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Posts Tagged ‘
child ’
Introduction
Having a cigarette with your morning coffee. Reading the sports section of the newspaper first. Ordering out pizza on Friday nights or Chinese on Sundays. These may be a few of your favorite things. But do you remember how or when these routines began? Are you even aware that they exist? Don't be alarmed by your answers. Doing these things repeatedly and often without thought is what qualifies them as habits.
Humans are creatures of habit. Our behavior patterns, developed over time, "program" us to follow predictable routines everyday. Your children, too, are developing their own habits and routines – some of which may be undesirable or downright harmful. As parents, it is important for us to take an interest in our children's habits. By understanding the nature of habits and by employing some habit-breaking strategies, you can help your child break bad habits.
Just as good habits can help improve the quality of our children's lives, bad habits can be embarrassing, annoying, or threatening to their physical and emotional well being. Because all habits are reinforced over time, the earlier parents begin taking notice, the better the chance of helping children avoid and curtail bad habits.
But what is a bad habit? Many parents would probably agree that wearing a seat belt, brushing teeth regularly, saying "thank you" and "please", studying after school, and eating healthfully are good habits. Parents may also agree that thumb sucking, knuckle cracking, finger nail biting, and nose picking constitute bad habits. But before parents intervene, they should understand how habits develop in children.
At first children are quite conscious of the behaviors that they exhibit. As the behaviors continue in frequency, they become more involuntary and become habits.
Habits develop due to factors including imitation, positive reinforcement, and/or anxiety or tension relief. Ironically, parents accidentally reinforce these negative behaviors they wish to extinguish by making a big deal about them. For example, the "fuss" parent makes is often reinforcing to a child who is seeking attention.
The best tool for parents wanting their child to discontinue a habit is patience. Parents should evaluate the habit as objectively as possible over a couple of weeks, observing the child and keeping track of the number of times the behavior occurs. It is also important to note the circumstances under which the behavior takes place, including the time of day and surroundings. These observations may help identify important patterns.
If, after employing this observe-and-evaluate approach, the parent still wants the behavior to cease, the following techniques are often effective.
Don't just insist that your child discontinue the behavior. If your child is unable to see how refraining from the behavior is beneficial to him or her, your efforts will be futile. Talk about the behavior with your child and him/her why you think it should be avoided. Also let him or her know what positive things can be done to get your attention and to relieve nervous energy.
Pick a time of the day in which the child normally would not exhibit his or her behavior and stay close by. During this period, reinforce successes and call attention to setbacks. When your child has become successful during these periods, set a new goal for a different time of day. This technique is effective in helping your child gain confidence that he or she can be successful.
Children learn by modeling, so be sure not to engage in a behavior (smoking, for example) that you don't want your child to imitate. You can also show how sincere you are by offering to discontinue a negative habit of your own.
Encourage your child to announce to grandparents, family friends and teachers that he or she is planning to break a habit. With support, it is always easier to resist an urge.
Show your appreciation for your child's effort and determination. If your child becomes discouraged, focus on past successes. Keep any doubts and frustrations to yourself. When desired behaviors occur, immediately reward your child with praise, recognition, approval, attention or additional privileges.
Nervous habits, such as nail biting, increase under stress. Practice slow breathing exercises with your child and teach him or her to use positive self-talk whenever feelings of nervousness or stress occur.
Habits are not developed or broken overnight. Change occurs in gradual steps. Begin by aiming to reduce the number of times a habit occurs each day and then slowly progress toward extinction of the habit. While these techniques can curtail many behaviors, they are often ineffective against more serious habits. If your child does not benefit from the behavioral intervention presented here, it is recommended that he or she be evaluated by a mental health professional.
Habits aren't called habits because we engage in them when we feel like it. Rather, they are behaviors that have a tendency to control us. Because habits are developed over time, it is important that parents are mindful of the behaviors that their children exhibit. Ignoring them won't make undesirable behaviors go away. But if you employ the techniques listed here, you'll be better able to equip your child with good habits and help him or her from slipping into a routine of bad ones.
