Compulsive Disorder - How Can I Help a Child With OCD?
When my clients ask me this question, it really pulls at my heart strings.
The reason it does is because these children are not enjoying their childhood because they are plagued with worry.
This is detrimental to the child's way of life and more importantly, her development and what she thinks about herself.
The parents are well meaning and want to help but just don't know how.
I have written this article to offer a few tips that have been proven to work.
The first thing that I think that you should do is to bring your child to a doctor so that your child can be put on some medication if the OCD is more than mild.
This will help the child to be able to do the later steps I'll be talking about.
After the child has been on the medication for at least a month, or if the child's OCD is very mild, they can begin what I'm about to say.
When my sister's child was only three, he would not eat his gogurt unless he opened it himself.
If she tried to open it, he would throw it in the trash and try to get another one.
She told him that if he did not eat the one that she gave him, that he would not be able to not have one at all.
Another thing is that his older brother was eating one and he saw this.
This is another powerful psychological factor, jealousy.
My sister said that she did not want to enable her young son to develop OCD that's worse and she wanted to nip this mild Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in the bud.
Now over time, her son does not do this anymore.
Now if you child does not have a sibling that you can help make the other child jealous that's ok.
The point is to use your imagination to help your child choose the right behavior.
Many of my clients get mad at their kids, this is the wrong approach to take! You need to be patient and realize that it takes time.
If you are patient and faithfully are there for your child while not enabling him, you will be doing the best that you can do.
One thing that's really important is to realize that your child will act the way that you treat him.
Our children do what we do naturally, not what we say.
That is how they learn, by emulating us.
The way we talk, the things we do, our mannerisms, everything.
Reward your child for not doing her ritual.
Tell her that she can watch her favorite show or has an ice cream, whatever it is that motivates your child to not do the ritual.
You can say, "honey, try not do this (their ritual) for at least ten minutes, if you do you'll get...
and more importantly, I'll be really proud of you!" If they fail, tell them, "I love you very much and although you can't have the ice cream because you did not do the ritual, we can try again in an hour or so.
" This will help your child to see you as her hope, not the punisher.
The reason it does is because these children are not enjoying their childhood because they are plagued with worry.
This is detrimental to the child's way of life and more importantly, her development and what she thinks about herself.
The parents are well meaning and want to help but just don't know how.
I have written this article to offer a few tips that have been proven to work.
The first thing that I think that you should do is to bring your child to a doctor so that your child can be put on some medication if the OCD is more than mild.
This will help the child to be able to do the later steps I'll be talking about.
After the child has been on the medication for at least a month, or if the child's OCD is very mild, they can begin what I'm about to say.
When my sister's child was only three, he would not eat his gogurt unless he opened it himself.
If she tried to open it, he would throw it in the trash and try to get another one.
She told him that if he did not eat the one that she gave him, that he would not be able to not have one at all.
Another thing is that his older brother was eating one and he saw this.
This is another powerful psychological factor, jealousy.
My sister said that she did not want to enable her young son to develop OCD that's worse and she wanted to nip this mild Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in the bud.
Now over time, her son does not do this anymore.
Now if you child does not have a sibling that you can help make the other child jealous that's ok.
The point is to use your imagination to help your child choose the right behavior.
Many of my clients get mad at their kids, this is the wrong approach to take! You need to be patient and realize that it takes time.
If you are patient and faithfully are there for your child while not enabling him, you will be doing the best that you can do.
One thing that's really important is to realize that your child will act the way that you treat him.
Our children do what we do naturally, not what we say.
That is how they learn, by emulating us.
The way we talk, the things we do, our mannerisms, everything.
Reward your child for not doing her ritual.
Tell her that she can watch her favorite show or has an ice cream, whatever it is that motivates your child to not do the ritual.
You can say, "honey, try not do this (their ritual) for at least ten minutes, if you do you'll get...
and more importantly, I'll be really proud of you!" If they fail, tell them, "I love you very much and although you can't have the ice cream because you did not do the ritual, we can try again in an hour or so.
" This will help your child to see you as her hope, not the punisher.