Rita Watson
Bradley Hospital has launched a program tailored to help young people with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), a condition that affects one in 200 children nationwide, approximately one million in the United States.
OCD is debilitating for children and a challenge to parents. Children with OCD suffer with intrusive thoughts and compulsions that interfere with their daily activities.
Working together appears to be the focus on the new Bradley Hospital evidence-based program for children from 5 to 18 years old. The program is led by Jennifer Freeman, Ph.D., and clinical co-director Abbe Garcia, Ph.D. Garcia recently answered some questions about the new program.
How might this program at Bradley Hospital improve the daily lives of young children and parents?
“The rituals associated with OCD can take up a lot of time and energy and can be associated with high levels of family conflict,” Dr. Garcia said. “By helping children reduce their rituals and by helping families know how to respond to their children’s symptoms, our program gives families back time and energy that OCD has taken from them.”
She pointed out that weekly family therapy “provides an opportunity to heal some of the wounds that have come from battles about OCD symptoms and can have a positive impact on all aspects of family communication and parenting.”
Young children, however, are perhaps less resistant to treatment than older children. What are some ways parents might encourage adolescents to seek help?
“The kind of treatment that we do in our program works best when patients actively engage in planning the treatment exercises with their providers,” said Dr. Garcia. “It is very hard to do this treatment to someone. It works much better when we do it with someone. Teens, who may be especially likely to be hesitant to seek treatment, often appreciate the fact that this kind of treatment will be collaborative; their perspective is valued.”
As she pointed out, “sometimes the ambivalence about seeking treatment is driven by fear of the unknown” and suggests that parents guide adolescents seeking information about “what treatment entails.”
Because some young people who need help for OCD may have experienced poor outcomes from prior treatment attempts, “hesitancy about seeking treatment is a self-protective stance to prevent disappointment,” she added.
“The peer support that comes from being in a milieu with up to 11 other youth with similar experiences and who are pursing similar treatment goals is a invaluable resource for motivating patients to make the most of this treatment,” she said.
The program itself includes up to five hours per week of one-on-one time with program staff in the patient’s home and/or the school setting, depending upon where the patient’s OCD is causing problems.
OCD is often treated with a combination of individual therapy and medication. The International OCD Foundation notes that medication should be considered only for moderate to severe OCD symptoms, adding that both cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and medicine effectively treat OCD in children and teens. The approved medications are listed on the website at OCFoundation.org .
Parents of children with OCD may find some comfort in the award-winning children’s book, “Up and Down the Worry Hill,” written by Aureen Pinto Wagner, Ph.D., a clinical child psychologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill School of Medicine.
Bradley Hospital’s website also has a helpful page for parents on Obsessive Compulsive Disorders. Go tobradleyhospital.org and click on “Programs and Services” and “Parenting Resources.”
Please see Bradley launches program for children with OCD on Page B2 of Monday, May 27, 2013 issue of Providence Journal
Copyright 2013 Rita Watson/ All Rights Reserved