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Tags: break bad habits, child, Jay Finestone, tip sheet
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Introduction
Parents of children with special needs (such as health, emotional, or behavioral conditions) often experience a complex array of feelings, including sadness, despair, uncertainty, anger, and loss. Leaving behind all they had previously known, families are faced with a new perception of daily life and asked to adapt to new and challenging responsibilities. In the first several months following diagnosis, the family’s focus centers on the child and his or her schedule for treatment, doctor’s visits, and life style adjustments. While the parents endure this necessary yet challenging phase, their own needs often fall by the wayside.
Mothers and fathers play an important role as parents but they also play an equally important role as spouses to one another. Given the significant stressors that families face, it is not unreasonable to expect their marital satisfaction to be impacted during this time. The ways in which each spouse reacts to and copes with the stress of their child’s illness has a dramatic influence on their relationship. Each partner deals with powerful feelings and responsibilities in their own individual way. Often times, this is the first time that parents see how their partner copes with tremendous disappointment and loss. Some coping styles are complementary while others contrast. One partner may be very expressive about how they are feeling, while the other may need space and time to sort through their feelings. It is important to recognize that all parents cope differently.
Societal expectations influence how parents "should" respond further reinforcing the demands specific to each partner. Many mothers feel like they need to do "everything." Mothers often feel pressure to continue to meet the needs of their husbands, household obligations, and other siblings. Unfortunately, they often leave behind their own needs and places of employment.
Fathers commonly state that there is an increased need to continue to provide for their families while under duress and to fight the stigma against being weak, sad, or tearful. Rather, they should be brave, strong, and in control. In trying to live up to the expectations of others, some fathers let go of their need for expression, connection, and time with their partner and family.
Over time the pressure to fulfill these demands becomes too great. Parents are bombarded with financial, emotional, and physical burdens. They are confronted with social isolation, communication breakdown, sibling resentment, conflict, role reversal, and a loss of intimacy.
When both partners are hurting, it is difficult for them to be supportive of one another. Spouses become convenient targets for each other’s anger and frustration. Stress and the threat of loss can intensify our need for love, affection, and reassurance and change our expectations of how our partners should behave. These changes highlight any potential insecurities or difficulties already existent within the relationship. Secure attachment, or the sense that one can count on their loved one, has been linked to resilience or the ability to deal with stress effectively. This "secure attachment" is a buffer against ongoing stress and the negative effects that stress might have on their relationship.
In the greatest race of their life, couples often forget which team they are on and turn against one another. In the face of such adversity we often ask what options couples are left with. Is it possible for couples to advocate for the needs of their child and at the same time the needs of their marriage as well?
Couples can maintain their relationship by using communication methods that work for them such as the following:
- Spouses need to identify one another’s needs and means of expression.
- Setting aside time each day to touch base with one another will prevent communication breakdowns and the build-up of resentment.
- Couples need to practice active listening. This enables each partner to feel truly heard by the other and to promote a genuine sharing of their experience.
- For couples that find active listening challenging, the creation of a daily sharing notebook is passed back and forth to maintain connection and enhance communication.
- The sharing of emotions such as anger, fear, and hope foster attachment and intimacy.
Couples need to create opportunities or activities including:
- Scheduling a date night every week. Although this seems difficult, many couples find it enhances their relationship. They can make this a reality by finding a friend or a family member that they trust to baby-sit for them.
- Selecting one activity that you always do alone together or a time of day that you always spend together. It is not important what you choose to do, but rather, that you make it a regular priority to do something together as a couple.
When couples spend positive time alone together they can begin to engage in and respond to one another’s needs. These positive interactions promote open communication, the ability to empathize, and hear other’s perspectives in a way that builds trust, intimacy, and security.
It is not uncommon for couples to need some help from professionals during this time. Communication skills and the art of compromise are often looked upon lightly. However, in the midst of a crisis, it can be quite difficult to master these tasks. Parents may choose to pursue short-term couples counseling to enhance communication practices, work through differences, or repair old wounds that have been brought to the surface in light of the recent crisis. The tools obtained in counseling will not only benefit the family in the short-term but will carry them through the longevity of their marriage.
