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Re:MIND

Depression and Bipolar support

In Crisis? Call the Harris Center 24-hr Hotline: (713) 970-7000
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Provides free and confidential support groups for individuals living with, or family and friends affected by, depression and bipolar disorders

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Quick facts on different types of eating disorders and treatment.

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Eating disorders are characterized by an unhealthy relationship with food and eating habits that impair physical health or social functioning. They usually develop in adolescence, and they are more common in girls than boys.

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Eating disorders are characterized by an unhealthy relationship with food and eating habits that impair physical health or social functioning. They usually develop in adolescence, and they are more common in girls than boys. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Online Privacy Statement, which describes our use of cookies.

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Helpful links regarding Anxiety Disorders

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Helpful links regarding Anxiety Disorders

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From Dr. Tamar Chansky Creator of Worrywisekids.org

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Information on Anxiety, and tips for calming anxious students in different situations.

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Resources for understanding anxiety in children and teenagers - the symptoms, the kinds of anxiety, and the best treatments for anxiety.

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Counseling Youth Who Have Bipolar Disorders

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Counseling Youth Who Have Bipolar Disorders

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Assignment done by Molena Minix

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LOCAL RESOURCE: Attention Deficit Disorders Association Southern Region

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LOCAL RESOURCE: Attention Deficit Disorders Association Southern Region

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12345 Jones RD. Suite 287-7
Houston, TX 77070
281-897-0982
Support groups and general education
for those affected by ADD.

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LOCAL RESOURCE: Texas Children's Hospital, Eating Disorders Program

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LOCAL RESOURCE: Texas Children's Hospital, Eating Disorders Program

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TCH Clinical Care Center, 11th floor, 6701 Fannin Street,
Houston, TX 77030
832-822-4887
TCH West Campus, I-10 and Barker Cypress
18200 Katy Freeway
Houston, TX 77094
832-822-4888
Continuum of care designed specifically for
patients 12 to 24 years of age who struggle with
disordered eating, outpatient and inpatient treatment.

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Child Mind Institute - Teachers Guide to OCD in the classroom

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Child Mind Institute - Teachers Guide to OCD in the classroom

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Lo sentimos, la página que usted busca no se ha podido encontrar. Puede intentar su búsqueda de nuevo o visitar la lista de temas populares.

Children who have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are plagued with unwanted thoughts, images or impulses that are difficult to suppress, causing them great stress and worry. These are called obsessions. To alleviate the anxiety caused by their obsessive thoughts, they perform repetitive, ritualized actions called compulsions. A child with OCD might need to line things up, touch things in a certain order when leaving the room or wash his hands repeatedly.

Obsessions Common in Kids With OCD

Contamination: Kids with this obsession are sometimes called "germaphobes." In schools, this plays out with kids worrying about other kids sneezing and coughing, touching things that might be dirty or getting sick in many different ways. This is the most common obsession seen in children.

Magical thinking: This is a kind of superstition, like "step on a crack, break your mother's back," taken to extremes. For example, kids might worry that their thoughts can cause someone to get hurt, or get sick. A child might think, "Unless my things are lined up in a certain way, mom will get in a car accident."

Catastrophizing: Some kids easily jump to the conclusion that something terrible has happened. For example, if her parents are five minutes late picking her up, a girl who is catastrophizing might tell herself that they've decided to abandon her.

Scrupulosity: This is when kids have obsessive worries about offending God or being blasphemous in some way.

What ifs: Kids may be plagued by a lot of different kinds of thoughts about bad things they could do. "What if I hurt someone? What if I stab someone? What if I kill someone?"

The "just right feeling": When OCD first develops, from about 6 to 9 years of age, kids may not know why they are doing something, but just that they need to do it until they get what we call the "just right feeling." So: "I'll line these things up until it just kind of feels right, and then I'll stop." And then over time - in the 9- to 12-year-old range - it evolves into magical thinking and becomes more superstitious in nature.

