OT: Does anyone have experience with OCD?

 B vitamins, magnesium & several different essential oils ccan be helpful with anxiety. As a counselor, I’ve worked with anxiety & probable OCD in adults & kids but consistently recommend behavioral & thought challenging skills along with looking for things like vitamin deficiencies, safe natural treatments & hormonal issues over medications. I’m not totally anti-medication but  many of the meds are just too riskyfor kids imho. Now, if a child is so unable to function he/she can’t utilize the skills & therapy, I will encourage parents to consider meds temporarily BUT I’ve had some with pretty significant anxiety & each were able to learn & use things other than meds. Anxiety based disorders do appear to have a genetic component in most people I’ve encountered though a woman’s cycle also can play a major role so pay attention to this with girls to see if there’s any change throughout the month. I definitely agree with not labeling to the degree possible though naming something can give a place to start looking at possible solutions while always being aware that all disorders are basically made up of behaviors & symptoms we all display & experience to some extent…the disorder comes about when the degree of these is greater & the combo of these is consistent in the person. That’s why one can read the criteria for pretty much any mental health disorder & freak out thinking they have it lol. I know this topic is old but thought I’d offer these thoughts up to see if helpful. That said, I think what has already been shared is all very good insight. If anyone thinks their child needs help, I’d say first seek out a play therapist if your child is younger than a teenager unless very verbal &  able to articulate what is going on inside…as smart as many of our kids are, being able to identify &  articulate the internal thoughts & feelings isn’t easy (even for adults). On your own, you can have them draw, use puppets or dolls to talk or even just be involved in an activity while chatting with them to reduce the pressure of talking.