Treatment of Obsessive Disorder in Children. Compulsive and Obsessive OCD symptoms in children has up until recently not been evidence based. OCD in children needs to be diagnosed earlier rather than later due to the debilitating effects, if carried through to adulthood.
Few research studies have focused on treatments specifically geared to children suffering with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Recently a new study from the Bradley Hasbro Children’s Research Center provides some of the first evidence based data on a successful intervention for early childhood OCD. Children as young as 5 years old are now diagnosed with this disorder.
Children between the ages of 5 and 8 years old are treated with a form of psychotherapy, a family based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Uniquely tailored to the child and families needs. The overall process is to equip both the child and family with tools to help understand and reduce the symptoms of OCD.
Clinical considerations and recommendations:
- Treatment of children experiencing early childhood-onset OCD will be most effective if parents are involved in all phases of treatment.
- Clinicians should consider the child’s unique developmental characteristics and tailor psycho-education, exposures and homework accordingly.
- Clinicians should take time to understand the family context and, in particular, the parents’ response to their child’s anxieties.
- Teach parents to tolerate their own anxiety about their child’s level of distress.
- Use humor generously.
frequently asked questions about the treatment of children with …
… diagnosed in young children? a: similar to adults, disorders are diagnosed by observi”>medications chart in this booklet shows the most commonly prescribed medications for children with mood or anxiety disorders (including ocd). …
