Daughter OCD/Schizophrenic?? - Mental Health Message Board

LaurenRae · 02-20-2007, 10:27 AM

My 16 year old daughter has recently been diagnosed with OCD and will be starting cognitive behavior therapy. Some of the things she does include:

-lengthy showers/brushing of teeth
-placement of objects has to be just perfect
-excessive exercising
-crossing out words and rewriting them until she feels they are readable
-restrictive diet

Some physical things she does include:

-pressing her hands into her legs/hips
-arching her back and raising her hands over her head, sometimes touching her eyelashes (usually does three times in a row)
-touching doorways as she goes through them (this doesn’t always occur)
-saying sorry to inanimate objects if she accidentally “hurts” them (sometimes blowing them kisses)

As well, she seems to have developed very low self esteem. She always says she is not good at something (when she often is), or that she doesn’t deserve for me to worry about her, always saying sorry even when she hasn’t done anything (eg: she’ll apologize for not answering the phone when she’s the farthest one from it). She was bullied a couple of years ago and seems to have trouble relating to people her own age and I think she compensates for it by always being agreeable/positive. She rarely does anything with “friends” her own age. If she does do anything, it’s with younger friends. She is very involved with sports and seems to get along with everyone in that respect.

Her psychiatrist mentioned to me that the crossing out of words is worrisome. Her writing has changed dramatically from September to now – it was normal at the beginning of the school year but is now very small (almost unreadable) and many, many words are crossed out and repeated – some at least a dozen times or more. She also failed a class and barely passed two others – she has always been an honor student. He feels that the writing, along with possible social withdrawal, may indicate schizophrenia. He wants to do more testing.

Needless to say, I’m very worried. Does any of this sound like schizophrenia? She says she doesn’t hear voices, etc. Is that always present with schizophrenia? Any comments/help anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

DudleysMom · 02-20-2007, 06:43 PM

My daughter had some mild OCD symptoms that started when she was in high school. They became worse her senior year in college....taking exams, getting her certifications, job searches, etc. She was dealing with a lot of life transitions and stress. I am not an expert, but I think OCD is an anxiety response. She had some therapy and takes prozac. She still gets a little symptomatic the week of her period, but she has learned how to deal with it. She is successful in her job and personal relationships. And, is a very happy young woman. I really think that in the long term, with the proper intervention, your daughter will be just fine. This really doesn't sound schizophrenic to me, but as I said, I am not a professional. OCD is very treatable. One other thing I will mention is that birth control pills made her symptoms worse, as well.

LaurenRae · 02-23-2007, 10:13 AM

Thanks for your response; it’s made me feel a bit better about everything. I just found out that my daughter will be going to see a psychologist for some more testing/assessments in the next week so hopefully the outcome from that will be OCD only.
Can you tell me how you helped your daughter through some of the rougher times? Sometimes I feel so frustrated/impatient with her because a lot of the things she does affect the entire family that I find it hard to keep that inside. This is especially hard when we are dealing with time issues. She just can’t be rushed through anything and this often makes her/us late. I’ve tried to talk to her about starting things earlier, etc. to compensate but she doesn’t seem able to do this. It almost seems like a vicious circle – if she’s running late because of her OCD, and you try to rush her a bit, she get’s anxious and then the OCD just gets worse so you wind up later then you would have originally.
Did your daughter have cognitive behavior therapy? How exactly does that work? How long until you/she saw results from therapy?

rosequartz · 02-23-2007, 10:16 AM

nope it doesn't sound the least bit like schizophrenia.....it sounds like textbook OCD, which they already told you she had. Why would you even think it was schizophrenia?

DudleysMom · 02-23-2007, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaurenRae

Thanks for your response; it’s made me feel a bit better about everything. I just found out that my daughter will be going to see a psychologist for some more testing/assessments in the next week so hopefully the outcome from that will be OCD only.
Can you tell me how you helped your daughter through some of the rougher times? Sometimes I feel so frustrated/impatient with her because a lot of the things she does affect the entire family that I find it hard to keep that inside. This is especially hard when we are dealing with time issues. She just can’t be rushed through anything and this often makes her/us late. I’ve tried to talk to her about starting things earlier, etc. to compensate but she doesn’t seem able to do this. It almost seems like a vicious circle – if she’s running late because of her OCD, and you try to rush her a bit, she get’s anxious and then the OCD just gets worse so you wind up later then you would have originally.
Did your daughter have cognitive behavior therapy? How exactly does that work? How long until you/she saw results from therapy?

Other than reassurance, there isn't much you can do to help her. I had always suffered from anxiety at varying levels, so I had some idea of what she was going through. You are right....any attempt to change her behavior will only make it worse. Assuring her that this will be treatable, and making sure she doesn't feel judged by you, and knowing that you love her dearly, is about all that you can do. It made me feel so totally helpless, and I suffered watching her go through this. One thing that I would tell her is that we all have the tendancy to be come obessisve. How many times have we all gone back into the house to make sure that the oven, or toaster, or iron was off. It becomes a problem, possibly caused by stress or hormones, when this tendancy becomes a larger issue and interferes with our daily functioning. My daughter went for some cognitive therapy for a few months. She's not sure just how much it helped. The medication helps the most. And, as her stress levels resolved with graduation, and her job hunt, her symptoms became much better. Also, as I mentioned, her symptoms creep back a little during her period, but she is learning to be kind to herself and accept it for what it is, until the symptoms abate. I would like to see her return occasionally to her therapist for some follow-up, but she feels that she doesn't need it. Our internist prescribes her medication. In a best-case-scenario, I would have preferred her to see a psychiatrist, who could give her therapy, and is also an MD, so he/she would have been qualifed to manage her medication. However, we were having trouble getting a timely appointment with a psychiatrist, so we did the best we could to get her prompt treatment. Hope this helps. Also, I need to mention that because your daughter is only 16, a doctor may not feel comfortable prescribing meds. It is very touchy to treat teenagers with medication. A good cognitive plan may be her best bet at her age.