Can compulsions be manipulated?

[patty]

I have been experimenting w/this to stop some of my son's tics/compulsions. Because tics/compulsions kind of feed into each other, i tried to eliminate the source of the compulsion if it is possible. For example, at one time, before my son takes a sip of water from his glass, he has to lift it up to make sure it doesn't have a lip mark on it. So i change his glass to a colored mug and he stopped doing it. I find that once the cycle is broken, he can use the glass cup w/o problem. I believe the compulsion can be eliminated faster, if you start to break the cycle as soon as possible. That's what i have found in my experience. Unfortunately, not all compulsions can be derailed, like smelling his fingers.

 

Just wondering if anyone try this approach? With tics/compulsion, the more attention you draw to it, it makes them do it more, so i never tell them not to do something and am always looking for ways to distract the compulsion when possible. I have also try teaching my son to try to mentally focus on something else when the compulsion is not appropriate. One time he told me he wanted to touch the sharp edge of the knife and knew it would be dangerous.

 

Pat

[Megs_Mom]

I have been experimenting w/this to stop some of my son's tics/compulsions. Because tics/compulsions kind of feed into each other, i tried to eliminate the source of the compulsion if it is possible. For example, at one time, before my son takes a sip of water from his glass, he has to lift it up to make sure it doesn't have a lip mark on it. So i change his glass to a colored mug and he stopped doing it. I find that once the cycle is broken, he can use the glass cup w/o problem. I believe the compulsion can be eliminated faster, if you start to break the cycle as soon as possible. That's what i have found in my experience. Unfortunately, not all compulsions can be derailed, like smelling his fingers.

 

Just wondering if anyone try this approach? With tics/compulsion, the more attention you draw to it, it makes them do it more, so i never tell them not to do something and am always looking for ways to distract the compulsion when possible. I have also try teaching my son to try to mentally focus on something else when the compulsion is not appropriate. One time he told me he wanted to touch the sharp edge of the knife and knew it would be dangerous.

 

Pat

 

You are talking about ERP therapy (exposure & Ritual Prevention). It is proven to work better than medication on compulsions. You could read Tamar Chansy or Aureen Pinto Wagners books about Childhood OCD - they are very helpful in finding effective ways to stop compulsions, using behavorial therapy.

[faith]

Pat,

yes, I think that is a viable approach. as megsmom says that is I believe the premise of ERP. We have not done this, BUT, when my son had the repetitive erasing problem, the teacher came up with allowing him to write in pen. it did help because somehow he "couldn't" erase, as a pen doesn't have an eraser and he knows it won't erase anyway, so it kind of stopped his perfection cycle. he did however, go over some letters and correct mistakes, but it seemed to go a little more fluidly and was less stressful on him, he seemed to stop obsessing over it and just corrected and moved on.

 

I think its okay as long as it doesn't look like you are causing more stress. If it seems to help, great.

 

 

Faith

[patty]

Thx Meg's mom for the book reference and named the therapy, so now i have something to research on. I have no idea what i am doing is call. It is just something that i started doing based on observations & experiment over time.

 

I am ordering that book from Amazon. Thx!

 

Pat

[Chemar]

Patty

just correcting the spelling...it is Tamar Chansky...her books on OCD are excellent

 

the techniques you mention are also incorporated into aspects of CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy)

[patty]

Thx Chemar for the info.

 

Pat

[ilovedogs]

Patty, I posted about this smelling thing my son has been doing that has been driving all of us crazy. My son was able to stop doing it by himself. I don't know how he does it. He did this, too, when he was making some noises(which I thought were vocal tics) and he was able to stop cold turkey. Again, all we did was ask him if he thinks he can control them and he says, "yeah, I think so" and then he does it. Wish I could pass on his secret, though....LOL!

 

Bonnie