Symptoms of OCD in Children

Dr. Pinto-Wagner explains different types of obsessions and compulsions seen in children with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

For more OCD resources and information, visit IOCDF.org

[juliusgirl]

My earliest memory of OCD is in nursery school. I had some of the 2nd and 3rd types you explained but what I feel you left out - something that for years was present in my life every minute and had a growing and astonishingly complex series of rules was the counting. Every word I thought, that I read, that someone spoke, little taps of a body part against something, squares on a department store floor (but especially the words which were broken apart by syllables and whether the syllables made their own words and then the letters and how many strokes each letter had and the punctuation, all this I’m counting to my numbers of 4 or 16 every day all day while I’m getting As in school, while I am carrying on full conversations with people, while I am comprehending what I am reading, everything and that is the surface. All this through elementary school all the way to my early 20s). Maybe counting is seen as a compulsion, not an obsession but so is the “just right” example. Of course, I did that too. Things had to add up the right way. There was also, which I have since heard is very common in kids with OCD, an all encompassing fear including anxiety attacks, of throwing up and there was trich for a time. So this started at least age 3, if not earlier. I read an article when I was 11 in a magazine about OCD and came to my mom and said “i think i have this.” Meanwhile, she had spent years having to give me guided hypnosis to calm me down about my fear of vomiting before I could fall asleep. I had a large bald spot and my family were very familiar with my pulling out my hair and my “hair bobbers” which could be found in random places throughout the house. I was advised to skip kindergarten, that I was smart enough to start first grade at 5 years old. I had such bad separation anxiety I would spend my days first at my desk crying and then on the floor of the classroom bathroom where my teacher made me go until I had calmed down which just made me cry harder. 3 weeks of this and I was in kindergarten. Yes, this was the 80s and early 90s but how could my parents, both of whom had master’s degrees, not ever have taken me to a therapist or told my pediatrician about any of it? (although he is the one who had mistaken molestation for a sensitivity to bubble bath over 10 times - like it’s normal for a 4 year old to have constant UTIs and keep using bubble bath after that is considered the culprit but whatever). Did people not know what mental health was back then? What it looked like when something was off with a child’s brain? It was not covered due to shame on their part, they honestly had no clue until i read that article.

[LizTheFantastic]

This!! Thank you for spreading awareness about OCD

[ashb]

I imagine all these viruses and things causing an uprising in the mental structure of children born during these times. Being surrounded by so much hyper fear mongerinf. My heart goes out to them.

[ainsleybryant]

What about if you tell yourself if you don’t do this your parents or siblings or friends will die

[juliadasilvaaiken]

For me, I like to do everything a certain amount of times or something bad will happen. Is this still OCD, or is this this something else?