Heredity - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Message Board

movingrightalong · 08-29-2007, 05:50 PM

Hi all,
I am marrying the most wonderful man in the world and he happens to have OCD. Pretty much purely obsessive. Hes most common ones are obsessing about whether he's attracted to men or not (which he's not, but he obsesses about "what if I see my friend so-and-so and I'm attracted to him", etc) and he obsesses about the fear of wanting to touch children inappropriately (which he never, ever would and he thinks it would be the worst thing anyone could ever do to a child, which as far as I can tell is why he obsesses about it). The latter is pretty touchy subject matter and I was proud of him for telling me. He's open about it and let's me know when he's OCDing about something and I know it helps him to get it out in the open. I can relate because I have mild OCD myself, but it's doesn't affect me like it does him.
Anyway, I'm wondering about heredity. I've heard that OCD can definitely be passed along to children. Anyone have any experience with children inheriting it? How about anyone who has OCD whos children didn't inherit it? I'm just curious in that this is something that I could definitely start to obsess over, so I'd love to hear some first hand experiences.
Thanks so much!
mra

seaturtle · 08-29-2007, 08:39 PM

Hello,
First, congratulations! What a good relationship that he can be open with you and he has your understanding.

As far as I know, there is indeed a genetic factor in OCD. My entire family has it in one form or another. I'm no doctor, so I can't tell you what 's the likelihood of it being passed on to your kids, but I'd think there is a pretty good chance of it.

You might research this on the Net. I'm sure there's information out there on it.

2grlz1boy · 08-29-2007, 09:13 PM

My Husband and i both have it and we have 3 kids. our oldest is only 3
She will not wear a shirt if it has even just a drop of water or something wet on it. She freaks out and takes it off immediatly) Our son is 2 if he gets something wet on his shirt he just ignores it and it dries on its own.

She has asked to take a bath at the end of the day because she says she's dirty.

She likes to use hand sanitizer (maybe just cause i do though)
And my son has a few things too.

He (2 year old) is obsessed (i mean OBSESSED) with fuz....yes like the kind on a teddy bear he will pick the fuz and put it under his nose and hold it there and suck his thumb at the same time, he has gutted some of our pillows, hes been doing it since he was about 14 months. He used to stuff it up his nose and we would have to hold him down to get it out...

all this and they are only 2 and 3 years old......we will just have to wait and see about the baby i guess

I have heard there is a genetic factor so i guess my children have a huge chance of having this.

seriousperson · 08-29-2007, 09:34 PM

I've read abstracts of scholarly articles on studies that have proven a hereditary component, but they never seem to be more than a 50% chance of having parents with the disorder. For what it's worth, everyone in my family has it, although to varying degrees. I have an unproven, unscientific theory that it's a by-product of our rat-race society.