Living successfully with a child with special needs requires good planning, effective coping strategies, and a lot of love. Parents are confronted with a challenge they are not prepared for and are asked to relinquish control of their previous life. They take on a host of new roles including medical experts, advocates, and insurance warriors. In doing so, their own needs often get neglected and their marriages go unnoticed. Despite the needs of their child, parents must find a way to support one another and meet their own needs as well. In doing so, they will not only help themselves but their child as well.
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Tags: child, couple, help, illness, parents, serious, special needs, Stacey L. Bergman
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Introduction
You celebrate when your child receives a college acceptance letter or gets the first job they've been hoping for after high school. Furniture is passed on, new sheets are purchased, and you help them move into their new apartment or dorm room. A last kiss on the cheek, a long hug, and then you're back on the road, going to an empty home. After eighteen-plus years of being a mother or a father, that first step into a childless home can be many things: heart-rending, challenging, exciting or perhaps just lonely. What do you do now?
All parents may one day have to confront the silence of an empty nest. And yet, we know that mothers and fathers deal with the experience in different ways. Fathers, who may have been more removed from their children's lives due to their careers, tend to want to establish a closer relationship with their grown children. Mothers, on the other hand, who may have had an intimate relationship with their children, see a lessening of their roll as family caretaker; suddenly there are no varsity games to attend, no more PTA meetings, less laundry in the hamper, and more quiet, free time.
Women many times react positively to this change. Perhaps they choose to get a new job, or revitalize their circles of friends or engage in a hobby that has interested them their entire lives, but to which they've never been able to devote adequate time.
But an empty nest causes mothers and fathers to reevaluate their lives in different ways, and it's not uncommon for marital tensions to escalate. Searching to infuse a new purpose into their lives, the father may discover a renewed interest in familial bonds while the mother realizes the satisfaction that can accompany her own job, hobby or meetings with friends. Either spouse may look for attention or excitement outside the marriage in an extra-marital affair. Unfortunately, these new stresses can sometimes lead to separation or even divorce.
How can a couple best handle these matters? Talking to a family therapist can help resolve marital tensions. While couples only have to experience that first step into an empty nest once, therapists spend their entire lives working with couples and individuals as they decide how to confront the next phase of their lives.
By helping couples understand that men and women respond to this situation in different manners, a therapist can act as a neutral mediator, provide a safe environment for discussion and aid in opening the couple's lines of communication. For a couple, this understanding can potentially lead to mutual respect and appreciation as they embark on a new, exiting era of their lives. There are many highly qualified licensed clinical social workers available to provide family therapy. They have special training and expertise in counseling couples.
Kissing your child on the cheek and giving him, or her, a strong hug is an end of one portion of your life. But that first step into your empty home doesn't have to be purely upsetting or saddening. That step can be viewed as the beginning of a new, satisfying period for a couple, filled with shared appreciation and excitement.
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To read more articles by Peggy Levinson, please go to www.claytontherapy.com.
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Dawn Newsom wants to help kids.
She especially hopes to help them navigate the turbulent waters of social pressure and media exposure.
That’s why Newsom chose to be a clinical social worker. After receiving a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in social work, she held positions for more than seven years in child guidance clinics and agencies around Connecticut. Then she decided she wanted to have a private practice, working with young people in Ridgefield.
She has established her practice in the Center for Healing and Recovery, where she counsels children and adolescents individually and with their families.
“I like to engage children and their families,” Newsom said. “I communicate to parents that I’m on their side. That the fact that their child needs counseling is not that they did anything wrong. ‘We’re a team,’ I stress. Then once they feel safe and the child feels safe, we can look at what’s happening.”
Newsom helps parents remember the tension and stress of growing up and helps them become aware of the complicated societal issues that children must deal with today.
“I like to concentrate on the strengths of their relationships with their children — what they’re doing now that’s right and how they might improve on those things,” Newsom said.
Newsom said it is “challenging to raise a child today” because of the early exposure to adult content on television and the Internet.
“It can be unnerving,” she said. “I help parents explore ways to keep kids from this exposure and help them learn how to explain what is seen by kids to their kids.”
With the pace of life in the 21st Century, so much is jammed into every day by parents that they can overlook the little things that occur day to day, Newsom said.
“A lot of kids today don’t have adult guidance to help them navigate through life,” she said. “It’s hard enough to meet our own needs today. It’s hard to meet a child’s needs, too, and then deal with the challenges society puts on a child.”
