Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for 10 year old son

[Tippytoes13]

Hi,
My son has tic disorder and OCD, the OCD has only started within the past 8 months. Tonight he thought there were fleas in his bed from our cats, biting his skin, he was very upset and needed lots of reassurance, he has certain rituals too and intrusive thoughts, (which got quite bad when he was learning about WW2 at school). I've noticed it getting slightly worse the past few months, I do think he needs help, as worried it will get progressively worse and to be honest it upsets me so much seeing him go through it all. Where would I get help for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, would the NHS fund this, or is this something that's only offered privately.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for reading.

I don't know if the NHS do CBT for 10 year olds or not, but thought I'd bump it.

I think you'd start with your GP and get referred to CAMHS in the first instance.

It's very different from area to area. My ds was referred to CAMHS by another service when he was 10 as he was struggling to cope with a health condition. CAMHS weren't keen to see him, but were pushed to do so. They assessed him as "unsuitable" for cbt, then said they couldn't offer anything else.

But I've met people living in other areas who did get help from their local CAMHS and found it a positive experience.

I ended up paying for private therapy.

CAMHS in Hertfordshire help children younger than your son.

Can you get a referral from your Doctor?

I hope that you can get him the help soon as it must be worrying for you.

I'm a CAMHS practitioner and it sounds like a referral to CAMHS would be the best thing for your DS if he is experiencing OCD and tics. It's likely that they would do an assessment of his difficulties and if they felt CAMHS was the appropriate service for him (depending on what his needs are and the level of them) then he would probably be able to access CBT. I say probably because all the CAMHS services I have heard of offer CBT but obviously I can't personally guarantee that. CBT is the best treatment for OCD. Tics in young children are often felt to be best ignored as they can pass of their own accord, unless they are severely impairing or distressing for the child.

What you need to be aware of is that due to CAMHS being so overstretched with high risk / severe mental health patients unfortunately most CAMHS services operate a waiting list meaning there can be a delay in getting treatment. There isn't always, but in my experience there often is. Therefore if you can afford private CBT then you might want to consider it for that reason. But an assessment from CAMHS would be valuable in understanding your DS's mental health and his needs, so maybe you could have the assessment then make up your mind.

Good luck and I'm sorry that your son is going through this.

If you decide to go private, make sure you choose an accredited CBT therapist who is skilled and experienced in working with children (not all are) and understands OCD and tics.