Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, especially in the pediatric presentation, does not exist in a vacuum.  Usually, family members are supporting and enabling the OCD to flourish.  This happens despite family members’ intense dislike of the OCD behaviors and deep concern about how it is impacting their loved one.  Here is how that happens…

Families have a tendency to drift back to homeostasis.  Homeostasis feels like relative peace after conflict, upset, or fear.  All family systems ultimately want that peace, even if it comes at the cost of not actually changing core problems.  

For the OCD family member, they will have an obsessive belief that will provoke anxiety and fear.  While it is not typical for OCD individuals to have anger management issues outside the home, many experience intense and uncharacteristic anger outbursts inside their family systems.  

This anger is deeply disruptive to the family and the other members feel distress, fear, and sometimes even guilt, and they rush to accommodate the OCD individual’s requests.  

We call this the family accommodation tendency.  If a child is tantruming that they cannot use the public bathroom, the whole family will drive home.  Unwittingly, the family is feeding that person’s OCD, by allowing them to do their compulsions (in this case avoidance).  

The OCD family member feels relief and the family experiences a brief moment of peace, before the inevitable next dysregulation hits.  

To step out of this cycle, it is necessary to address the core fear and stop the compulsion in its tracks. Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) Therapy is the gold standard OCD treatment to help clients break the cycle. We would love to support you and your family through the process. Please contact us for more information.