Anxiety and OCD in children are rising, but what signs do you need to look for? Nervousness, unease, and worry are signs of anxiety. The feeling of anxiety is normal, and everyone experiences it at some point… even our kids. But if it starts to interfere with your school work, relationships, or family life and prevents you from doing things and being in the present moment, it becomes clinical anxiety.
On the other hand, children and teens suffering from OCD exhibit intrusive thoughts and irrational fears that they can’t get control. Such fears are also called obsessions, which can lead to compulsions. A person with OCD engages in compulsions to eliminate their obsessions or reduce their distress.
Anxiety and OCD are often comorbid conditions, making them difficult to manage. Parents need a lot of help to support their children when they suffer from both conditions.
Here are some tips to help their children manage their anxiety and OCD:
1. Recognize the Signs
All family members should learn to recognize the warning signs of anxiety and OCD. Observe subtle changes in your child’s behavior and somatic or physical signs. Remember that they may always look fine outside but deal with anxiety and intrusive thoughts from within. These changes may be gradual, so it’s essential to recognize the signs early.
Some things to note are spending too much time alone, doing something repeatedly, tardiness, sleeplessness, stomach upset, change in eating habits, indecisiveness, and irritability. It’s essential to see these behaviors as possible signs of anxiety and OCD, not necessarily personality traits.
2. Don’t Attempt to Eliminate the Condition or Triggers
Contrary to popular belief, removing stressors isn’t the best way to help children overcome OCD or anxiety. Instead, the goal is to teach them how to tolerate their symptoms so they can function optimally even under attack.
By learning appropriate coping skills, their anxiety and OCD symptoms should decrease over time. Children will feel better in the short term if parents help them avoid the things they’re afraid of. But in the long run, it will reinforce their OCD and anxiety.
For example, when a child starts a tantrum whenever they feel uncomfortable. Parents tend to immediately take them away from the situation to remove the trigger. However, the kid learns that throwing a tantrum is the right way to cope.
They won’t learn how to deal with the trigger and will keep having tantrums instead, thinking that’s the correct behavior. ERP, or Exposure and Response Prevention, is ideal for these situations.
3. Modify Expectations
Positive or negative change can bring stress to people with anxiety and OCD, and it can cause their symptoms to flare up. Modifying expectations during transitions can help.
Validate your child’s feelings. Support and encourage them. Tell them that setbacks aren’t permanent and they can push through uncomfortable feelings, and those feelings will lessen every time they face their worries or fears.
4. Be Patient With Your Child
OCD and anxiety symptoms vary widely from person to person. Do not compare your child’s progress with others. One thing a parent can do is encourage them to strive for excellence. In contrast, if the pressure to perform perfectly exceeds a child’s capabilities, more stress is created, which results in more symptoms.
Children differ significantly in terms of the severity of their anxiety and OCD symptoms and how quickly they respond to treatment. Don’t lose patience or hope. It may be better to make slow, gradual progress to avoid relapses in the future.
5. Celebrate Small Wins
Most family members do not understand what it takes to accomplish something that seems so simple. Many tasks pose a considerable challenge for somebody with anxiety or OCD. While completing such tasks might seem insignificant to the rest of the family, they are very significant to the child.
Acknowledging these seemingly small achievements encourages them to keep trying. Recognizing your child’s hard work can motivate them to keep striving to do better.
6. Be Supportive
Avoiding personal criticism is the best route to go. Encouragement and acceptance are necessary for your child. However, approval and support do not imply disregarding their anxiety or OCD behaviors or overly reassuring them. Learn everything you can about anxiety and OCD, and know how to address their behaviors correctly.
Try not to engage in their rituals or compulsions or allow for avoidant behavior. Explain to them that compulsions are symptoms of OCD and that we need to “talk back to the OCD.” Help them resist these compulsions and reinforce coping skills. Focus on the symptoms, and don’t personalize your child’s erratic behaviors.
7. Communicate Clearly
If your child or teen needs reassurance or accommodation, avoid lengthy debates and rationales. Remember that your child may struggle to tolerate uncertainty, and doubt triggers them. It is essential to help them accept uncertainties and move forward.
Help For Children With OCD And Anxiety
Are Stimulants/Non-stimulants Useful?
Using stimulants and non-stimulants in managing OCD and anxiety symptoms may not be appropriate for everyone, especially kids, as they can affect brain development. However, alternative solutions, such as neurofeedback, nutrition supplements (Neurostatic Magnesium), and PEMF therapy (CALM PEMFTM), can help. These are science-backed treatments for anxiety and OCD.
Use of Therapy
Another clinically proven treatment for anxiety and OCD is neurofeedback. Neurofeedback is a therapy that shows real-time displays of brain activities to help kids gain control over their brainwaves. Using scalp-mounted sensors, it measures the brain’s electrical activity and provides feedback to the user through visual and auditory cues. Repeated neurofeedback training sessions help alleviate anxiety and OCD symptoms through brain regulation.
Magnesium
Magnesium is an effective supplement for calming the brain and reducing stress. It’s one of the most popular supplements for anxiety. More than 300 enzyme systems in the body utilize magnesium as a cofactor. The central nervous system relies on magnesium for many of its chemical functions.
PEMF Therapy
PEMF stands for Pulsed Electromagnetic Field. Since the 1950s, PEMF therapy has been used to treat various conditions. PEMF devices are FDA-approved and have long been used to treat injuries, pains, and many health problems. Repeating electromagnetic pulses stimulate cellular communication and activity within a damaged cell, which is helpful for individuals with mental health conditions, particularly OCD and anxiety. It is easy to use, and our device is portable.
Hope you found the article useful. Please leave your insights in the comments.
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