Irrational Fears and OCD in Children
On Friday, May 23, 2014, ABC’s 20/20 presented a very informative and realistic view of how Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) impacts the lives of children and their families. These children were followed over a 5 year period and their journey towards managing their OCD is documented from extreme fear to management.
According to the Mayo Clinic Website “Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by unreasonable thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead you to do repetitive behaviors (compulsions). It’s also possible to have only obsessions or only compulsions and still have OCD.
With OCD, you may or may not realize that your obsessions aren’t reasonable, and you may try to ignore them or stop them. But that only increases your distress and anxiety. Ultimately, you feel driven to perform compulsive acts in an effort to ease your stressful feelings.
OCD often centers around themes, such as a fear of getting contaminated by germs. To ease your contamination fears, you may compulsively wash your hands until they’re sore and chapped. Despite efforts to ignore or get rid of bothersome thoughts, the thoughts or urges keep coming back. This leads to more ritualistic behavior — and a vicious cycle that’s characteristic of OCD”.
There is hope for individuals living with OCD. Therapy and medication have been proven very helpful in learning to effectively manage and control OCD symptoms. If you or someone you know suffers from OCD, please talk to an OCD specialist in your area.
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Segment 1 OCD Instilling Irrational Fears in Children (Code)
ABC US News | ABC International News
ABC US News | ABC International News
Segment 2 New OCD Finding that Could Change Future Diagnosis and Treatment
ABC US News | ABC International News
ABC US News | ABC International News
Segment 3 Children Face What They Fear Most
ABC US News | ABC International News
ABC US News | ABC International News
Segment 4 Breaking Away From OCD
ABC US News | ABC International News
ABC US News | ABC International News
Segment 5: The Final Hurdles: Children Have Big OCD Breakthroughs
ABC US News | ABC International News
ABC US News | ABC International News