Behaviors You Might See in Students With OCD

Frequent requests to go to the bathroom: This could be to wash hands, if someone near the child was coughing or sneezing, or if she touched something that she perceives as contaminated. She could be washing items-pens, pencils, backpacks, books. It could also be an excuse to get out the classroom and just be away from everyone, and have some respite.

Constant reassurance-seeking: This takes the form of repetitive questions. "Are you sure that's the answer? Could you tell me again? Did you hear what I said?" Checking doors, windows, lockers, desks. Over and over and over again.

Getting stuck on tasks: Sometimes kids with OCD will need to finish something to completion, or understand it to completion, before they're able to move on. So if a child is working out what he did wrong on a math test, and the teacher says, "Now let's open the textbook and start a new chapter," he's not going to be able to shift gears.

Retracing: If a child leaves the classroom and worries that she left a pencil behind, she'll go back into the classroom and go to her desk and check. If she had a bad thought as she went through the doorway, she might have to "fix it" by going back through the doorway again saying a good word. If she had a bad thought when she went down a flight of stairs on the way to class, she might need to go back up that same stairway at the end of the period, even if it means being late to her next class.

Obsessive erasing: A child could be erasing a lot because the letters have to look perfect. Or he could have used a word that disturbs him. For example, if he has a fear of vomiting and he's written the word vomit, he might not be able to stand seeing that word, so he erases it. Kids start having erasers worn down to the metal. Teachers start to see holes in the paper. Words will be drawn over on the back of the page. A lot of different areas of writing become problematic.

Behaviors Often Confused With Another Disorder

Some behaviors associated with OCD are easy to confuse with ADHD, learning problems or being oppositional.

Distraction: If a child is busy thinking that if she doesn't turn the pen cap and count to four the right way then her mom is going to get sick, she's not going to be paying attention in class. And if her teacher calls on her to answer a question, her distraction might look like ADHD, but it isn't.

Slowness on exams, papers and tasks: Sometimes when kids take a long time, they're struggling with the perfectionism of needing to do things the right way. This could look like learning problems, or inattention, but it isn't.

Avoidance: Teachers might see a child who doesn't want to sit on the floor, or pick things up that touched the floor, or get his hands dirty in art class. He may avoid a lot of playground activities - kids with germ fears will view the playground the way some adults view the subway: it's gross. Why touch anything there?

Tapping and touching symmetrically: If a child sits down at her desk and she accidentally kicks the chair of the kid next to her with her right foot, she's going to have to then kick it with her left foot. That might look like somebody who's being oppositional, or somebody who's got too much energy, but actually it's OCD.

Complaints of anxiety and fatigue: There's one interesting theory that kids with OCD are smarter than other kids. And if you consider how much thinking they're doing, they're really using their brain more frequently than a lot of other kids are. But when that's coupled with a lot of anxiety, you can have a lot of fatigue. So it's common for kids with OCD to want to come home and take a nap after school.

How to Help Students With OCD

For children struggling with OCD, functioning in school can be complicated and very difficult. Here are some things you can do to help them, and the class as a whole, focus on learning:

Seating arrangement: If the school has noisy hallways, you might not want to have a child with OCD sit by the door. You might have her sit in the front, where she's less able to hear the noise and can stay more focused on her work. On the other hand, a child who has very observable symptoms, and doesn't want other kids to see her fidgeting with her hands, rocking or getting up a lot, might be better off closer to the door, toward the back of the room.

Extended time for tests and papers: If writing is a problem for a child who needs to find the perfect way to say something, he's going to need more time to finish those essay questions or papers.

Laptops for writing: If writing and rewriting/erasing is really problematic for a child, consider letting her use a laptop for taking notes, and having all assignments be typed instead of handwritten.

Private testing rooms: Research is quite clear that kids with OCD do better, are less overwhelmed and are more in control of their thoughts and their reactions if they're in a quiet place away from the other kids.

Skip reading out loud: Kids who feel they need to read perfectly may have to go back and reread sentences or whole paragraphs over and over to make sure they've got them right. So reading becomes a very laborious task, and reading in front of the class can become a nightmare. So if we know doing this is a problem for children, we can spare them.

