OCD: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Children

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by repetitive, ritualisitc behaviors and thought patterns.

The obsessional thoughts and compulsive behaviors are often difficult to stop.  The compulsive behavior is often carried out to reduce the likelihood of adverse consequences.

OCD runs a long-term and impairing course in many children and teenagers and affects 1.5 to 2.2 million children in the United States. 

 

Fear and Anger


Obsessive-compulsive symptoms are often a defense against strong feelings of fear and anger which the child is unable to face. Betrayal experiences that damage trust leads to the development of anger and fear that are often unrecognized. Also, very sensitive children are often predisposed by their temperament to the development of anxiety.   Unconscious fear and anger can lead to obsessional thinking and to compulsive behaviors which are an unconscious attempt to diminish their influence.

Please go to the mistrust checklist to evaluate your child's symptoms of mistrust and the possible origins of this conflict. If many symptoms of mistrust are identified, please write a list of fears you believe your child may have struggled with at different ages. Next, please go to the anger checklist in the angry child chapter on this website and rate your child's anger.

Forgiveness helps to resolve the anger and associated aggressive obsessions in these youngsters and thereby assists in their recovery from OCD. It also helps to purify the memory by diminishing the anxiety from the past.

Most children with OCD meet the criteria for at least one other psychiatric disorder (e.g., 75% to 84%).  In a major study of adolescents with OCD there was a high co-morbidity (association) with disruptive disorders and tic (Tourette's Disorder), mood, and anxiety disorders (Geller D, 1996).  Many children whom we have treated with rapid, involuntary, sudden movements have very strong fears of a catastrophic event occurring in their lives such as the loss of a parent.  Catastrophic obsessional thinking can also be manifested as a fear of suicide in a child who is not hopeless and who does not want to die.

The most frequently reported obsessions were:

In a 2008 study of 236 children (149 boys and 87 girls) with OCD (Mataix-Cols, D., et al.),  the most common obsessions were aggressive (81%), contamination (79%), symmetry (41.9%) and religious (40.7%),  Girls had significantly more aggressive obsessions, while boys had significantly more religious and sexual obsessions. The most common compulsions were checking (80%), cleaning (79%), repeating (75%), ordering (59%) and counting (49%).  Girls had significantly more hoarding compulsions while boys had significantly more counting compulsions.

This research which demonstrates that the most frequent obsession in boys and girls is that of aggressive thoughts clearly points to the need to evaluate anger and have a treatment protocol for anger in all children with OCD. 

The religious obsessions often relate to a fear of sinning.  Weaknesses in confidence can result of in fear of making mistakes in one's spiritual life and to obsessional thinking.  Also, loneliness in peer relationships can lead to strong sexual temptations and/or masturbation with resultant obsessional thoughts about offending God.  The establishment of health peer relationships is effective in diminishing such OCD conflicts. Some of these teenagers are helped in peer friendships through the use of Facebook.

The other disorders seen in association with OCD were:

The common emotional origins of OCD in children we have treated include:

Case Study

This case study from Helping Clients Forgive demonstrates the value of forgiveness in resolving symptoms in an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Van, a seven-year-old first grader, developed a severe germ phobia and extremely compulsive behaviors. After going to the bathroom he would regularly spend twenty minutes to a half an hour cleaning himself. At school he would not open or close any doors without first covering his hand with his sweater to protect himself from germs. He limited his play with his friends because of his fear of being contaminated by germs. His compulsive behaviors increased and required larger amounts of time. The only anger Van manifested was when his parents tried to shorten the time he spent in compulsive behaviors.

Initially, Van had no awareness of any difficulties which preceded the development of his symptoms. However, when his parents were seen alone, they related numerous stresses in their relationship. His mother had been sick over the previous two years with severe chronic fatigue and numerous vague health problems which resulted in prolonged bed rest. She had had a very stressful relationship with her mother as a child and had difficulty in trusting her husband. Also, even though Van's parents rarely quarreled, there was very little affection in the marital relationship. Although each was dissatisfied with the marriage, they were not considering separation or divorce; neither were they working to improve their marital relationship.

Van denied having any fear that his parents might separate or divorce although he had been informed by them that there was considerable stress in the marriage. He, in fact, called their relationship good. When asked about his mother who had been in bed for almost two years, he insisted, I'm not worried about her. She'll be fine. It was suggested to Van that he might have developed a fear of something bad happening to him as a result of his mothers illness and of the stress in his parents marriage. It was explained to him that these fears might have been too frightening to face, so instead of addressing them, he acquired the fear that he might contract a serious illness from germs.

Van's parents made a commitment to work toward a resolution of their difficulties so that their relationship would improve. The therapist then told Van that he thought he had also denied angry feelings toward his parents and validated those feelings as being normal. Then he was asked to think daily that he wanted to forgive his parents. He reluctantly agreed to think of forgiving his parents for those times when they were not kind or loving to one another even though he was not consciously aware of being angry with them. After several months of therapy Van was able to admit having angry feelings toward his parents. Also, Van was encouraged to trust that his parents marriage would become a happier one. Work on forgiveness and trust over a period of six months, in addition to participation in marital therapy by the parents, resulted in a significant improvement of Van's obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

Other helpful interventions for OCD include:

Parental Interventions

We encourage parents to help their children with OCD understand the origins of their fears and their anger and the growth in virtues that can be helpful.  Also, empirical research has suggested that challenging compulsive behaviors and not accommodating them has been beneficial. 

Some parents come to recognize that their insensitive behaviors have harmed their child's basic ability to feel safe and to trust. In such families, they ask the child for forgiveness.  Also, teaching children how to forgive those who have hurt them is effective diminishing OCD symptoms in our clinical experience.  When the uncovered anger is strong, Catholic children benefit from taking this anger into the sacrament of reconciliation.

Since some children with OCD model after highly anxious parents, growth in self-mastery over anxiety in parents and over excessive anger is essential.

 

Obstacles in the treatment of OCD include:

Parents can assist their children who struggle with this challenging anxiety disorder by encouraging them to try to trust more, not give into needless worries and fears and to resolve their anger with anyone who has hurt them. The new and promising field of positive psychology has a great deal to offer children with OCD and their families.

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