OCD and related conditions in Children, Teenagers and Young Adults

OCD is characterised by unwanted, persistent, intrusive thoughts, images or urges that cause distress and that a child or young person will try to manage or suppress in someway, through actions or thoughts. In turn these actions or thoughts become repetitive and are often described by young people as habits, rituals or they may have their own name for them.

OCD interferes with daily life, often as it is time consuming to engage in the rituals and causes distress and discomfort. Sometimes children and young people work hard to hide the behaviours or explain them away and it can be tricky for parents and carers to spot OCD initially.

Children especially like routine and predictability and sometimes this can disguise the pattern of OCD. We offer evidence-based therapy to treat OCD in the form of Cognitive Behavioural therapy with Exposure and Response Prevention (CBT with E/RP) and can offer parenting support to help you to help your child.

• CBT
• ACT

Sometimes children and young people start to repeatedly pull at their hair, for some it is breaking it off and for others pulling it out completely, which can result in hair loss. Sometimes children pull their eyelashes or eyebrow hair. Young people have usually tried many times to stop but find it very difficult.

Unfortunately noticeable hair loss can impact their self-confidence and willingness to socialise, for some it just gets them down. Sometimes children and young people are diagnosed with TTM or Trichotillomania, which is a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

We offer evidence-based therapy to treat hair pulling and Trichotillomania and can offer parenting support to help parents and carers to support their child.

• CBT
• ACT
• Habit Reversal Therapy
• Exposure & Response Prevention

Children and young people can develop mild skin-picking habits that can cause embarrassment, discomfort or distress and may be something they want support to break free from. Skin picking may occur at times of anxiety or distress.

Sometimes young people may develop a pattern of obsessively picking, squeezing or scratching certain areas of skin, which may be diagnosed as Excoriation Disorder or Skin Picking Disorder. This is a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Emotional health can be part of triggers to pick but also the consequence of picking, when young people may feel shame, guilt or anxiety.

We offer evidence-based therapy to treat skin picking and Excoriation Disorder and can offer parenting support to help parents and carers to support their child.

• CBT
• ACT
• Habit Reversal Therapy
• Exposure & Response Prevention

Young people or young adults may be experiencing issues with body image, leading to excessive worry about body shape and appearance. These worries can reduce mood, self confidence and create anxiety about socialising, joining in with sports, presentations and similar.

Sometimes worries focus on specific parts of the body and young people may become preoccupied with checking particular body areas in mirrors and going to great efforts to camouflage or disguise these perceived flaws. Sometimes they may also compulsively pick at their skin. Young people can struggle with social media, images and spend a lot of time comparing themselves to others.

We can support you to overcome body image issues and offer evidence-based therapy to treat body dysmorphic disorder (a diagnosed emotional health problem) and can offer parenting support to help you to help your child.

• CBT
• ACT