- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
First off, you have to stop reassuring him as of right now. Answering his questions = reassurance, and that makes things 100% worse, not better. I suggest Dr. Martin Seif’s book on Intrusive Thoughts. He needs to read it and so do you. Maybe read it out loud together so you’re both on the same page.
- Date posted
- 4y
I enthusiastically second Nica’s advice about reassurance! It sucks to not be able to help your child feel better right away, but sitting with him in his uncertainty and letting him know it’s ok to feel his feelings is the best thing you can do for him. Maybe you could watch some videos together about OCD and reassurance so that he fully understands how you’re trying to help him. If you’re very concerned about his physical symptoms (e.g. if he’s having serious trouble eating or sleeping), visiting a psychiatrist might be necessary so he can get to a place where he’s physically ok. He doesn’t need to tell the psychiatrist about his OCD theme; it should suffice to say that he has an OCD diagnosis and is experiencing a lot of distress right now.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 4y
Before I realized I had OCD I sought reassurance from everyone. Now that I've stopped I'm doing 10x better. It's counter intuitive but it's the best thing to do for him. Unfortunately, this is something only a therapist is 100% equipped to deal with. In the meantime, I'd say educate yourself and your son as much as you can and just be there for him. He's lucky to have a parent who loves him as much as you!
- Date posted
- 4y
Thank you so much....I will get the book immediately!
- Date posted
- 4y
He’s the first doctor I found about OCD and his book was my first introduction 7 years ago!
- Date posted
- 4y
you can also get the book on Audible book
- Date posted
- 4y
Look up other ocd specialists online or in your area. Have him listen to OCD stories podcast on Spotify, there are many episodes on POCD
Related posts
- Date posted
- 19w
My son has Pure O religious/scrupulosity with GAD and Bipolar. My son was diagnosed with Pure O religious OCD two years ago. He has to complete a task so that God doesn’t send him to hell if he doesn’t do it. These tasks are dangerous like doing multiple back flips on concrete, or jumping off balconies three times, doing MMA slams on his back three times. The thoughts are telling him if he doesn’t do this he will go to hell. Or he is so worried about blaspheming the holy spirt and loose his salvation. He knows this is his OCD. He knows the scripture and that God is one of peace and love. Been there and done that on quoting scripture and reminding him he is saved. I can see the torture he is going through and it is painful to watch. He also needs to be stuck next to me at all times cuz it makes him feel safe. This is impeding on my life as I feel I have a toddler again, he is 24 and a former 4 star football player. He wants this to stop, he is in therapy and working on it. He was free from these thoughts from November 2023 till April 2025. He is dealing with narcissistic trauma with his father and this triggers the OCD. My question is what can I do to support and help him through these episodes and not agitate him and to help him heal?
- Date posted
- 17w
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.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 12w
Anybody else struggling with harm OCD?? Father here, mainly goes for my wife and son. It’s been very debilitating. Just started with nocd, anybody going through the same thing or has gotten better??
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