting. Because of her behaviour she doesn‘t have any friends - so unless she is at school-we are spending the whole day and the weekends with her. We actually take turns spending time with her so eyeryone can relax for once...

Thank you for your comment. The problem is she is involving us in her compulsions. When we don‘t support her compulsions, she gets anger attacks. But supporting her compulsions will make the ocd worse.

She is mostly afraid of germs and bacteria. For example she will ask us to wash our socks before entering her room or her jacket cannot touch another jacket. If we don’t follow her „rules“ she will freak out. But it is hard to guess of she is ready to cope with the anxiety. In the morning she will say it is ok and in the evening she suddently cannot handle it....

Wow. How old is she?

8 years old ?

Thanks for your support. We will keep fighting the ocd....

OCD is harder to manage when you are tired, so it might be harder for her to tolerate things in the evening. Are you working with an ERP therapist? They usually have you develop a “hierarchy” by ranking things in order of how much anxiety they give you. Then you start with tackling the easier things first. If you’re trying to fight all of her “rules” all at once it might be too much and might be counterproductive. Start with the small stuff first. It will still be very very hard, but that’s normal. Learning to tolerate the anxiety and not engage in compulsions to relieve it is part of recovery. If you aren’t currently working with an ERP therapist I would highly suggest it if you are at all able. I would also recommend the book “Freedom from OCD” by Dr. Grayson. It’s a good way to plan steps for recovery. You are so so so strong for trying to help her through this. I know it must hurt to see her upset. None of this is your fault. It’s a long process so be patient and remember to show yourself some compassion and take care of yourself too ❣️

❤️ We try our best