Newsom works to help parents understand their kids’ needs and behavior.
She said she believes a child is never too young to be taken for counseling. With very young children, “you’re helping the parents,” she said.
Despite the age of the child, Newsom uses the component of play in her therapy sessions. Kids learn through playing, she said, and playing eases the child, allowing for relaxation and connection.
Having a bond of trust with her young patients is key.
“Especially with older kids, there is concern about my going back to their parents with what they say,” Newsom said. “We establish early on in the session what I share and what I don’t share. I explain there are some issues I’m obligated to report to parents, issues of the young person’s safety.”
“I am not their friend at school,” Newsom said. “We can act friendly, but we have a working relationship.”
Oftentimes Newsom treats the entire family. It is clear that the child is the identified patient, but she said she finds that if she can help change one thing for one person, she can often change things in the whole family dynamic. That is necessary for some families more than others, she said.
“I don’t find it as effective to see a child alone,” Newsom said. “You can’t treat a child in a vacuum. Possibly you can with a mature 17-year-old, but you are usually not as successful when just seeing a child alone.”
Newsom said she chose the Center for Healing and Recovery to establish her practice because of the “warmth and sense of safety and community” that exists there.
“I want my clients to neutralize any shame they might feel about needing help,” she said. “I want them to feel it’s OK to seek help. There is a community here at the center that supports that.”
At the center, yoga, art therapy and massage therapy is offered. Newsom said she likes being able to offer those options to her clients.
“You need to heal the body and the spirit,” she said. “Here, when there is a need for something to help clients, we practitioners put our heads together and develop workshops to meet those needs.”
Newsom can be reached at her business cell phone at (203) 512-8359 or the phone at the center at (203) 438-3007.
Reprinted with permission of the News Times.
Tags: Adolescents, child, clinical social worker, Danbury, Dawn Newsom, development, families, media, parents, real life, social work, Susan Tuz, team, The News Times, youth, youth counselor
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Introduction
Here are two articles on how social workers help in the adoption and foster care arenas. The first is a general description of how social workers assist adoptive and foster care parents. The second is a first-person narrative of a social worker based in Washington, DC who works in the foster care system.
Tags: adoption, birth parents, child, families, foster care, help, legal state, process, resources, social workers, tips, trends
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Adoptions And Foster Care, How Social Workers Help, Kids And Families |
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Introduction
In my role as supervisor of Resource Parent Training with the Child and Family Services Agency in the District of Columbia, I talk with and meet prospective foster and adoptive parents everyday. Once an individual who is interested in foster care or adoption submits an application at one of our Orientation sessions, I call them to schedule an office appointment. During this brief meeting, I explain the required paperwork and give them a folder of documents to work on prior to the pre-service training class they are planning to attend.
All applicants must complete a 30-hour program (the Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting) as part of the licensing process; these classes are held twice a week for five weeks. We start a new class every month of the year except December and we offer different combinations of class times so applicants have many opportunities to enroll. Though time-consuming for both presenters and participants, these classes are fun and rewarding. As a supervisor, I no longer am required to teach, but I sometimes volunteer to train with a new social worker in my unit or pinch-hit when someone is unavoidably absent. I always enjoy the time I spend in the classroom.
Recently, I met with a woman who I’d describe as the ideal candidate to be a foster or adoptive parent for a child from the Washington, DC neglect system. After speaking with her, I felt rejuvenated and reaffirmed in my conviction that I’m in the right place doing the job I need to be doing. What was it about her that made me feel this way? A number of factors come to mind: She had been thinking about adoption and foster care for a long time and had been informally helping children in her community – through tutoring and being a welcoming neighbor for many years. She had indicated on her application that she was interested in adoption but as soon as I asked her whether she’d also consider being a foster parent, she said, “yes.” Her level of openness signaled to me immediately that she is likely to be very successful in working with our foster care system.
This applicant was also forthcoming about several challenges she had faced in her own life. In our pre-service training, we stress how important it is to be able to talk about our own losses as adults so that we can be a guide for children who are suffering from the trauma of abuse and neglect combined with the loss of their birth family. This applicant exhibited an immediate comfort level with sharing some of these aspects of her life. At the same time, the information she provided on her application in addition to areas we discussed clearly established that her home life and career are stable and that she is in a reasonably financially secure position. We don’t look for applicants with high incomes, but all too often people come to the agency hoping to be foster parents when their own houses are not in order.
