What might be the signs that a childs rituals are the beginning of OCD?
• Do the rituals upset the child? • Do they take up a lot of time (more than an hour per day)? • Do they interfere with the child’s everyday life (e.g. school, friends etc.)? If the answers to these questions is ‘yes’ it may be that the young person has obsessive compulsive disorder, sometimes called OCD for short. At this point it is time to get some advice from a professional. Who can help with the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of OCD? OCD is a medical condition, and many general practitioners will be able to help in the initial assessment. If the young person needs referral for further assessment and treatment, the family doctor may suggest a referral to a child psychiatrist or a child psychologist Sometimes young people have another problem as well as OCD, for example depression. It is important that other difficulties are detected since they may need to be treated in their own right (although depression often gets better as the OCD improves). If the young person has been unw
