Mental health professionals have long wondered about the
impact of parental behavior on a child with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. An
article published in Medical News Today June 18, 2009, “Wrong Type Of Help From
Parents Could Worsen Child's OCD, 18 Jun 2009,” examines this issue. The article reports on study recently published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. The researchers studied, “….49 children between 6 and 18 with OCD and their families who came to UF for a type of treatment called cognitive-behavioral therapy. This form of therapy involves exposing children to their fears and teaching them better ways to respond and cope. During the sessions, therapists teach parents how they should deal with their child's OCD, too….Prior to the start of the 14-session therapy, the
researchers gauged how severe each child's condition was and compared it to how
many accommodating behaviors parents reported…. These accommodations can be
anything that makes the symptoms of OCD less impairing, from reassuring a child
that his hands are clean and his baby brother is OK to even doing his homework
for him or buying objects that make the child feel safe.” The results of the
study were very interesting. “After the treatment, researchers noticed a
significant decrease in how often families were assisting children with OCD
behaviors and rituals. Children whose families had the biggest decrease in
these accommodations also had the biggest improvement in their OCD symptoms.”
There are several important implications of this study. First, parents who
behave with the best of intentions may not be serving the best interests of
their OCD child. Second, mental health professionals who treat
OCD children must educate parents about appropriate behaviors in the home
setting. Third, school professionals who have OCD children in the classroom
must be trained in the best interventions for these children during the school
day. And fourth, public health professionals must educate parents of OCD
children about the needs their children. The researchers end by saying, “We see
it with adults' spouses and partners, too. In trying to be helpful to the
person with OCD, they end up making the problem worse."
The Bottom Line: The results of this
study strongly suggest that parents can unintentionally worsen their child’s
OCD.
Reference: Original article
Great Youtube Videos on Childhood OCD
Great Informational Websites Created by Dr. Speller and Dr. Korkosz:
- Stress and the Human Brain
- Early Life Stress and the Immune System
- The Facts About Major Depressive Disorder
- The Parent's Guide to Understanding Adolescent Depression
Sources: See blogposts in Psychiatric Disorders: General and Psychiatric Disorders: OCD, Youtube. Adolescents
Additional Resources:
- For related articles on the Web, click on: “Sphere: Related Content” located at the bottom of this blog post.
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Dr. Jeffrey Speller Dr. Tanya Korkosz
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