Books on tape: If kids get so hung up reading that it takes forever, listening to the books can be a solution.

Break homework into chunks: If looking at a whole page of math makes kids feel overwhelmed and anxious - think of the potential for mistakes! - the problems can be broken up over four pages. It helps kids stay focused on doing the problems instead of worrying.

How to Minimize Behavioral Problems

Plan an escape route: Try working out a communication system so that if the student feels symptoms coming on, she can signal to you and leave the classroom, or go to a protected place in the classroom, without interrupting the class. It can prevent an embarrassing and disruptive blowup of symptoms in the classroom, and the other kids picking on or bullying her about it.

Be aware of triggering events: It's very important for teachers to know what kind of things might trigger the symptoms. Fatigue is a huge piece of OCD, and it can be exacerbated by medication. So it's important to know that if a child is drowsy in class, and maybe he's putting his head down, it's not because he's being oppositional or disrespectful, but because he's overwhelmed with fatigue.

Advance notice: Irritability and frustration are two of the longer-lasting things that kids with OCD are feeling on a daily basis. Changes in schedule can be very disruptive for a child with OCD, so it can be helpful for teachers to give advance notice of things. Kids who know what to expect are less likely to be thrown by the change.

Children with OCD are often teased and bullied because of their symptoms. Kids feel very uncomfortable about their rituals, knowing that they're being watched. It can be helpful to educate the whole class about what's going on, especially if a child is going to be in the same school for a number of years, and it can inspire a surprising amount of support from other children.

Peer understanding program: A peer understanding program includes a presentation in the classroom that explains (with the child participating) what OCD is. The child might say, "Listen, I have OCD. It's an anxiety disorder. It makes me think that my hands are dirty and I have to wash my hands a lot, so if you see me getting up and going to the sink to wash my hands, that's why." Psychologists can role-play with the teacher and child ahead of time, to anticipate questions his classmates might ask, and how to answer them.

A buddy system: A buddy is like a peer coach who sits next to the child and prompts him to keep up with note taking and staying on task. It can be great for the buddy, to foster a sense of confidence and pride and to be able to help someone in need, and great for fostering friendship.

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Lo sentimos, la página que usted busca no se ha podido encontrar. Puede intentar su búsqueda de nuevo o visitar la lista de temas populares. Children who have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are plagued with unwanted thoughts, images or impulses that are difficult to suppress, causing them great stress and worry.

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Resource by NAMI

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Are obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors interfering with your daily life? Explore the symptoms, treatment, and self-help for OCD.

What is obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)?

It's normal, on occasion, to go back and double-check that the iron is unplugged or worry that you might be contaminated by germs, or even have an occasional unpleasant, violent thought. But if you suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors become so consuming they interfere with your daily life. OCD is an anxiety disorder characterized by uncontrollable, unwanted thoughts and ritualized, repetitive behaviors you feel compelled to perform. If you have OCD, you probably recognize that your obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors are irrational-but even so, you feel unable to resist them and break free.

Like a needle getting stuck on an old record, OCD causes the brain to get stuck on a particular thought or urge. For example, you may check the stove 20 times to make sure it's really turned off because you're terrified of burning down your house, or wash your hands until they're scrubbed raw for fear of germs. While you don't derive any sense of pleasure from performing these repetitive behaviors, they may offer some passing relief for the anxiety generated by the obsessive thoughts.

You may try to avoid situations that trigger or worsen your symptoms or self-medicate with alcohol or drugs. But while it can seem like there's no escaping your obsessions and compulsions, there are plenty of things you can do to break free of unwanted thoughts and irrational urges and regain control of your thoughts and actions.

OCD obsessions and compulsions

Obsessions are involuntary thoughts, images, or impulses that occur over and over again in your mind. You don't want to have these ideas, but you can't stop them. Unfortunately, these obsessive thoughts are often disturbing and distracting.