This applicant also expressed a willingness to engage with school age and older children. She was even interested in sibling groups, adolescents and teens who she could mentor into adulthood, even though they may maintain ties with members of their birth families. She communicated a sound appreciation for the needs of the children and youth and was able to set their needs clearly ahead of her own. She expressed a desire to build a family of her own through adoption while at the same time being open to helping children in a variety of ways as she moved towards this goal.
In contrast, I often speak with applicants who come with a narrow view of the type of child they are willing to consider parenting. Sadly, couples that have suffered infertility come to our agency hoping we can provide them with the perfect infant they have longed for or lost through miscarriage. When they hear that the majority of the babies committed to our system have been born drug-exposed or that we cannot guarantee that they will be available for adoption until we rule out any and all members of the birth family, these applicants can become deeply frustrated and hurt. I have to explain that this is one of the critical differences between a child welfare agency and an adoption agency: though we pursue adoption as a viable permanency goal whenever appropriate, our first mandate is to work with the birth family, except in extreme cases where reunification is not an option. I have witnessed a number of successful infant placements in my six years with the agency, as well as several painful disappointments.
I also speak with a number of well-meaning prospective foster/adoptive parents who feel that only a child under the age of five is “salvageable,” and that the older children are already “set in their ways.” I always tell prospective foster and adoptive families that I believe each family should pursue what feels right for them and never feel coerced into accepting a child into their home when the fit isn’t right, for whatever reason. But that being said, I also know the best rewards will come to those whose minds and hearts are the most open. I tell people too that having a child through whatever means – adoption, foster or kinship care, or biologically – takes a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. I’m not sure I could do what successful foster and adoptive parents do everyday, but I know what it takes.
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Tags: adoption, challenges, child, foster care, help, legal, parenting, parents, post-adoption, public agency, risk, types
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Introduction
If you are grieving the loss of a loved one, no one needs to remind you just how devastated you may be feeling. It is perhaps one of the darkest, most stressful periods in your life. As painful as it is to be in this state, it is a normal, healthy reaction to a loss. Thankfully, it does not last forever.
Although some people who are grieving become physically ill and are unable to eat or sleep, others report feeling numb; still others may isolate themselves, preferring to be left completely alone to their sadness. Everyone experiences grief differently.
Regardless of exactly how grief manifests itself, trust that the upheaval you are feeling is normal and universal. Most people experience a range of emotions, which can include the following:
- Anger
- Denial
- Disbelief
- Shock
- Confusion
- Sadness
- Guilt
- Yearning
Likewise, many people who are grieving speak of very real physical symptoms, such as:
- Loss of appetite
- Low energy level
- Stomach upset
- Headaches
- Sleep disturbances
Mourning can seriously deplete your body's natural defenses, leaving you vulnerable to infection and illness. Existing conditions can worsen or new symptoms may develop. Sadness can give way to major depression, which necessitates professional treatment.
Many people are surprised by the intensity and duration of their feelings and how quickly their emotions may swing from despair to anger and then back again to shock. This too is normal. Often, the feelings come in waves and can be quite overwhelming.
Grief is a process that takes time. Trust that, while you will never stop yearning for or missing your loved one, the pain will ease eventually.
Also keep in mind that grieving isn't always the result of a death. People grieve after other major losses such as a divorce or a move away from a familiar, comfortable place.
Immediately after the death of a loved one, people experience bereavement, which is defined as "to be deprived by death." This is a period of deep grieving.
Mourning is the actual process you go through to help you to accept a major loss. This may include religious rituals honoring the person or getting together with friends and family to share the loss. Like grief, mourning is highly personal and can last for months, even years, depending upon your background and traditions. In some Mediterranean cultures, for example, widows were once expected to dress in black for the rest of their lives. In other societies, those in mourning forgo special events or celebrations out of "respect" for the dead.
Losing a loved one is always difficult, but how you react will depend much upon the circumstances of the death. A shocking, unexpected death will unleash different feelings than a death that followed a long, drawn-out illness. Likewise, your relationship to the person is a factor in how you react.
