Compulsively washing hands, intense fear of illness, the need to perform repetitive rituals – these are all signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It’s a condition that impacts 1 in every 100 kids, if not more, and it can be debilitating.
The good news is, it’s possible to recover from OCD. If your child has OCD symptoms, their brain can change, and they can get better. They just need the right tools and guidance, and Bricolage Behavioral Health can help.
OCD revolves around obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions as a response to those thoughts. OCD is heavily based in anxiety without being considered an anxiety disorder. People with this condition fear something bad will happen by not performing an action or obsessive behavior. For some kids experiencing OCD, the ritual makes them feel in control. Having to turn a light on and off 3 times before leaving a room can give a child a sense of order and security when they may feel powerless in other areas of life. Over time, the habit becomes so ingrained that they can’t stop.
Compulsive behavior often interrupts their ability to live like regular kids, and obsessive thoughts prevent them from ever really resting or knowing peace. It’s incredibly distressing and often exhausting.
At Bricolage, we work with children to overcome obsessive thoughts and compulsive behavior. They’ll learn strategies to manage their symptoms with us until they’re gone.
Let’s be clear: rewiring your brain so it doesn’t rely on unproductive thoughts and behavior isn’t easy. It takes time, a lot of determination, and a lot of practice – but it’s well worth it in the end.
Children and teens with OCD operate based on some kind of false belief. A child might believe if they don’t wash their hands repeatedly, they’ll get sick and die. Others might believe something terrible will happen if they don’t meticulously lay out their school supplies in a certain way. Over time, the habituated behavior takes on a life of its own and becomes self-perpetuating even if they don’t believe something bad will happen anymore.
Our goal at Bricolage is to get to the root cause of any mental health concern, including OCD. When did the obsessive thoughts start, and why? We’ll ask the child many questions to get to the bottom of it. Once we know the “why,” healing from that is what we target – not just the OCD symptoms themselves. If we focus only on the symptoms, and that root cause goes unaddressed, the symptoms are more likely to return, and the child will have a harder time staving them off.
Bricolage tailors its approach to each child based on their unique “why,” but we use certain core strategies to treat OCD effectively. One key method involves working with prediction errors – moments when the brain expects something to happen, even when it likely won’t. By intentionally creating these situations, we help the brain recognize that obsessive predictions aren’t accurate. For example, a child might believe, “If I don’t wash my hands, I’ll get sick and die.” Through repeated exposure, their brain learns this isn’t true. Overcoming obsessive thoughts takes effort and consistency, but your child won’t have to do it alone.
Our whole-group therapy is also a key part of skill-building and establishing support for the kids in our program. Unlike traditional group therapy, which typically focuses on children only engaging with the therapist one at a time while sitting in a circle, we make sure every kid participates in therapy every minute of the session. We do this through whole-group discussions, small-group and partner work, and various learning formats. Not only do the kids gain the skills they need to conquer their symptoms – they develop communication strategies and friendships they can carry into their everyday life after they leave us. That’s vital to maintaining mental health, no matter the symptoms a child experiences.
You can break OCD down into two sets of symptoms: obsessions and compulsions. Most people diagnosed with OCD experience both.
Obsessions include:
Compulsive symptoms are responses to the anxiety that comes with obsessive symptoms and an attempt at finding relief. Sometimes, kids with OCD will feel like their intrusive thoughts will cause something bad to happen and partake in compulsive behavior to “prevent it.” These behaviors are repetitive because they only provide brief relief. Some compulsions are:
Symptoms can increase and decrease in severity based on a teen’s environment and stress levels. Some people will only experience mild symptoms, but others will experience debilitating ones. No matter the severity, treatment can help.
We don’t have a definitive answer to this question yet.
What we do know is that there’s no single cause. OCD can “run in families” to some degree, but that doesn’t mean it’s caused by genetics. Obsessions and compulsions can also be learned, so if a child sees someone in their family engaging in this behavior, they might do the same thing.
While “chemical imbalance” and “brain differences” are common theories, there is no scientific evidence suggesting those are causes. There are some minor differences in brain activity between people with OCD and those without it, but they aren’t consistent. Scientifically speaking, we don’t know whether those changes cause OCD or are caused by OCD if they’re OCD-related at all.
Our neurotransmitter (brain chemical) levels are also constantly changing, and there’s no standard for what an “imbalance” is or reliable way to measure neurotransmitters in the first place. Neurotransmitters likely change related to obsessions and compulsions, but that doesn’t mean they cause OCD.
Trauma and life experiences influence OCD. If a teenager’s father dies due to an illness, they might obsess over germs and then compulsively wash their hands out of fear of becoming sick and dying themselves.
The most important thing to remember is that repeated behavior reinforces itself. The more someone gives in to their compulsions and fixates on their obsessions, the more the brain gets used to that process and the more it engages in it. We need to break that habit, which is what we focus on at Bricolage.
There are no clinically recognized subsets of OCD, but there are some common categories OCD symptoms typically fall into. These include:
Keep in mind that OCD doesn’t necessarily fit cleanly in one of these categories. Kids can experience multiple “types” of OCD simultaneously, too, which is part of the reason why these types aren’t part of an official OCD diagnosis.
OCD specifiers, however, are a clinical concept that might be included in a diagnosis. Specifiers highlight how aware the person is that their obsessions and compulsions are irrational. The specifiers are:
No matter the specifier that comes with your child’s OCD diagnosis, recovery is possible. It might be easier for someone with good or fair insight to coax their brain out of their obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors, but children with absent insight are far from a lost cause.
The brain is always capable of change, no matter how engrained certain habits seem – especially for young people. A 16-year-old has had significantly less time to establish counterproductive thoughts and behavior than a 60-year-old, but even the 60-year-old is capable of overcoming their symptoms!
We hope this encourages you. Healing isn’t easy. It takes a lot of work and practice, but your child can do it, and Bricolage is here to teach them everything they need to know.
Bricolage Behavioral Health is a youth mental health treatment center in Flowermound, Texas. We focus on more than treating the symptoms of a mental health condition – we cut to the source of the symptoms and empower your child to change the very way their brain functions. Long-term healing is possible. Your child can do this, and we want to help. Call us at 469-968-5700 to get started today.
Bricolage Behavioral Health: Where Teen Minds Matter
Bricolage Behavioral Health is strength-based, skills-based, evidence-based, and medication-light. We empower your child or teen to develop the skills they need to take control of their mental health with effective, science-backed therapy.
At Bricolage Behavioral Health we believe that whole family healing affords your child the best chance for long term mental health and can put your loved ones on the path to a healthier, happier life.
Bricolage Behavioral Health
3204 Long Prairie Road
Suite A
Flower Mound, TX 75022
Mon - Fri: 8:30 AM–9:00 PM
Sat & Sun: 9:00 AM–5:00 PM