Compulsions are behaviors or rituals that you feel driven to act out again and again. Usually, compulsions are performed in an attempt to make obsessions go away. For example, if you're afraid of contamination, you might develop elaborate cleaning rituals. However, the relief never lasts. In fact, the obsessive thoughts usually come back stronger. And the compulsive rituals and behaviors often end up causing anxiety themselves as they become more demanding and time-consuming. This is the vicious cycle of OCD.

Most people with OCD fall into one of the following categories:

Washers are afraid of contamination. They usually have cleaning or hand-washing compulsions.

Checkers repeatedly check things (oven turned off, door locked, etc.) that they associate with harm or danger.

Doubters and sinners are afraid that if everything isn't perfect or done just right something terrible will happen, or they will be punished.

Counters and arrangers are obsessed with order and symmetry. They may have superstitions about certain numbers, colors, or arrangements.

OCD and hoarding

Hoarding used to be considered a category of OCD. While estimates suggest that up to 25 percent of people with OCD experience compulsive hoarding, it can also be a sign of a separate condition, hoarding disorder.

Hoarders fear that something bad will happen if they throw anything away and hoard things that they don't need or use. However, there are distinctions between OCD-related hoarding and hoarding disorder.

OCD-related hoarders tend not to accumulate so many possessions that their homes become unmanageable. Hoarding for them is usually unwelcome and distressing-a way to manage intrusive thoughts

Someone with hoarding disorder, on the other hand, experiences both positive and negative emotions. Acquiring possessions provides pleasure rather than simply satisfying a compulsion and they being surrounded by their things provides comfort. The distress in hoarding disorder stems more from the consequences of hoarding-the clutter and unsafe environment-along with the anxiety of having to discard possessions .

Read: Hoarding Disorder: Help for Hoarders

OCD signs and symptoms

Just because you have obsessive thoughts or perform compulsive behaviors does NOT mean that you have obsessive-compulsive disorder. With OCD, these thoughts and behaviors cause tremendous distress, take up a lot of time (at least one hour per day), and interfere with your daily life and relationships.

Most people with obsessive-compulsive disorder have both obsessions and compulsions, but some people experience just one or the other.
Common obsessive thoughts in OCD include:

Fear of being contaminated by germs or dirt or contaminating others.

Fear of losing control and harming yourself or others.

Intrusive sexually explicit or violent thoughts and images.

Excessive focus on religious or moral ideas.

Fear of losing or not having things you might need.

Order and symmetry: the idea that everything must line up "just right".

Superstitions; excessive attention to something considered lucky or unlucky.

Common compulsive behaviors in OCD include:

Excessive double-checking of things, such as locks, appliances, and switches.

Repeatedly checking in on loved ones to make sure they're safe.

Counting, tapping, repeating certain words, or doing other senseless things to reduce anxiety.

Spending a lot of time washing or cleaning.

Ordering or arranging things "just so".

Praying excessively or engaging in rituals triggered by religious fear.

Accumulating "junk" such as old newspapers or empty food containers.

OCD symptoms in children

While the onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder usually occurs during adolescence or young adulthood, younger children sometimes have symptoms that look like OCD. However, the symptoms of other disorders, such as ADHD, autism, and Tourette's syndrome, can also look like obsessive-compulsive disorder, so a thorough medical and psychological exam is essential before any diagnosis is made.

OCD self-help tip 1: Identify your triggers

The first step to managing your OCD symptoms is to recognize the triggers-the thoughts or situations-that bring on your obsessions and compulsions. Record a list of the triggers you experience each day and the obsessions they provoke. Rate the intensity of the fear or anxiety you experienced in each situation and then the compulsions or mental strategies you used to ease your anxiety. For example, if you have a fear of being contaminated by germs, touching a railing at the mall might generate a fear intensity of 3, whereas touching the restroom floor in the mall might generate a 10 and require 15 minutes of hand washing to ease your anxiety.