- Death of a spouse can be very traumatic. In addition to the actual loss of a loved one, you may face potential financial woes, especially if that person was the family's main breadwinner. In addition, a surviving spouse may suddenly have to assume all parenting and household responsibilities solo, which calls for a major readjustment.
- Death of a child can evoke an overwhelming sense of injustice and guilt. No matter what the circumstances were, a parent may feel completely responsible for the death, as irrational as it may seem.
- Death via suicide may leave the survivors feeling angry, ashamed, guilty, and even responsible for the death. Suicide is one of the most difficult, disturbing deaths to mourn.
Suppressing your feelings does not work. Allowing yourself to grieve is perhaps the healthiest, most effective way to deal with the loss. You can do this in a number of ways, including these:
- Express your feelings – Whether you write them down in your personal journal, or confide them to a trusted friend, it's important to vent your feelings.
- Look for caring people – Join a support group with others who're experiencing the kind of loss you face. Spend time with relatives and friends who understand your situation and are willing to listen to you. Not everyone has this gift.
- Avoid making major life changes – Changing jobs, moving, or deciding to have another baby is not advisable just now. It's better to wait a while and gradually adjust to the loss.
- Look after your own health – The hard work of grieving is stressful and depletes you. Don't ignore regular check ups with your physician. Be mindful of how easy it is to become dependent upon alcohol or medication to ease your pain. Hard as it may be, it pays to eat well, exercise, and get adequate rest.
- Be patient. It can take months, even years to fully process and accept the loss. Ignore those who urge you to "snap out of it," or those who question why you're not "getting over it." Grief is experienced very personally on an individual time-line.
- Seek professional help – If your grief is unbearable, or if you are simply unable to function, it's a good idea to speak to a professional to help work through your grief.
From linking you with an appropriate support group to helping you make sense of the barrage of official paperwork you must fill out (death certificate, insurance forms, medical bills), social workers can help in a big way. They can point you in the direction of services to which you may be entitled, such as local organizations that can assist you or federal agencies such as the Veterans Administration, which also offer death benefits to families.
A social worker can also help you to determine whether you would benefit from a few sessions with a skilled therapist who can help you sift through the overwhelming, even conflicting feelings you may be experiencing.
Remember, help starts here.
While some social workers work in a hospital, school, or other institutional setting, others in private practice may be self-employed. Social workers make up the largest number of mental health practitioners in the country, and are located in every community.
When a friend, neighbor, or relative has lost someone close, you can help them to grieve through their loss.
- Listen. Allow or even encourage them to talk about their feelings and to share their stories and memories of the deceased.
- Avoid offering false comfort. Telling someone, "you'll get over it," or "don't worry, it was all for the best," is not helpful. A direct expression of sympathy, "I'm sorry," is far more effective, as is lending an ear.
- Think practically. Offer to prepare a meal, baby-sit a child, or run errands. A grieving person is overwhelmed and may simply need an extra pair of hands to tend to the practical realities of living.
If you find yourself using alcohol or drugs (and that includes prescription drugs) excessively following the loss of a love one, do seek out professional help.
Likewise, if you are deeply depressed to the point of feeling suicidal, or simply unable to cope with even the simplest tasks of daily living, contact a mental health professional. Remember, it's not a sign of weakness to admit that you need help. It's a sign of strength.
It's also important to know that you will get through this stage. People the world over endure the losses of loved ones, and do survive. You will, too.
For additional information, contact these organizations:
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Tags: child, grief, grieving, healing, help, loss, mayo, organizations, social workers, spouse, stages, suicide
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How many times have you walked out of the house only to immediately return, convinced that you left the iron on, or forgot to lock all the doors?
It's only normal to occasionally forget something or to worry that you neglected to do something. If, however, these worries begin to overwhelm you, or cause you to repeatedly perform certain "rituals" to help keep your anxieties at bay, you may be suffering from Obsessive Compulsive disorder (OCD).
It is an anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviors to help rid yourself of these thoughts (compulsions). The behaviors may include constant hand washing to eradicate "germs," counting certain objects over and over to make sure you have not lost any, keeping everyday items in precise order. Unfortunately, performing these rituals brings about only temporary relief from the crippling fear and anxiety. Likewise, not performing these rituals usually spells an increase in anxiety.
