Going Away to College Can Lead to an Uptick in OCD Distress

Going Away to College Can Lead to an Uptick in OCD Distress

Stephanie Woodrow, LCPC, NCC

Stephanie Woodrow, LCPC, NCC

Member Since 2016

Stephanie Woodrow, LPC, LCPC, NCC is the owner and clinical director of the National Anxiety and OCD Treatment Center in Washington, DC. She specializes in the treatment of young adults, college students, and professionals with anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and related disorders from a cognitive-behavioral perspective. Stephanie serves various roles within ADAA, including chair of the OCD SIG, chair of the Membership Committee, member of the 2023 Conference Committee, and lead of the State-of-the-Art Clinicians sessions at the 2023 Conference. 

Going Away to College Can Lead to an Uptick in OCD Distress

Share
No

The onset of OCD typically occurs during adolescence, with 25% of cases starting by age 14. Because teens typically live at home, accommodations by family members are common. Accommodations occur when others attempt to aid sufferers by assisting in rituals. However, doing so fuels OCD, potentially worsening symptoms and impairing the overall functioning of the family. Such accommodations can include buying cleaning supplies, washing clothes, serving “safe” foods, changing the family’s schedule, driving a specific route to school, designating a specific bathroom for only the sufferer, or simply offering reassurance. Because of loved ones’ well-intended accommodations – especially by parents – adolescents might not experience the full impact of their OCD symptoms.

However, when teens make the transition to college and move into residence halls, many of these accommodations disappear, leaving OCD’s rituals to be carried out almost entirely by the sufferer. This spike in rituals, especially physical compulsions, is often time-consuming and raises the teen’s level of distress. Unlike understanding and accommodating parents, roommates often become frustrated and angry, not at OCD but at the sufferer – and their unwillingness to adhere to OCD’s rules (regardless of whether they know their roommate has OCD or just think the person is “weird”) creates even more distress for the OCD sufferer.

College is full of new stimuli and stressors for any student, including learning independent time management, being away from familiar spaces, and adapting to new expectations. These changes in addition to OCD’s demands can be exceptionally overwhelming. And because it’s common for OCD to jump around themes, the new environment, schedule, community, and routine offer many new areas for OCD to attack.

However, to prepare for this transition, there are steps parents and teens themselves can take. Possibly the most impactful is for parents to reduce their accommodations (with the goal of eliminating them entirely) and teens to take on more responsibility for independently carrying out their rituals (with the goal of not doing them at all) while the teen still lives at home. In the short run, this is likely to cause more stress, anxiety, anger, and disruption – not only for the teen, but for the entire family. While still living at home, however, the sufferer has the built-in support system of the family. Facing the reality of how cumbersome rituals can be will potentially motivate sufferers to seek treatment and address OCD.

Once away at school, the new college student will no longer see family members daily and the execution of their support will change. When the student lived at home, parents could monitor behaviors and step in when necessary, such as when teens engage in dangerous rituals or becomes despondent. After college starts, parents must rely on self-reporting from their child about the status and severity of OCD symptoms, rather than direct observation. Because OCD thoughts and rituals often result guilt and shame, and many OCD sufferers are hyper-focused on how much of a perceived burden they place on those around them, suffering in silence is common. This amplifies the need for observation. By making changes prior to the start of college, family members have the opportunity to encourage their teen to use their problem-solving skills, ERP training, and curiosity to navigate confronting OCD and work toward living an OCD-free life.

Stephanie Woodrow, LCPC, NCC

Stephanie Woodrow, LCPC, NCC

Member Since 2016

Stephanie Woodrow, LPC, LCPC, NCC is the owner and clinical director of the National Anxiety and OCD Treatment Center in Washington, DC. She specializes in the treatment of young adults, college students, and professionals with anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and related disorders from a cognitive-behavioral perspective. Stephanie serves various roles within ADAA, including chair of the OCD SIG, chair of the Membership Committee, member of the 2023 Conference Committee, and lead of the State-of-the-Art Clinicians sessions at the 2023 Conference. 

ADAA Blog Content and Blog Comments Policy

ADAA Blog Content and Blog Comments Policy

ADAA provides this Website blogs for the benefit of its members and the public. The content, view and opinions published in Blogs written by our personnel or contributors – or from links or posts on the Website from other sources - belong solely to their respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ADAA, its members, management or employees. Any comments or opinions expressed are those of their respective contributors only. Please remember that the open and real-time nature of the comments posted to these venues makes it is impossible for ADAA to confirm the validity of any content posted, and though we reserve the right to review and edit or delete any such comment, we do not guarantee that we will monitor or review it. As such, we are not responsible for any messages posted or the consequences of following any advice offered within such posts. If you find any posts in these posts/comments to be offensive, inaccurate or objectionable, please contact us via email at [email protected] and reference the relevant content. If we determine that removal of a post or posts is necessary, we will make reasonable efforts to do so in a timely manner.

ADAA expressly disclaims responsibility for and liabilities resulting from, any information or communications from and between users of ADAA’s blog post commenting features. Users acknowledge and agree that they may be individually liable for anything they communicate using ADAA’s blogs, including but not limited to defamatory, discriminatory, false or unauthorized information. Users are cautioned that they are responsible for complying with the requirements of applicable copyright and trademark laws and regulations. By submitting a response, comment or content, you agree that such submission is non-confidential for all purposes. Any submission to this Website will be deemed and remain the property of ADAA.

The ADAA blogs are forums for individuals to share their opinions, experiences and thoughts related to mental illness. ADAA wants to ensure the integrity of this service and therefore, use of this service is limited to participants who agree to adhere to the following guidelines:

1. Refrain from transmitting any message, information, data, or text that is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, that may be invasive of another 's privacy, hateful, or bashing communications - especially those aimed at gender, race, color, sexual orientation, national origin, religious views or disability.

Please note that there is a review process whereby all comments posted to blog posts and webinars are reviewed by ADAA staff to determine appropriateness before comments are posted. ADAA reserves the right to remove or edit a post containing offensive material as defined by ADAA.

ADAA reserves the right to remove or edit posts that contain explicit, obscene, offensive, or vulgar language. Similarly, posts that contain any graphic files will be removed immediately upon notice.

2. Refrain from posting or transmitting any unsolicited, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain mail," "pyramid schemes" or any other form of solicitation. ADAA reserves the right to delete these posts immediately upon notice.

3. ADAA invites and encourages a healthy exchange of opinions. If you disagree with a participant 's post or opinion and wish to challenge it, do so with respect. The real objective of the ADAA blog post commenting function is to promote discussion and understanding, not to convince others that your opinion is "right." Name calling, insults, and personal attacks are not appropriate and will not be tolerated. ADAA will remove these posts immediately upon notice.

4. ADAA promotes privacy and encourages participants to keep personal information such as address and telephone number from being posted. Similarly, do not ask for personal information from other participants. Any comments that ask for telephone, address, e-mail, surveys and research studies will not be approved for posting.

5. Participants should be aware that the opinions, beliefs and statements on blog posts do not necessarily represent the opinions and beliefs of ADAA. Participants also agree that ADAA is not to be held liable for any loss or injury caused, in whole or in part, by sponsorship of blog post commenting. Participants also agree that ADAA reserves the right to report any suspicions of harm to self or others as evidenced by participant posts.

RESOURCES AND NEWS
Evidence-based Tips & Strategies from our Member Experts
RELATED ARTICLES
Block reference