I am a 23 year old man and my sister is a 20 year old woman suffering from severe OCD: she is unable to process information efficiently, has compulsive movements, sometimes struggles to formulate sentences, needs help eating and getting dressed, suffers physical pain, plus other hindrances on her daily life. She is on medication and sees a number of professionals from the NHS. The issue is that her OCD is getting worse despite the help she is receiving. In fact there has been a dramatic decline in her condition in the past 6 weeks, such that she is now fully reliant on my parents to help her through day to day life. Whereas before she was able to operate well in certain situations, such as work (she works for a catering company), people now are starting to pull her up and ask what is wrong, even in her workplace, as they can notice her in distress.
As a result of her worsening condition, she is not practicing what her therapist and physiologist are advising in order to manage her OCD. Due to confidentiality and my sister's refusal to grant consent to my parents to be involved with the therapist/psychologist, no progress is being made and my parents are left in the dark with regards to what is needed to help my sister.
What advice can people give me on how to tackle this issue? How can my parents become more involved in helping my sister in tandem with the professional help she receives?
Any help is really appreciated!
Written by
WalterWS
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That's a really difficult one. It's difficult enough having a family member with OCD. But if they refuse to let those closest to them help them it makes it all the more difficult.
It could be that she is ashamed and feeling defensive. It's often the case that we feel ashamed of our OCD and are afraid that others will criticize us or blame us for it. It's still a secretive illness and we go to a lot of lengths to hide it as best we can. Also it can be difficult to let people in because we feel we might be under pressure to do things we have problems doing, that we might be forced to do what we're not ready to do.
It can also feel problematic allowing family to talk to our therapists, as we feel they might 'tell on us'. Having OCD involves loss of control and keeping control of our own therapy rather than ceding it to others is a way, however perverse, of taking back control.
It can be a crippling illness, but a lot of us here have been in your sister's situation. It can and does improve.
Does she have Tourette's as well? It is related to OCD and the compulsive movements sound very like what are called 'motor tics'. Although OCD doesn't normally involve disruption of cognitive abilities, her problems processing information may be related to her brain simply being overloaded with intrusive thoughts. I know how that feels.
It's important that she doesn't feel coerced. It's good that she has her parents and you to help her and support her. But it can be overwhelming for family. Try not to accommodate her OCD more than you can manage without distressing her unduly. The more that is done for her the less capable she becomes of doing things for herself. But forcing her to do things before she's ready could set her back. Being there for her, being patient with her, and letting her know she has your support is a help in itself. Here are a couple of links that may be of help. Also there may be carers' support groups in your area.
Hey I’m Matthew I’m 22 I’ve got ocd I know how and what your sisters going as I’ve been through that patch too I’m always here if you ever need or want any advice of if you want me to try and talk /help your sister I’m happy to help as I’ve been through what she’s going through atm
I can understand her and family member problem.Listen first of fall your sister needs to understand more about ocd that ocd just intrusive thoughts,she needs to belive in herself and you can help her.Do something
1.sufferes needs to know more about ocd through internet and books
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