With OCD, it's as if your brain gets stuck on a specific image, thought, or urge, and can't move on, like a needle on a broken LP record. Among the more common obsessions: excessive worries about dirt and germs, a fear of having harmed someone else (perhaps while pulling the car out of the driveway) even though it's unrealistic, or a fear of yielding to violent urges.
People with OCD may recognize that their repetitive thoughts and behaviors are utterly senseless, but cannot free themselves from them. Often, they feel helpless and embarrassed and question their sanity. Others may not realize something is wrong. Actor Jack Nicholson was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as a New York writer and OCD sufferer in the 1997 film "As Good as it gets."
Experts once thought that OCD was rare, but it's now known to be more common than other mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. More than three million Americans from all walks of life have OCD.
If your parents or other relatives had OCD, the odds of you suffering are slightly higher. However, scientists have not identified any genes responsible for it. They are also divided on its origins, with some theorizing that its cause is biological, and others saying it springs from a learned behavior. Yet other experts believe it's a combination of both environmental and genetic factors.
Inadequate levels of serotonin, a chemical messenger in your brain, may also be to blame. OCD sufferers who take medicines that enhance the action of serotonin often improve greatly.
Some people who strive for perfection in all they do – maintaining an impossibly clean home, always finishing a work projects well ahead of schedule – may be considered compulsive. This is not the same as having OCD. Behaviors associated with OCD begin to interfere with everyday functioning, taking up time, and creating anxiety.
This is where a social worker can help you.. Often people plagued by recurrent thoughts and behaviors are ashamed to admit them. They fear being judged or labeled crazy if they confide, for example, that they are stuck on the same senseless thought or feel as though they must constantly scrub "germs" off a doorknob.
In a caring, non-judgmental environment, a social worker can assist you with determining whether it is indeed OCD and help you to formulate a treatment plan, possibly even referring you to a mental health professional who specializes in the disorder. While there is no specific laboratory test to confirm the disorder, a social worker can ask a series of key diagnostic questions about your obsessions.
A form of psychotherapy called cognitive behavioral therapy and antidepressant medications, often used together, are effective in treating OCD. Cognitive behavioral therapy involves retraining your thought patterns and routines so that your compulsions are no longer necessary.
Two types of antidepressants are used to treat OCD. These are: Selective Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) which enhance the brain's ability to use serotonin, a brain chemical that sends and receives messages and plays a crucial role in mood.
Yes. In fact, OCD usually begins in adolescence or young adulthood and is seen in as many as 1 in 200 children and adolescents.
A young child with OCD, for example, may be terrified someone will enter his home at night through an unlocked door or window. While his parents sleep, the child may tiptoe around the house, checking all the doors and windows, a way of alleviating the anxiety. Fearing that he may have mistakenly unlocked a door or window in the process, he then begins checking all over again.
An older child or teenager with OCD may often worry that they will become sick with AIDS, germs, or contaminated food. To cope with these unsettling feelings, the child may develop "rituals" or behaviors or activities that they repeat, such as frequent hand washing, checking something again and again or keeping items or possessions in absolute order.
The rituals can also consist of mental acts like counting aloud, repeating words silently or avoiding certain things, like cracks on a sidewalk, or climbing over every other step in a staircase.
If your child's compulsions or obsessions interfere with her normal routine, for example, keep her from focusing in school, alienating her from her peers or hindering her from joining in on social activities, a consultation with a mental health professional is definitely in order .
Again, seeking the services of a social worker possibly even within the child's school system, is an excellent place to begin.. She will help in the diagnosis and possibly in the creation of an effective treatment plan.
Cognitive behavior therapy is considered to be especially helpful in for children and adolescents with OCD
Cognitive behavior therapy with a trained mental health professional is especially helpful, more so than antidepressant medication, which is also prescribed for children and adolescents.
Remember only a licensed physician can prescribe medication for your child's OCD.
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Tags: articles, child, compulsive, Disorder, medications, NASW, obsessive, ocd, social worker, therapy, treatment
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About, Obsessions And Compulsions |
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