OCD

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an anxiety-related condition

It would be quite unusual to diagnose OCD at primary school age. People with OCD experience frequent unwanted and sometimes disturbing thoughts or images (‘obsessions’). They then attempt to relieve the anxiety caused by these thoughts by performing repetitive behaviours or mental rituals (‘compulsions’).

In children, it’s much more common for such symptoms to be related to anxiety. Many children use rituals, superstitious thinking or rigid behaviours to cope with uncertainty and stress.  For example, it’s common for children who experience recurrent worrying thoughts to feel they need to repeat a behaviour (e.g. three head twitches), which they believe will stop a bad thing from happening. This does not usually mean they have OCD although there is an overlap of symptoms. Autistic children also are more likely to use repetitive behaviours to help with stressful situations. You will find more resources on the anxiety and autism pages.

In OCD,  the relief brought by carrying out these compulsive actions is short-lived, and in the longer term reinforces the obsession, which worsens the condition. OCD can take up a lot of time and make it difficult to get on with normal life. (e.g. school, social activities, family life). However, there is lots of help and advice available which can help children learn to cope and there is good advice for parents below.

Typically, OCD falls into one of the following categories:

• Checking,
• Contamination/Mental Contamination,
• Hoarding,
• Ruminations/Intrusive Thoughts

What is OCD? Dr Isobel Heyman from South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust describes what OCD is, and talks about how common it is and the theories about what causes it