Many children will have thoughts that bother them and feel like they need to do something about them. For example, worrying that they might have bad luck if they don't wear a particular piece of clothing.
For some children, these thoughts and urges to perform actions may happen more frequently and affect their daily lives. Children may have obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) if their unwanted thoughts and behaviours:
In OCD, thoughts are called obsessions and the behaviours they perform are called compulsions. This page explores OCD and how you can support your child.
OCD can be a difficult condition for children, young people and their families to live with. People with OCD experience intensely negative repetitive thoughts with feelings of doubt and danger. To suppress the thought and lessen their worries, they begin to repeat an action over and over. These are called obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions and can work as a cycle feeding each other.
Obsessive Thoughts
These are intrusive thoughts which are:
Compulsive Actions
These actions start as a way of trying to take control of the situation and reduce the anxiety that children and young people may be feeling. Compulsive habits or actions can include:
Intrusive thoughts that are referred to as obsessions can be triggered by:
This can lead to distress which requires a compulsive action to ease anxiety. These can be seen as:
The recommended treatments for children and young people who suffer from OCD include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
CBT is a type of talking therapy that focuses on changing the way we think and behave. Over time a CBT therapist can support your child to develop a different relationship with their intrusive thoughts and how they feel about them. They can also help your child to try different ways of responding to the thoughts when they experience obsessions.
OCD often requires a specific type of CBT therapy called exposure and response prevention (ERP) techniques. ERP involves purposefully letting the obsessive thoughts come up, without using the compulsive action to help your child realise they can manage their worries.
If your child or young person is under 18, it's recommended that a parent or carer is involved with the CBT sessions to help support your child effectively with the techniques at home.
If your young person is over 18, medications can be combined with CBT in some circumstances.
It's important to understand that you can't be expected to treat your child or young person's OCD at home by yourself. It's a complex condition and requires support from professionals. If your child's thoughts and compulsions are taking up a lot of time, causing distress, or making it hard to do important things like sleeping, studying and being with their friends, your first step is to make an appointment with a GP.
Things you can do at home to support your child include:
Let us know what you think!
We've been working together in Norfolk and Waveney with families and professionals to put together information, advice and resources that are helpful to families. Let us know what you think, and anything we could change or add to make it even better.
If you live in Norfolk
You can contact the Healthy Child Service team by calling Just One Number on 0300 300 0123 or texting Parentline on 07520 631590. Our opening hours are 8am-6pm Monday-Friday (excluding bank holidays) and 9am-1pm on Saturdays.
If you are 11-19 you can text ChatHealth on 07480 635060 for confidential advice from one of our team.
If you live in Waveney
Norfolk SEND Local Offer provide information and advice on services for young people with additional needs in Norfolk.
Suffolk SEND Local Offer provide information and advice on services for young people with additional needs in Waveney.
Mencap is a national charity who support people with learning disabilities. They offer a free Learning Disability Helpline with advice and guidance. Call 0808 808 1111 to speak to a trained professional.
Kooth offers online counselling, advice and emotional well-being support for anyone aged 10-18, seven days a week until 10pm.
Also in this section...
There can be positives to dealing with a condition like OCD. For example, people with OCD can have amazing attention to detail, be incredibly creative and good at problem-solving. 
You may have heard some myths about OCD, for example, someone saying that they are ‘being a bit OCD’ is still a common phrase for being particularly neat or tidy.
Some famous figures with OCD have accomplished great things and have had successful careers. 
