K is for Kids With OCD
My OCD started when I was about 6 years old, when I experienced my first intrusive thoughts. It then went undiagnosed until I was 19 when the symptoms got even worse in college. Many people with OCD experience the first symptoms when they are children. So it’s super important to get that awareness out there for parents to be able to recognize it in their children. (No blame to my parents – just society!)
When looking for OCD in your children, the easiest things to spot will be compulsions. Sensory issues can go hand-in-hand with OCD. My mom had to struggle with me every time I had to get dressed for school, especially when it came to socks. The seams in the toes still bother the living daylights out of me, in fact. (It’s possible that I’m also on the autistic spectrum, but that remains only a suspicion. Sensory difficulties don’t have to mean autism. They can go along with things like anxiety and OCD.) My mom looked far and wide to find the perfect socks for me. I still only wear one kind – shoutout to Costco-brand Puma socks. I’ve tried other kinds. It did not go well.
Or maybe your kid is having weird thoughts that alarm you. This doesn’t necessarily mean that your kid is a dangerous person, even if they’re having violent thoughts. If your kid were dangerous, they wouldn’t be worried about having these thoughts! This is a signal that your child may need some psychiatric help.
You don’t have to put your child on medication, but there’s also nothing wrong with doing so. I got along with just CBT for a while. But then I needed more help. I know there’s an aversion to “drugging children,” but what if your kid has asthma? Would you hesitate to get them an inhaler just because it “interferes with how their body naturally works” and “introduces artificial stuff”? No, because the way their body naturally works is flawed, so they need a little more help. You wouldn’t keep chemotherapy from a child with cancer. It’s okay to need medication. But I still think it’s best to try therapy first and add medication later if necessary.
I hope that someday, mental health checkups will be a regular thing and kids will get the help they need as soon as the problem starts. Same for adults. All it takes is one step at a time to get our society to where I dream of it being.