OMG Even four year olds can be Obsessive-Compulsive !
By redkathy
@redkathy (3374)
United States
October 8, 2008 2:39pm CST
Parents have so many things to learn/know/deal with these days. More worries that my parents ever had, their words! I pulled up Healthier.com and found today's headline article, "Children as Young as 4 Can Develop OCD", and just had to share it with you.
[i]
"Obsessive-compulsive disorder causes a person to have recurring, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and/or repetitive behaviors (compulsions). These compulsions -- such as hand washing, counting, checking or cleaning -- are often performed in hope of preventing obsessive thoughts or making them go away. Performing them brings only temporary relief and not performing them markedly increases anxiety.
Up to one in 200 children and adolescents may have obsessive-compulsive disorder, according to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
In their study of 58 children with OCD, aged 4 to 8, a fifth had an immediate family member with a history of the disorder. Roughly a fifth of the children also were diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)."[/i]
You can read the full article here http://www.healthier.com/Article.jsp?aid=9523
I have some true Obsessive-compulsives in my family. It's strange that this was the headline... My youngest son and I had a conversation yesterday about "his life". He is in college and working at the same time. His last room mates bailed on him, leaving him a tough financial position. Of course I asked, being mom, about his health and mental state because he sounded upset & exhausted. He said he was fine. I pressed him for descriptions, which he gave. Just stressed I thought.
After reading this article, I wonder if I need to make a doctor's appointment for him. I think about when he was young, how hyper and all over the place he would be at times. Add to that the family is full of "worriers", deep ones.
You can find more info on OCD here http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd/index.shtml
[b]Did you know about OCD? It's symptoms?
Where you aware of children being diagnosed with ODC?
[/b]
5 people like this
14 responses
@dustinnikki (301)
• United States
9 Oct 08
I agree that if you are worried about it, I would take him. My daughter goes through this behavior everyday and sometimes causes a big problem at one point in the day. She has other problems including mild autism and ADD tendencies and this seems to go along with it.
I wouldn't worry yourself but making sure there isn't any other problems is a good idea. I wasn't really aware of the OCD things that she does until we took her to the doctor with all her other behavioral problems.
2 people like this
@mag_keizer2007 (1282)
• Canada
9 Oct 08
Can you be more specific. My daughter is 3 and we think she might be ADD she does not listen and is all over the place and never sits still for very long. But she now knows all her letters and is starting to learn words...I am a stay at home mom with time on my hands...some days are better than others. Today she is tired she was up twice last night...which is normal but then she was up at 7 this morning and does not nap. She always has to have the same color pants and bottoms for when she is dressing, I hope it is because she wants to be coordinated.
thanks
worried mom
PS i am a worrier
1 person likes this
@dustinnikki (301)
• United States
9 Oct 08
With my daughter it's hard to tell what behavior falls under what problem. She was also very smart at a young age. By the time she was 2-3 years old she knew all her colors, letters, and numbers. She picked things up really easily. She also doesn't sleep very well at night either. We have to send her to bed at 8 every night because she will take 2-3 hours to fall asleep.
She will also wake up in the middle of the night (sometimes) but if she does, she will not go back to sleep and she is always the first one up in the morning. She can not sit still and if she is sitting, there is always something moving rapidly non-stop, like her foot or wringing her hands, etc. She is very loud and will talk really fast. There are a lot of other things she does that go into the OCD type behavior and the autism. I hope this helps but It's hard to pick apart all the behaviors and figure out where what behavior goes where.
If it's something that worries you, It couldn't hurt taking her to a doctor and get things checked out. Good luck and hope your daughter is doing well!
1 person likes this
@dustinnikki (301)
• United States
9 Oct 08
PS--with the OCD behavior, she has to have her clothes match too including socks. Her socks also have to line up perfectly with her toes. She has to constantly wash her hands and can not be dirty. Everything has to be set up in a certain order no matter what it is like toys, coloring books, anything. She also doesn't listen like she is completely deaf even though she can hear just fine. She also has to be in control of every situation and has a lot of strange fears. This is where behaviors start to go somewhere else.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
8 Oct 08
My neighbor's daughter is borderline OCD. She doesn't have the majority of the symptoms, but she gets really anxious if there's any break from her typical routine. She HAS to be in bed by 8:30. If her family has plans and she's not home by 8:30 she totally freaks out.
Last year she rode the bus with my twins and she would start crying if the bus was running a few minutes late. Her mom would tell her it's no big deal, she'll still get to school, or mom would drive her, but the girl would still cry. She'd start slow, just a little worried, and if too much time passed she'd become almost hysterical.
2 people like this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
8 Oct 08
BTW... she is only like 7 or 8 years old now.
2 people like this
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
8 Oct 08
no, i was not. that is too bad. life is hard enough as it is on a normal day & to add that problem to a young one like that is awful.
@savypat (20216)
• United States
8 Oct 08
I think it may start even younger, we have a grandchild who is obsessive about his trucks, he cannot be distracted and is happy for hours doing the same things over and over with them. I would be worried but he has a cousin who was the same way and has grown up just fine.
