The behaviors often take up a lot of time and energy, making it more difficult to complete tasks, such as homework or chores. Kids with OCD also may suffer from low self-esteem or from shame or embarrassment about what they're thinking or feeling since they often realize that their fears are unrealistic, or that their rituals are not realistically going to prevent their feared events. At school they also may feel pressured because they don't have enough time to complete assignments at school and can get teased for doing things over and over or too slowly. Kids might have difficulties with attention or concentration because of the intrusive thoughts as well, which can impact school performance. According to Kids Health (2015), some of the common obsessions in kids are fear of dirt or germs, a need for symmetry, religiosity, preoccupation with body wastes, lucky and unlucky numbers, sexual or aggressive thoughts, fear of illness or harm, and intrusive sounds or words. Some common compulsions kids experience are washing hands, brushing teeth, going in and out of doorways a number of times, erasing and rewriting things, re-reading pages in a book, checking things, rituals to prevent harm to their self or others, ordering or arranging objects, counting and cleaning …show more content…
In particular, Exposure and Response Prevention has been found to be the best (Kircanski & Peris 2015; Bornheimer 2015; Jordan 2015; Stanford School of Medicine 2015). ERP involves gradually exposing kids to a feared object or obsession. The aim is to activate their anxiety. The next component of ERP is to having them learn healthy ways to cope with their anxiety by resisting the compulsive urge they typically do. It is suggested that therapists explain to the child and caregiver about what they are going to expect and how it will benefit them. Another form of treatment is the UCLA OCD Intensive Treatment Program. It is a comprehensive program that integrates individual therapy, group therapy, and medication management with psychiatrists who specialize in OCD, and family education and support. The program primarily utilizes daily, individual exposure and response prevention therapy to help reduce OCD symptoms (UCLA School of Medicine