ADAA Mental Health Blogs for the Public

Parents of children with OCD are often not aware of how they can contribute to their child's behavior, or more specifically, how they unintentionally support the OCD through accommodating behaviors. This blog post explores the role of family accommodations in childhood OCD and provide strategies to help parents better support their child. 

Suicide isn’t an easy topic. Yet, we can’t afford to shy away from it. The reach of suicide is staggering, and its impact is tragic and often avoidable.

The countdown to the end of summer holidays is accelerating, and that can often bring on anxiety. In fact, the final weeks of summer can be some of the most stressful throughout the entire year! Many are worried about transitioning back to the hustle of meeting deadlines, the pressure of getting tasks handed-back post vaca, and facing a pile of emails. 

Surgery can be lifesaving. Surgery is often needed and can, for many conditions and situations, be a game changer. But more often than not, a surgical procedure for someone with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) will not help. It could potentially relieve the person of their symptoms for a short amount of time but it cannot treat or cure the underlying disorder.

While both Harm OCD and desire to harm someone involve thoughts relating to harm, distinct features can help differentiate between the two.

Although primary care physicians and other non-specialists in mental health feel comfortable managing less complicated anxiety-related disorders, OCD is a more complex diagnosis and ideally should be managed by a psychiatrist.  Before initiating medication, the psychiatrist will first do a thorough assessment to ensure that the diagnosis of OCD is accurate, and to determine the presence of coexisting conditions that may complicate the treatment.