Author Archives: Yupei Pearl Hu

What to do if my child has OCD?

Pediatric OCD is diagnosed in school-age children between age 7 to 12. The diagnosis of OCD in kids and teens is often overlooked and under-diagnosed. If your child struggles with the following symptoms, your child may struggle with OCD:

These obsessions are the most common among kids and teens:

  • Fear of dirt or germs
  • Fear of contamination
  • A need for symmetry, order, and precision
  • Religious obsessions
  • Preoccupation with body wastes
  • Lucky and unlucky numbers
  • Sexual or aggressive thoughts
  • Fear of illness or harm coming to oneself or relatives
  • Preoccupation with household items
  • Inrusive sounds or words

These compulsions are the most common among kids and teens:

  • Grooming rituals, including hand washing, showering, and teeth brushing
  • Repeating rituals, including going in and out of doorways, needing to move through spaces in a special way, or rereading, erasing, and rewriting
  • Checking rituals to make sure that an appliance is off or a door is locked, and repeatedly checking homework
  • Rituals to undo contact with a “contaminated” person or object
  • Touching rituals
  • Rituals to prevent harming self or others
  • Ordering or arranging objects
  • Counting rituals
  • Hoarding and collecting things of no apparent value
  • Cleaning rituals related to the house or other items

OCD is like the hiccups of the brain. It makes your child get stuck and cannot stop doing the compulsions. When you attempt to interrupt OCD, your child can have a melt down. The cause of OCD is believed to reside in the deep brain circutry that involves prefrontal cortex (orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortexes), basal ganglia, and thalamus. Very rarely, certain autoimmune process after streptococcus infection can trigger OCD and it is called PANDAS (pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with Streptococcal infections).

When you suspect your child struggles with OCD, it is very important to work with professionals who specialize in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Your involvement in treatment process is also very important to the treatment outcomes. Sometimes, medications can facilitate the therapeutic process of CBT for severe cases of OCD. Other alternative treatment for refractory OCD include transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and deep brain stimulation (DBS).

Please check out the following website for resources if your child struggles with OCD.

https://www.ocdkidsmovie.com/ocdresources

How COVID-19 impact OCD?

It really depends. COVID-19 has brought uncertainty and fear to everyone. In general, people who struggle with OCD are more susceptible to the stress during pandemic. However, the wax-and-wane nature of OCD can take on its own course without any clear triggers or factors. Some stable OCD patients even feel more “normal” to justify their rituals in this pandemic.

For those who struggle with worsening OCD symptoms during pandemic, most of them are not directly interfered by the fear of COVID-19, at least no more than usual. The irrational and creative mind of OCD always surprises people with different content to obsess about. The uncertainty, social isolation, boredom, and disrupted routine invites OCD to fill in the blank with various thoughts.

Please be gentle and compassionate to the situation we are in and focus on what we can control to make a difference. COVID-19 is one of many life challenges we face in life and do not forget to take care of yourself. The peace inside you are not the feather in the wind; it can be as still when your mind is calm and quiet.

Please see the following resources if you are interested in reading more:

IOCDF: https://iocdf.org/covid19/

ADAA: https://adaa.org/learn-from-us/from-the-experts/blog-posts/consumer/how-deal-your-covid-19-stress-anxiety-ocd

McLean Hospital: https://www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/living-ocd-during-coronavirus-crisis

How does COVID-19 impact mental health?

At beginning of COVID-19, people were in shock and fear. Many decided to hide at home in response to uncertainty. Six months into pandemic, the emergence of anxiety, depression, OCD and eating disorder is evident in the clinic. The severity and prevalence is unusual, though expected.

Several factors have contributed to the increased needs for mental health, including direct threats from an unknown disease, social isolation, and change of daily routines. While social distancing stops the spread of COVID-19, it also leads to sense of loneliness, social isolation and disconnection from others. The effects of social distancing will continue to carry through this winter with expected worsening depression and anxiety during holiday seasons. It is very important to focus on a structured routine. Despite we cannot change the nature course of COVID-19, maintaining a healthy daily routine is very critical for resilience, such as good quality of sleep, balanced diet and regular exercise. Yoga, walk, and meditation can also be very helpful tools to cope with stress in the pandemic.