Ok, I am a parent. For those of you that have contamination OCD. My daughter has it really bad. Like really, really bad. What do you wish your parents knew/said/ did when you were having a extra rough time. Her ocd affects the whole house. She floods the bathrooms leaves towels and stuff everywhere, freaks out about food, and what everyone else touches too, I mean screams at us to wash our hands or not to touch things. It’s exhausting for her and I feel for her, but it’s also extremely hard for us living with her, and we don’t always handle it well. I would love any advice on what you wish your family knew/ did / reacted. Thanks 🌸

This is a really kind post, because you genuinely want to help your daughter! I would say validate your daughters distress she is experiencing from the OCD. It's always going to sound nonsensical to others without OCD, but they don't have the disorder right? 😅. So validating the amount of distress/burn oit/upset would be helpful. Honestly educating yourself about ocd. My mum and whole family never ONCE looked up even OCD on Google. They still haven't. I mean the very least of effort is to Google and read the top definition, 4 years later still that has never happened. There are helpful podcasts such as IOCDF and OCD Stories that have helped many a parent of an OCD child. Lastly, I of course recommend looking into therapy. Unfortunately, as much as you want to pull her out of this distress, you won't be able to be your child's therapist and teach her how to better handle the OCD. It needs a trained therapist and someone separate from the situation.. OCD won't magically go away, no matter how much we wish it, or hope it 🙁. We need intervention and that is through ERP therapy (a type of CBT therapy). I know in America therapy is a different ball game with insurance and money etc. But if there is ANY wiggle room in budgets, policies, researching online to find a therapist who has a good understanding and track record of working with OCD. I don't know if your insurance covers it but the Nocd app offers therapy! Thanks for being a loving mom to want best support your child.

It’s okay to be firm with her as long as it contributes to helping her help herself (which can be a challenge when an OCD individual has poor insight, and especially as a younger person). Be mindful of not giving into compulsions (permitting her to do whatever is needed to alleviate her obsession). Anticipate her being resistant, being irritable, but remind her the discomfort of resisting compulsions is short term pain for long term pain. Help her keep perspective that the issue she’s dealing with isn’t the thoughts of contamination or the feelings they bring, but that she’s dealing with a medical condition (this perspective would’ve helped me as a child). If she can’t express all the thoughts she’s undergoing, allow her to feel safe in explaining them at her own pace. It often helps OCD patients, especially younger ones, to recognize the OCD as a separate entity from themselves. It may help to come up with a name together for the OCD. This is a popular tactic CBT therapists use to help children recognize their disorder in a personified way and want to fight it. It also helps your child see the condition in a similar respect to you, and offer her a sense of control. Remember OCD, no matter how it manifests, is just about wanting to feel safe. Remind her that uncertainty is nonnegotiable, that even adults must cope with it, she’s just having more trouble because of her condition. If you need to take a break or are feeling overwhelmed by her behavior, don’t feel guilty for needing to take space for yourself. Nothing overwhelmed me more as a child than family members asking me to be “normal” or expressing anger that I felt obligated to take responsibility for. Guilt and shame thrive in OCD, and it will only worsen her need to give into it. Polarized thinking is the hallmark of OCD and this is even more of a challenge for a younger person who has underdeveloped thinking. It’s important to remind them that your love for them is unconditional, that you understand they’re doing what they feel is right, even if it isn’t what they should be doing. Remind them that you understand that they are suffering, that it isn’t their fault, and that it’s their task to be well because they deserve it. It helps to set up a routine each day to follow. Having structure helps break the OCD cycle and offers a sense of completeness for me. I hope this could be of some help.