good morning ! just wanted to catch you before you go away... first of all am so sorry that your dd is going through this - it is an awful condition I do know that. I echo what peneloperabbit says about CBT - it was the only thing that really worked with me and I would think that it would be ideal for a child.
I think I probably had the beginnings of OCD at around that age, possibly younger and they were all linked to safety and preventing harm to people close to me and protecting myself and my things - I used to hide all my toys and possessions under my bed every night to protect them from burglars,for example. In my teens and early twenties it became gradually stronger and I lived in fear of inadvertantly causing harm to others by being careless or not doing something properly - locking doors, turning taps off, maybe I accidentally poisoned something ?? Childhood things might have been triggered by death of my brother at 10 when I was 13 - he died of a rare cancer and I think it might have made me realise how vul nerable and fragile we are and that my parents couldn't protect him so it was up to me to take responsibility.
It really kicked in in my early twenties and I would say it was the worst ever thing - it made my life so difficult when it could have been fantastic (and it was a pretty good life -I had everything going for me) - my hands were washed raw with repeated rituals...I went to see a psychiatrist my mum had found - privately - cost a fortune and went on for a couple of years and apart from dissecting everything about my past life and dreams it did bugger all...I then carried on with other psychotherapies over the years with no discernible results. I did go into a hospital for a year which was traumatic and wanted so much to be out of there and better that it did spur me to get a real grip on my obssessions. This was a famous psych. community in W London which again was interesting but maybe not the right thing !
The OCD waxed and waned over this time, never as badly
as it had been and life returned to being fine and happy.
Years later when pregnant when life was again lovely it returned and I was then treated with CBT and anti depressants and it worked. Later I had a bit of a relapse when expecting ds but managed it all with the help of my fantastic gp - no drugs or anything,just understanding.
I still have it to a certain extent but I manage it and my life is fine, I juist think and worry a lot !
I have had hypnotherapy which I can also recommend for relaxing and getting your mind realigned into less convoluted thinking.
I hope this doesn't sound like a catalogue of gloom and make you feel more anxious for your dd...people know so much more about OCD now and I think if your dd is seen now it can be nipped very firmly in the bud.
I think that all of us have it in us to develop OCD as it's a safety device which most people have with a cut off like an RCB but in some people it short circuits and we don't know when or how to switch the power off - it's just getting your mind to re learn your responses to situations and CBT will teach your dd the realistic likelihood of something 'bad' happening if she doesn't do her rituals/say mantras etc...really,there is hope,I promise. Do get in touch through mumsnet if you like of course.
I have grown up to have a pretty good life, I have a successful illustratrating career,good friends and family and a lovely son and dh