6-year-old with possible OCD

[Obsidian]

I'm not sure whether this is the right board, or whether I should be posting in SEN - please let me know if I'm in the wrong place.

We're concerned that our 6-year-old daughter is displaying symptoms of OCD. She's been anxious and had 'worries' for maybe 18 months to 2 years now (since I spent two weeks in hospital with meningitis), but recently (leading up to the birth of her baby sister at the end of December) these 'worries' have become much more intense and intrusive. They vary from worries about germs, getting ill, washing hands and contaminating others (via food or spit or touch), to worrying she might have meant to hurt someone (often her baby sister), to more extreme examples like thinking she's tried to poison our food. She apologises over and over, seems guarded (lack of enthusiasm), seems low in confidence, and constantly asks 'is that okay?'

She's an otherwise happy, healthy girl, who is doing well at school and has plenty of friends. School have noticed this behaviour too - which comes out as excessive worrying about following rules, asking repeatedly for reassurance, and apologising for perceived small errors at school - and we have arranged a GP appointment for Friday to ask for more help / discuss next steps.

I'm just posting to ask if anyone here has any experience of OCD / anxiety / worries in such a young child, and could offer any advice or point me in the right direction. It's all been very distressing (especially while coping with a newborn), so would like to talk to others in the same position, to get more of an idea of what we're dealing with and how best to handle it. I've bought a book called 'what to do when your brain gets stuck', which I've found helpful, but haven't shown our daughter yet. We've also found the booklets on www.ocduk.org very useful.

Both my husband and I work in education (with young children) and my husband has experience of going through mental health difficulties, so we feel as though we should be well equipped to deal with this - but we're really struggling, as our strategies don't seem to be working.

Many thanks in advance for any advice / hand-holding you can offer

Oh yes. Yes, absolutely. You are not alone. I think my son has OCD. he is 7 and is very, very similar to the way you describe.

We also have the 'what to do when your brain gets stuck' book and it's excellent but... he is 7, it is so hard for him to translate the words there into practice.

With our son, it transpired he is/ was having issues swith negotiating social relationships at school - some kids trying to boss him around essentially, and him not knowing how to react. That came as a bit of a shock after his uber-confident older sister who won't countenance anyone bossing her around. I am mentioning this in casse there is anything going on at school worth exploring.

Having said that, I think this is just the way some children are. FIL has (to me) quite obvious OCD, DH is a compulsive checker, and I have an anxiety disorder. DD is very lucky to have escaped the genetic lottery.

I am giving DS (7) pre- and pro-biotics in the hope that these might help, given the emerging research on the gut=brain axis but it feels a little bit like pissing in the wind....

I can't offer advice but can offer a hand-hold.

PS DS started with all this when he was 6 and 7 months or so. So yes - similar experience in a young child.

Incidentally, he is very intelligent (not a stealth boast), which IMHO does not help. It just affords more capacity to worry and think things through (including the awful scary stuff).

On the plus side, at least (hopefully) there is now more awareness for this sort of thing, and the possibility of early identification and intervention. I think FIL is entirely oblivious to the fact his obsessive need for control is not healthy.

Hi both,

Have either of you thought of play therapy for your children? With the behaviours you're mentioning it could really help. It's not just play; art therapy, music therapy and all sorts of other area fall into the category. Often for younger children with fewer emotional literacy skills (in comparison to an adult, please don't take that as me being offensive!) it can be really helpful 🙂

Yes, I would definitely consider that @ConstantlyWorrying. Is there evidence it works for OCD?

I'm sure there are research papers around if you wanted to look into that, though I know from experience it helps with anxiety which is one of the root causes of OCD. If you want to find a play therapist near you have a look on the British Association of Play Therapists website. Lots of information on there and their linked therapists are all members of the Association, so you can be sure of their training and qualifications.