Keeping track of your triggers can help you anticipate your urges. And by anticipating your compulsive urges before they arise, you can help to ease them. For example, if your compulsive behavior involves checking that doors are locked, windows closed, or appliances turned off, try to lock the door or turn off the appliance with extra attention the first time.

Create a solid mental picture and then make a mental note. Tell yourself, "The window is now closed," or "I can see that the oven is turned off."

When the urge to check arises later, you will find it easier to re-label it as "just an obsessive thought."

Identifying and recording your triggers also provides an important tool for learning to resist your OCD compulsions.

Tip 2: Learn to resist OCD compulsions

It might seem smart to avoid the situations that trigger your obsessive thoughts, but the more you avoid them, the scarier they feel. Conversely, by repeatedly exposing yourself to your OCD triggers, you can learn to resist the urge to complete your compulsive rituals. This is known as exposure and response prevention (ERP) and is a mainstay of professional therapy for OCD.

ERP requires you to repeatedly expose yourself to the source of your obsession-and then refrain from the compulsive behavior you'd usually perform to reduce your anxiety. If you are a compulsive hand washer, for example, that could mean touching the door handle in a public restroom and then not allowing yourself to wash your hands. As you sit with the anxiety, the urge to wash your hands will gradually begin to go away on its own. In this way, you'll learn that you don't need the ritual to get rid of your anxiety and that you have some control over your obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors.

Tackling your biggest fears straight off might be too extreme, so ERP exercises start with you confronting lesser fears and then working your way up the "fear ladder." Confront those situations that generate a low fear intensity and once you're able to tolerate the anxiety you can move on to the next, more difficult exposure challenge.

Building your fear ladder

Think about your end goal (to be able to use a public restroom without fear of contamination, for example, or to drive to work without stopping to check if you've hit something) and then break down the steps needed to reach that goal. Using the information you recorded in identifying your triggers, make a list of situations from the least scary to the most scary. The first step should make you slightly anxious, but not so frightened that you're too intimidated to try it.

Here's a sample fear ladder:

Goal: To drive to work without stopping to check if you've hit something

Fear intensity

Situation

10

Drive all the way to work without stopping to check if you've hit something

8

Don't phone your spouse to check they got to work safely

6

Leave the house, lock the front door and walk away without checking

4

Turn off the stove and leave the room without checking

2

Put milk in the refrigerator without checking the top is secure

Using your fear ladder

Work your way up the ladder. Start with the first step and don't move on until you start to feel more comfortable doing it. If possible, stay in the situation long enough for your anxiety to decrease. The longer you expose yourself to your OCD trigger, the more you'll get used to it and the less anxious you'll feel when you face it the next time. Once you've done a step on several separate occasions without feeling too much anxiety, you can move on to the next step. If a step is too hard, break it down into smaller steps or go slower.

As you're resisting your compulsions, focus on the feelings of anxiety. Instead of trying to distract yourself, allow yourself to feel anxious as you resist the urge to engage in your compulsive behavior. You may believe that the discomfort you're feeling will continue until you engage in the compulsion. But if you stick with it, the anxiety will fade. And you'll realize that you're not going to "lose control" or have some kind of breakdown if you don't perform the ritual.

Practice. The more often you practice, the quicker your progress will be. But don't rush. Go at a pace that you can manage without feeling overwhelmed. And remember: you will feel uncomfortable and anxious as you face your fears, but the feelings are only temporary. Each time you expose yourself to your trigger, your anxiety should lessen and you'll start to realize that you have more control (and less to fear) than you thought.

Tip 3: Challenge obsessive thoughts

Everyone has troubling thoughts or worries from time to time. But obsessive-compulsive disorder causes the brain to get stuck on a particular anxiety-provoking thought, causing it to play over and over in your head. The more unpleasant or distressing the thought, the more likely you are to try to repress it. But repressing thoughts is almost impossible and trying usually has the opposite effect, causing the unpleasant thought to resurface more frequently and become more bothersome.

