OCD (part 2)

There was a young, 8 year old girl names Elyse that was staying up half of the night to finish her homework because it had to be done perfectly. About one third of adults with OCD say that their symptoms started during their childhood. Elyse’s father also has OCD so he noticed the symptoms right away. After starting weekly therapy her symptoms went away, but returned with major life changes. When she started high school, it began to get really bad. She stopped eating so she had more time for her homework. She claims she had an unbelievable high level of anxiety. Her parents then became so worried that they admitted her to the hospital for three weeks. The family is a key component to the treatment. The parents of young patients are told to encourage their children to confront their fears. So if a child would have to wash their hands 30 times before leaving the house, the parent would have to remind the child of another time when they didn’t wash their hands and then nothing bad happened. Researchers at Duke found that for the best results, a combination of medication and behavior treatment is best. Early diagnosis is very important because treatment is going to be most effective if the rituals and obsessions can be stopped early. Elyse kept her OCD a secret until sophomore year when she was told to write a personal essay and read it aloud to the class. Her OCD is not completely gone, it never will be, but there is definitely a big improvement.

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