My wife has OCD although in recent years she has got it down to a minimal effect. We have a six year old boy and he's just started to show symptoms. Of course my wife recognises them and she is devastated, we're both heart broken and obviously don't want him to suffer like she did. His symptoms at the moment are, when he's relaxed in front of the TV or as he's going to bed, he'll make "mmm...Whuh!" sounds. He'll do things like, lick one wrist, then the other. One bedtime recently he brought it up with my wife and asked "When will this feeling go away?" I learnt as much as I could about OCD when I found out my wife had it (I even wrote a book about it)... But I didn't learn anything about children having it or how they might be treated. We live in London, I was hoping there might be someone out there who can advise us what to do next. When school starts we'll speak to the head-teacher and his new teacher (it's a lovely school). But what are the next steps - Any help or advice please?
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NaoBrown
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First of all, massive congratulations to your wife for managing to reduce her OCD!
You are doing absolutely the right thing in learning as much as you can about OCD - knowledge is definitely power in this case.
I think the first step would be to take your son to his GP and tell them that you think he is displaying signs of OCD and ask them for a referral for CBT (cognitive-behavioural therapy). They will be able to advise best on specialist support for children with OCD.
Speaking to his teacher and headteacher is also an excellent idea - the more support you manage to put in place for him, the better his chances of beating this quickly so that he can get "this feeling to go away".
There are also a couple of guides on the website ocduk.org that you might find useful - one is for young children, entitled "Jolly and Grump", another is for parents of those with OCD.
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