Obsessive/compulsive disorder is a relatively common anxious condition that can be psychologically devastating to a child, if unapproached.
Because obsessive/compulsive disorder can easily be confused with behavior that exists within the normal bounds of personality or with childish traits that may mimic the condition, it can be especially difficult to diagnose in children and pre-adolescents. By the teen years, however, its symptoms are usually clearer, and communication with the subject is typically a little more introspective, making identification sometimes easier.
OCD is usually organized under the header of an anxiety disorder, meaning that it is based on apprehension derived from an unreasonable cause. It is characterized by the expression of extreme and often illogical worries, accompanied by rituals and habits meant to combat these worries. In adults, these worries are often expressed in things that bother us all, sometimes, such as the compulsive locking and re-locking of doors, repeated checking of safety belts and other concerns that involve themselves with the well-being of the individual, his or her property, or loved ones. In children, the basis for fears may be less apparently logical, at least to adults. The difference between normal concern and the sort of anxiety associated with OCD is mostly about extent. While a psychologically healthy person might have minor phobias, they are not extended to a degree that can be classified as obsession. OCD is so-named because it involves such an obsession followed by the compulsion to act upon it, compulsion being the intense urge to commit an act that cannot readily be controlled by will alone. Often this may involve repetition, whether because the repetition reassures concern over a worry (such as with the locked door example) or because the act of repetition itself provides comfort.
Phobias, or intense and unreasonable fears, are commonly associated with OCD with good reason: the condition lends itself to undue worry, and fear and worry are separated in definition only very thinly. A fear of germs is one common phobia associated with the condition, and is an excellent example of excessive concern. While it may be normal to wish to avoid germs that may make us mildly ill, it is not something to which we must ordinarily devote great lengths. The inconvenience to which germ-phobes subject themselves is typically much greater than the inconvenience of coming down with the flu or a cold now and then, and in fact it may cripple their daily activities.
Children with OCD must not be treated as though it is a condition that can be overcome with sheer willpower. Straining against the symptoms of the condition may cause great stress, especially to a child, and depending upon the method adopted, it may not have any real effect upon the severity of the condition, but may in fact cause it to worsen. Therapy is the most commonly prescribed treatment for the condition, as the roots of the anxiety may be purely psychological. However, hereditary roots for OCD, like anxiety as a whole, have been identified, and the propensity for the condition may be passed from parent to child. Note that a child with OCD may have difficulty in completing tasks associated with schoolwork, but must not be exempted from daily life on account of the condition. It is important that he or she receive the proper counseling and treatment.
One common treatment for OCD is what is known as cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, which aims in part to change the patient's fears and habits through interruption of these habits, or through exposure to phobic elements in order to decrease gradually his or her fears concerning these things. Treatment may also take the form of medication, most commonly drugs known as selective seratonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which aim to increase the level of the neurotransmitter seratonin in the blood. Other treatments may be suggested by your child's therapist or psychiatrist.
