Any names of family therapists to help with OCD/anxiety

[jjk4]

Hi All,

A big thanks to all of you for sharing your stories. This is my first post but I have been reading and learning from all of you for months.

A very brief overview is that our daughter (9) was sick in June 2009 with what we thought was H1N1. She spiraled down over the summer and by Sept, after numerous diagonositic tests, all negative, we were sitting in the psyciatrists office. Thankfully, he introduced us to the term PANDAS and we started down this path before too much time had past. She started on Augmentin (600 2x/day) and improved 80%. We consulted with Dr K, Dr T, and Dr B and all aggreed, based on her hx and clinical findings, she fits the criteria for this disorder. We did try a month of zythromax (250 1x/day) but found it not as helpful as Augmentin. In Jan. 2010, she had T & A surgery with full dose Augmentin pre, intra, and post operatively. We did up the dose to (900 2x/day) post op, which she is still on...thankfully no yeast problems at this time. She has been doing so much better and we are watching much of her compulsions disappear. Her rage and behavior continues to improve as well. We are waiting to see how she does before considering IVIG.

At this time, we are looking for a skilled family therapist to help us cope with the ups and downs of this disorder, teach us all stratgies on how to manage the residual OCD/anxiety, and maybe even help us in the future as we ride the wave of PANDAS.

We live in CT and are wondering if any of you have found any such practictioner? It may be wishful thinking that such a person exists but it would be a great help to us if they did.

Thanks for all the shared info.

Joanne

[faith]

hi Joanne,

may I ask what was the criteria you described? did your daughter have symtoms of ocd or tics, etc. before the flu, and then they got worse, or just appeared after the flu? is there strep or high titers here as well, or no?

why did you have her tonsils out? thank you,

 

Faith

[thereishope]

Welcome.

 

I don't have a name to share with you, but was wondering how your daughter views everything she's gone through? Does she want to stop the OCD, does the anxiety bother her, does she acknowledge something is wrong?

 

I have heard some people say that CBT has helped their child, but I have to admit not too many. It seems like ERP works well for a few more. It worked for my son while he was recovering from residual OCD. For him, CBT didn't work. meg's mom recently posted a thread about recommended books. That's a place to start. The parent really needs to try to understand what is going on with their child. It is at that point, can you really try to help.

 

Have you looked in the thread about suggested drs? Some therapists are listed there as well.

 

http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=6428

[thereishope]

Here's the link to those OCD books

 

http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?...ic=6616&hl=

[jjk4]

Welcome.

 

I don't have a name to share with you, but was wondering how your daughter views everything she's gone through? Does she want to stop the OCD, does the anxiety bother her, does she acknowledge something is wrong?

 

I have heard some people say that CBT has helped their child, but I have to admit not too many. It seems like ERP works well for a few more. It worked for my son while he was recovering from residual OCD. For him, CBT didn't work. meg's mom recently posted a thread about recommended books. That's a place to start. The parent really needs to try to understand what is going on with their child. It is at that point, can you really try to help.

 

Have you looked in the thread about suggested drs? Some therapists are listed there as well.

 

http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=6428

 

Thanks for this info. I think the books may be very helpful to us.

As far as how my daughter sees things....she does not recall much of her behavior during her exaccerbation this summer and fall, especially the rage/moods. She does acknowledge she is able to do more now than a few months ago especially at school. She does not seem bothered by the residual OCD/anxiety behaviors but it does make life for us here at home a challenge...especially at bedtime and getting places on time. Hence, my quest to find ways to parent and guide her as she continues to heal.

[Megs_Mom]

[

Thanks for this info. I think the books may be very helpful to us.

As far as how my daughter sees things....she does not recall much of her behavior during her exaccerbation this summer and fall, especially the rage/moods. She does acknowledge she is able to do more now than a few months ago especially at school. She does not seem bothered by the residual OCD/anxiety behaviors but it does make life for us here at home a challenge...especially at bedtime and getting places on time. Hence, my quest to find ways to parent and guide her as she continues to heal.

 

We found that ERP was a very helpful tool (not a cure) at different levels both in an exacerbation and when she was in remission. She sheds OCD pretty easily once the antibiotics are working.

 

What part of CT are you in? Or what are the 2 closest cities? I'll see if I can get a good recommendation fo someone good with kids. Our daugher is 8 and can understand and process ERP when not in a panic. It was also a very good tool for us as parents, so we knew how to better understand & communicate with her.

 

I think a great starting place is the book on the other thread "What to do when your brain gets stuck". It's a workbook for kids and it's very well written. My daughter loved it.

[Joan Pandas Mom]

There is an office in Hartford, CT that works with OCD and anxiety. I will get the name for you. The OCFoundation.org has a list of therapist in each state too. I hope this helps.

 

Hi All,

A big thanks to all of you for sharing your stories. This is my first post but I have been reading and learning from all of you for months.

