My 13 yr old son was just diagnosed with OCD. Does anyone have advise on how we can best support him? He I s seeing a therapist and is doing ERP therapy.

Just be there for him. Guide him away from reassurance seeking. Don’t engage with his OCD with him. Help him to understand that his OCD is a bully and is not something to be scared of, OCD loves fear. Teach him the importance of self care and stress reduction. Stress increases OCD symptoms because of the anxiety element. I wish someone had taught me about self-care and self-awareness of my own needs. Most of all just give him a lot of love and time to get better! He will get there in time!! Don’t put pressure on him though because we all move at our own pace and we all have our setbacks. He will be okay?

Do you have OCD?

No Laurie. I meant @mom4. Thanks.

But the whole point of ERP is to stop compulsions. Yes it really does cause more anxiety and make things worse for a while but it does pass the more you habituate. That’s why you do ERP in manageable steps and take away the compulsions when you feel ready. I try my best to no longer give into compulsions and it completely helps the obsessions stay away. Compulsions only keep OCD alive.

It used to for me too but the more you work at it the easier it becomes. One of my worst compulsions was googling, my boyfriend helped me out by taking my phone away. I was depressed and distraught I couldn’t handle it at all so I tackled it in small chunks instead. I scheduled in compulsion time, I started to get very bored of doing my compulsions and realised how toxic they were

A strong support system along with stability is important in recovery. If your son asks you to help him, gently but firmly remind him that you love him and want to see him get better, therefore I will not enable you. It will tough but if he doesn’t do this now he will be in his twenties and struggling much more. You can do this! Also definitely talk to his therapist so that you two are on the same boat in helping your son’s recovery. If his compulsions happen at school, you might have to talk to his teachers.

Who? Me or the poster? If me then yes I do

I’m just thinking about how mu partner is someone with anxiety, with married 10 years. We are st now figuring out some of the ways that my OCD has been part of her anxieties and ways she had accommodated or reassured patterns For both loving and conflictual reasons. this created an interesting culture that just figuring it out that’s all.

I myself am only 14. I always ask for reassurance from my parents, which isn't good so remember not to provide it. The best support I think you can give is to tell him it's all going to be ok. OCD isn't something bad at all, it's just thoughts that are repeated over and over that are not true.

Just be there for him. Make sure to cook healthy for him and try getting him some b vitamins, fish oil, and calcium, vitamin D, and magnesium which will help him be himself more often than not.

If your child has ocd I think it best to help him with it. The first person wrote not to engage in his ocd. I have to disagree because ocd causes immense stress. Help him with it. For example if he wants things clean and needs to shower three times a day let him! Not letting him do the compulsions (as long as they don’t hurt him or others) does nothing but cause more anxiety. Help him get to the root of why he has ocd and the compulsions will start to subside. My parents never helped me never did anything but try to get me to stop with compulsions and that only made my compulsions worse and worse.

Not for me. When I stop them it makes my OCD obsessions a thousand times worse than they were before and just leaves me curled up in bed crying for days. Unable to talk to anyone

Ask him how you can support him without reassuring him or doing things for him. Personally I don’t like to talk to my mum about OCD, i prefer to talk to a stranger, but I’m 37 not 13 and had OCD a long time.