As with resisting compulsions, you can overcome disturbing, obsessive thoughts by learning to tolerate them through exposure and response prevention exercises. It's also important to remind yourself that just because you have an unpleasant thought, that doesn't make you a bad person. Your thoughts are just thoughts. Even unwanted, intrusive, or violent thoughts are normal-it's only the importance you attach to them that turns them into damaging obsessions.

The following strategies can help you see your thoughts for what they are and regain a sense of control over your anxious mind.

Write down your obsessive thoughts. Keep a pad and pencil on you, or type on a smartphone. When you begin to obsess, write down all your thoughts or compulsions.

Keep writing as the OCD urges continue, aiming to record exactly what you're thinking, even if you're repeating the same phrases or the same urges over and over.

Writing it all down will help you see just how repetitive your obsessions are.

Writing down the same phrase or urge hundreds of times will help it lose its power.

Writing thoughts down is much harder work than simply thinking them, so your obsessive thoughts are likely to disappear sooner.

Create an OCD worry period. Rather than trying to suppress obsessions or compulsions, develop the habit of rescheduling them.

Choose one or two 10-minute "worry periods" each day, time you can devote to obsessing.

During your worry period, focus only on negative thoughts or urges. Don't try to correct them. At the end of the worry period, take a few calming breaths, let the obsessive thoughts go, and return to your normal activities. The rest of the day, however, is to be designated free of obsessions.

When thoughts come into your head during the day, write them down and "postpone" them to your worry period.

Challenge your obsessive thoughts. Use your worry period to challenge negative or intrusive thoughts by asking yourself:

What's the evidence that the thought is true? That it's not true? Have I confused a thought with a fact?

Is there a more positive, realistic way of looking at the situation?

What's the probability that what I'm scared of will actually happen? If the probability is low, what are some more likely outcomes?

Is the thought helpful? How will obsessing about it help me and how will it hurt me?

What would I say to a friend who had this thought?

Create a tape of your OCD obsessions or intrusive thoughts. Focus on one specific thought or obsession and record it to a tape recorder or smartphone.

Recount the obsessive phrase, sentence, or story exactly as it comes into your mind.

Play the tape back to yourself, over and over for a 45-minute period each day, until listening to the obsession no longer causes you to feel highly distressed.

By continuously confronting your worry or obsession you will gradually become less anxious. You can then repeat the exercise for a different obsession.

Tip 4: Reach out for support

OCD can get worse when you feel powerless and alone, so it's important to build a strong support system. The more connected you are to other people, the less vulnerable you'll feel. And just talking to an understanding person about your worries and urges can make them seem less threatening.

Stay connected to family and friends. Obsessions and compulsions can consume your life to the point of social isolation. In turn, social isolation will aggravate your OCD symptoms. It's important to invest in relating to family and friends. Talking face-to-face about your worries and urges can make them feel less real and less threatening.

Join an OCD support group. You're not alone in your struggle with OCD, and participating in a support group can be an effective reminder of that. OCD support groups enable you to both share your own experiences and learn from others who are facing the same problems.

Tip 5: Manage stress

While stress doesn't cause OCD, it can trigger symptoms or make them worse. Physical exercise and connecting with another person face-to-face are two very effective ways to calm your nervous system. You can also:

Quickly self-soothe and relieve anxiety symptoms by making use of one or more of your physical senses -sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste-or movement. You might try listening to a favorite piece of music, looking at a treasured photo, savoring a cup of tea, or stroking a pet.

Practice relaxation techniques. Mindful meditation, yoga, deep breathing, and other relaxation techniques can help lower your overall stress and tension levels and help you manage your urges. For best results, try practicing a relaxation technique regularly.

Tip 6: Make lifestyle changes to ease OCD

A healthy, balanced lifestyle plays a big role in easing anxiety and keeping OCD compulsions, fears, and worry at bay.

Exercise regularly. Exercise is a natural and effective anti-anxiety treatment that helps to control OCD symptoms by refocusing your mind when obsessive thoughts and compulsions arise. For maximum benefit, try to get 30 minutes or more of aerobic activity on most days. Ten minutes several times a day can be as effective as one longer period especially if you pay mindful attention to the movement process.

