Child OCD Program
Compassionate care for children with OCD
Children and teens with OCD have unwanted, intrusive thoughts that make them anxious. To ease this anxiety, they adopt repetitive, compulsive behaviors. These obsessions and compulsions repeat in a loop.
Watching your child struggle with OCD can be heartbreaking. These constant worries and rituals can keep your child from enjoying their childhood and teen years. We partner with your family to understand your child’s experiences and recommend how to best support you, your family, and your child.
Our complete care helps your child manage OCD and take control of their life.
Expert treatment of childhood OCD and tic disorders
Our practice focuses on children and adolescents through age 18 years with OCD and related disorders like:
- Body dysmorphic disorder
- Trichotillomania (hair pulling)
- Skin picking disorder
- Tic disorders and Tourette syndrome
- Commonly associated co-occurring conditions, including ADHD, anxiety, and intermittent explosive disorder
Signs of OCD in children and teens
Obsessions are unwanted thoughts or urges, such as:
- Excessive worries about germs, illness, or death
- Unwanted, upsetting thoughts about losing control or harming others
- Needing things to feel “just right”
Compulsions are behaviors or rituals that a child feels they must do to keep bad things from happening, or to reduce distress from the obsessions such as:
- Washing hands repeatedly or checking repeatedly
- Mental rituals including counting or repeating words to self
- Writing and re-writing, reading and re-reading
- Seeking reassurance from parents for things they already know
It’s important to remember that, particularly in children and teens, they may avoid situations or experiences that may trigger the OCD symptoms, which is also symptomatic of OCD.
Care tailored to your child’s needs
ERP is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and the most effective psychological treatment for OCD. With guidance from a trained mental health professional, ERP helps patients gradually face situations that trigger obsessive thoughts while learning to reduce or stop compulsive behaviors.
Treatment is collaborative and tailored to each patient. Clinicians may also incorporate other approaches, such as cognitive restructuring, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), mindfulness, and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills, to support progress and improve quality of life.
Contact the Pediatric Psychiatry OCD and Tic Disorders Program
Brigham and Women's Hospital:
617-732-6753
Massachusetts General Hospital:
617-724-5600
McLean Hospital:
617-855-3141