Freeing Your Child from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

copyright 2000

Finally, we have a comprehensive resource for parents of children and adolescents with OCD. Freeing Your Child from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Powerful Program for Parents of Children and Adolescents by Tamar E. Chansky, Ph.D. is a superb resource for parents. Many of the principles and instructions in her book are also applicable to adults with OCD and their family members.

Not only does Freeing Your Child from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder answer parents' questions about OCD, but more importantly, it gives parents answers for their children's questions. Dr. Chansky puts OCD in a perspective that children can understand.

I especially liked "Chapter 2: Cracking the Code, Visualizing the Secret Mechanisms of OCD." Dr. Chansky gives parents eight "lessons" to help them explain to their children how they can get stuck in a "brain trap"and how they can get unstuck. Each lesson is designed to help parents and children further understand OCD. As an adult with OCD, these lessons helped me understand OCD in a highly creative, visual way. Together, they increase my understanding that the problem is with my brain, not with my psych or personality. This is important because it takes the blame from us and gets rid of shame.

Dr. Chansky's lessons helped me visualize important strategies for fighting back against OCD. My favorite is the first lesson: OCD thoughts are junk mail from the brain. Everyone gets junk mail, just like everyone gets intrusive thoughts. Much of the junk mail that fills our mail boxes looks quite official and important. Most people have learned to recognize the junk mail by sight and throw it out.

Similarly, most people can recognize intrusive, unwanted thoughts and throw them out. They dismiss them immediately. But those of us with OCD give those thoughts undeserved importance. We can't distinguish the junk mail (obsessions) from the important letters and bills. The thoughts demand action. This is where the compulsion comes in. At first, it takes away the unwanted thought, but soon it requires more action - more compulsions. Recognizing junk mail thoughts for what they are - OCD thoughts - is the first step in loosening the power OCD has over us.

In Part One of Freeing Your Child from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Dr. Cnansky clearly describes OCD, how to explain it, how it is diagnosed, and what to expect of treatment. Part Two is devoted to the parent's role in the battle against OCD. And it is a battle! Dr. Chansky helps parents and children develop a battle plan. She also provides strategies to help parents take care of themselves, something they often overlook. Part Three discusses specific strategies for dealing with different types of OCD - contamination, checking, repeating, redoing, evenness, ordering, symmetry, numbers, hoarding, harm obsessions, scrupulosity and sexual thoughts. The Appendix includes a list of OCD resources, sample asessment instruments for OCD and ideas to encourage sleep in children.

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