A very brief overview is that our daughter (9) was sick in June 2009 with what we thought was H1N1. She spiraled down over the summer and by Sept, after numerous diagonositic tests, all negative, we were sitting in the psyciatrists office. Thankfully, he introduced us to the term PANDAS and we started down this path before too much time had past. She started on Augmentin (600 2x/day) and improved 80%. We consulted with Dr K, Dr T, and Dr B and all aggreed, based on her hx and clinical findings, she fits the criteria for this disorder. We did try a month of zythromax (250 1x/day) but found it not as helpful as Augmentin. In Jan. 2010, she had T & A surgery with full dose Augmentin pre, intra, and post operatively. We did up the dose to (900 2x/day) post op, which she is still on...thankfully no yeast problems at this time. She has been doing so much better and we are watching much of her compulsions disappear. Her rage and behavior continues to improve as well. We are waiting to see how she does before considering IVIG.

At this time, we are looking for a skilled family therapist to help us cope with the ups and downs of this disorder, teach us all stratgies on how to manage the residual OCD/anxiety, and maybe even help us in the future as we ride the wave of PANDAS.

We live in CT and are wondering if any of you have found any such practictioner? It may be wishful thinking that such a person exists but it would be a great help to us if they did.

Thanks for all the shared info.

Joanne

[thereishope]

I asked if the OCD bothered her because it didn't bother my son even though it controlled him and took up a lot of time. That's why CBT didn't work for him. He didn't see the need to name it. To him, it didn't exist. It was just 'him". He wouldn't rate anything either. ERP was better for him. Meg's Mom has done some awesome posts on it. You can look up her profile and read some of her posts. Unless she feels like typing all of it again!

[MomWithOCDSon]

I like Meg's Mom's booklist; we've read and used a number of those books ourselves, and there's almost always one or two techniques/key words, etc. that will work, depending on the situation.

 

Our DS12 has been through both CBT and ERP. Interestingly, and somewhat converse to what some families have found, the CBT worked well for him when he was younger, but when he got older and hit his latest, heftiest exacerbation this past spring, it didn't do kaka! He was just too distraught to apply "cognitivity" to ANYTHING. He was just one big bundle of angst and anxiety.

 

So, we moved him to ERP. I'm not certain that he could've made any use of the ERP, either, until we got the exacerbation under some level of control with antibiotics. Now, however, the ERP is a much more direct way of dealing with his compulsions and obsessions than CBT was, and I feel as though it helps him make faster, more tangible progress.

 

I'm not sure where you are located, so it's hard to suggest a therapist that might be helpful to you. I might suggest that you go to the Obsessive Compulsion Foundation website, or your local branch of the national Foundation web site. Many will list local practitioners. That's how we found our ERP therapist, and we really like him.

[thereishope]

Good reminder, Mom. Often things like CBT or even ERP don't work during an exacerbation until you are more in recovery mode or even the tail end of recovery. But it may work for some even during an exacerbation so it's worth trying if you want. My son...there was no reasoning, meltdowns, etc during an exacerbation. It wasn't until the tail end of recovery did I see I was now able to help him through it. At that point, reasoning had resurfaced and a lot of the other PANDAS symptoms were gone.

[Joan Pandas Mom]

Hi Joanne, the name of an OCD therapist was Dr. David Tolin, PhD., Director Anxiety Disorder Center, at The Institute of Living in Hartford, CT Phone 1-860-545-7685. I think this is Yale. Good luck.

 

 

Hi All,

A big thanks to all of you for sharing your stories. This is my first post but I have been reading and learning from all of you for months.

A very brief overview is that our daughter (9) was sick in June 2009 with what we thought was H1N1. She spiraled down over the summer and by Sept, after numerous diagonositic tests, all negative, we were sitting in the psyciatrists office. Thankfully, he introduced us to the term PANDAS and we started down this path before too much time had past. She started on Augmentin (600 2x/day) and improved 80%. We consulted with Dr K, Dr T, and Dr B and all aggreed, based on her hx and clinical findings, she fits the criteria for this disorder. We did try a month of zythromax (250 1x/day) but found it not as helpful as Augmentin. In Jan. 2010, she had T & A surgery with full dose Augmentin pre, intra, and post operatively. We did up the dose to (900 2x/day) post op, which she is still on...thankfully no yeast problems at this time. She has been doing so much better and we are watching much of her compulsions disappear. Her rage and behavior continues to improve as well. We are waiting to see how she does before considering IVIG.

At this time, we are looking for a skilled family therapist to help us cope with the ups and downs of this disorder, teach us all stratgies on how to manage the residual OCD/anxiety, and maybe even help us in the future as we ride the wave of PANDAS.

We live in CT and are wondering if any of you have found any such practictioner? It may be wishful thinking that such a person exists but it would be a great help to us if they did.

Thanks for all the shared info.

Joanne

[jjk4]

Thanks for the detailed contact info. I will take all the good luck we can get at this point!

[jjk4]

Thanks for the detailed contact info. I will take all the good luck we can get at this point!