2 people like this
@shernette84 (46)
• United States
8 Oct 08
I don't get that your son has OCD from your post. He may be depressed. At his age he has to be going thru a lot. Realizing who he is or wants to be, learning about friends. Learning that life isn't easy. It's all very hard to deal with. Then trying to get an education and take care of yourself. It's hard to adjust. Talk to him before you just go out and make a doctors appt. because I'm sure he's trying to be independent. There are so many psych disorders and factors that go into them. Everyone that reads about a new disorder and has a few of the symptoms thinks they have the disorder.
2 people like this
@redkathy (3374)
• United States
8 Oct 08
I did give it thought. These things are in our family blood; a form of OCD, hyperactivity(not necessarily ADD), anxiety, and high blood pressure. I talked with my son again today. He can't seem to settle. He's not depressed or feeling alone, just anxious and a bit off the wall over being out of order. It's been a while since he's been to the doctor anyway. I don't run to the doctor but I think, given the history, he should get a check up. Thanks for your input
1 person likes this
@lafavorito (2959)
• Philippines
9 Oct 08
OMG that is alarming!
A couple of years ago, my son becomes upset whenever anyone touches his toys and doesn't put them back the way he wants it. Each and everytime it happens I assure him that it's ok if the bear sits at the middle of his bed instead of his usual spot by the left. Now he's still discipline in keeping his things in order but not too much.
1 person likes this
@highflyingxangel (9225)
• United States
9 Oct 08
I knew that it was possible for children to be diagnosed with OCD. I had some issues back in my childhood that made me think if they missed that diagnosis when I was a child. I actually was diagnosed with OCD when I was a young teen so I know the symptoms well.
@mag_keizer2007 (1282)
• Canada
9 Oct 08
OK my husband is OCD and it drives me crazy some times...he wants a clean neat house all the time and it use to drive me nuts. I would clean the house and he would come home and clean up right behind me and say he could see dirt. I was like where.....so I have concern about my children and weither they will be OCD. My daughter has alot of fears...she never wants to be without me...which I think is seperation aniety...but i keep pushing her to stay away from me at times and she is very hyperr...but she does nothing repitive except when she dresses herself it has to be the same color...like blue blue tops and pants.
I will have to wait it out I guess....thanks for the article.
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
9 Oct 08
hi redkathy I didnt know much about odc but that the person has certain rituals he must perform in order to feel safe. I think
there are things like turning on and off a light switch, washing ones hands over and over, touching something a dozen times and being obsessed with things like germs, or weight, or looks. There a lot I do not know though. I didnt know little kids could have it, but I guess its really posssible.
@jerzgirl (9327)
• United States
8 Oct 08
You know - I have no doubt that a kid can have OCD. I have OCD and had many of the traits at at least age 4. But, I DO have doubts that anyone can accurately DIAGNOSE OCD at age 4. Is it a phase only? Might it be a degree of autistic behavior rather than OCD? Only time will tell, really. But, if they're noticing traits early on, even if they can't accurately diagnose, that may help them channel the treatments rather than wait until they become problematic in school, etc., to admit there may be an issue at hand. I was well into adulthood before my diagnoses came. I can only imagine how many things would have been different if I had been diagnosed years earlier.
@redkathy (3374)
• United States
9 Oct 08
Excellent point about channeling treatments! Same is true with ADD in my opinion. My boys were very rambunctious and hyper. The public school said my oldest was ADD. I had him checked and the doctor said no way. I just watched what I fed them, kept a consistent schedule and they were fine.
1 person likes this
@creative_genius (992)
•
9 Oct 08
If you are concerned seeing the doctor will help immensely, it can't do any harm anyway. I don't know a lot about OCD apart from what you see on TV and that it can take over your life.
1 person likes this
@bamakelly (5191)
• United States
9 Oct 08
That is amazing the findings you have here on OCD in children. I have heard of this disorder before and I believe that I myself have been in one way or another been dealing with it in most of my adult life. It is not a comfortable way to live.
I do know that I suffer from anxiety. It is sad to know that children can adopt this behavior as well if he sees a parent with it.
I have never heard of the web site healthier.com but I appreciate you putting this post up today. I think I might take a look at the articles. ADHD is yet another disorder that seems to be prevalent in today's society and children are taking medication for it. It would be nice to find some methods that could work without the medicine.
Believe me, I am not trying to discredit medication if it is medically warranted. I just personally think that it is a shame that so many diagnoses are made and then automatic prescriptions for medicine ensues.
I also have to make a doctor's appointment for my son to get him a physical and maybe some other evaluations. Thanks for your post today and the insight on these disorders.
@nderaad (10)
• United States
9 Oct 08
That is not shocking at all, since I could walk I was constantly cleaning and straightening up. If i saw even a small spot of grease on the counter or floor I would spend the rest of the entire day just scrubbing everything in the house. There was even a time when I did not go to school to stay home and clean my room because I saw it as dirty. Thank God I no longer act like that, I am still a very clean person but I don't feel compelled to do anything.
1 person likes this
