Advice please- 6 year old DS with awful anxiety/OCD type symptoms

[Devonlass1972]

I'm really worried about my DS and wondered if anyone had been through anything similar. He has always been very sensitive, thinks a lot about things, does well at school, is v articulate etc...and has always been a bit of a 'worrier' with the odd period where he has felt the need to repeat little routines to reassure himself - (sequence of movements, checking hands are clean etc...)

However it's recently started to get worse (his grandad died a few months ago and we were living away from home while our extension was being built - so a lot to deal with) and the last few days have been awful. It's got to the point where he is now having intrusive thoughts pretty much every couple of minutes - he worries that someone has got into the house, that someone might kill me or his dad while he is out of the room, that a soft toy might turn into a man with a gun, that we might not be safe in the car, in the house etc...etc.... He keeps asking me for reassurance which of course I give. It doesn't help though and knowing a bit about OCD personally (I struggle with it sometimes but manage it well), I completely understand! He is fed up of worrying and is very upset.

So, our GP is referring us to CAMHS in Hampshire (for CBT) and has said there is probably a two month wait. I honestly don't feel we can afford to wait that long...we are exhausted with worry for him

Does anyone live near the Berkshire/Hampshire border and can recommend anyone private that my son could see? We are in between Reading and Farnham/Guildford.

Also, if anyone has any tips on how to support a child with these issues then it be would reassuring to hear from you. We've tried lots of things like a worry box etc... but it's almost got too bad for that now.

Thanks in advance

[SeasonofTheWitch]

By the way, MissMilbanke's very clever placebo worked because the idea that he was being 'cured' by the sunny tablets instinctively created different thoughts in her son's head therefore he felt differently.

That's exactly the logic behind the Three Principles. Our minds are so brilliantly simple, we just don't realise it!

[Devonlass1972]

SeasonofTheWitch - just bought 'Do Nothing' which you recommended - sounds really interesting Glad it's not just me who struggles with posting things! Took me ages to figure out how to do emoticons on here!

[Devonlass1972]

Hi MissMilbanke, thanks for posting Yes, exhausting is the word! Really like the placebo idea. Wondering about buying one of those orange wristbands from OCD action....the ones that have 'just a thought' written on them. Not a placebo but still maybe something that can help 'protect' him. Glad to hear your son is doing really well now.