Get enough sleep. Not only can anxiety and worry cause insomnia, but a lack of sleep can also exacerbate anxious thoughts and feelings. When you're well rested, it's much easier to keep your emotional balance, a key factor in coping with anxiety disorders such as OCD.

Avoid alcohol and nicotine. Alcohol temporarily reduces anxiety and worry, but it actually causes anxiety symptoms as it wears off. Similarly, while it may seem that cigarettes are calming, nicotine is actually a powerful stimulant. Smoking leads to higher, not lower, levels of anxiety and OCD symptoms.

Treatment for OCD

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is the most effective treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder and generally involves two components:

1. Exposure and response prevention, which requires repeated exposure to the source of your obsession, as explained above.

2. Cognitive therapy, which focuses on the catastrophic thoughts and exaggerated sense of responsibility you feel. A big part of cognitive therapy for OCD is teaching you healthy and effective ways of responding to obsessive thoughts, without resorting to compulsive behavior.

Other OCD treatments

In addition to cognitive-behavioral therapy, the following treatments are also used for OCD:

Medication. Antidepressants are sometimes used in conjunction with therapy for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, medication alone is rarely effective in relieving the symptoms.

Family Therapy. Since OCD often causes problems in family life and social adjustment, family therapy can help promote understanding of the disorder and reduce family conflicts. It can also motivate family members and teach them how to help their loved one with OCD.

Group Therapy. Through interaction with fellow OCD sufferers, group therapy provides support and encouragement and decreases feelings of isolation.

Is unresolved trauma playing a role in your OCD?

In some people, OCD symptoms such as compulsive washing or hoarding are ways of coping with trauma. If you have post-traumatic OCD, cognitive approaches may not be effective until underlying traumatic issues are resolved.

How to help someone with OCD

The way you react to your loved one's OCD symptoms can have a big impact on their outlook and recovery. Negative comments or criticism can make OCD worse, while a calm, supportive environment can help improve the outcome of treatment.

Avoid making personal criticisms. Remember, your loved one's OCD behaviors are symptoms, not character flaws.

Don't scold someone with OCD or tell them to stop performing rituals. They can't comply, and the pressure to stop will only make the behaviors worse.

Be as kind and patient as possible. Each sufferer needs to overcome problems at their own pace. Praise any successful attempt to resist OCD, and focus attention on positive elements in the person's life.

Do not play along with your loved one's rituals. Going along with your loved one's OCD "rules," or helping with their compulsions or rituals will only reinforce the behavior. Support the person, not their compulsions.

Keep communication positive and clear. Communication is important so you can find a balance between supporting your loved one and standing up to the OCD symptoms and not further distressing your loved one.

Find the humor. Laughing together over the funny side and absurdity of some OCD symptoms can help your loved one become more detached from the disorder. Just make sure your loved one feels respected and in on the joke.

Don't let OCD take over family life. Sit down as a family and decide how you will work together to tackle your loved one's symptoms. Try to keep family life as normal as possible and the home a low-stress environment.

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It's normal, on occasion, to go back and double-check that the iron is unplugged or worry that you might be contaminated by germs, or even have an occasional unpleasant, violent thought. But if you suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors become so consuming they interfere with your daily life.

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708 E. 19th Street, Houston, TX 77008
713-526-5055
Adolescent intensive outpatient program; specialty treatment for anxiety, phobias and depression.

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School Mental Health Referral Pathways Toolkit

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School Mental Health Referral Pathways Toolkit

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NITT SMHRP Toolkit_11 19 15 FINAL (1).PDF

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Treatment ,Support, and Overview for Psychosis

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Early Psychosis and Psychosis | NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness

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Psychosis is characterized as disruptions to a person's thoughts and perceptions that make it difficult for them to recognize what is real and what isn't.

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LOCAL RESOURCE: Harris County Psychiatric Hospital

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LOCAL RESOURCE: Harris County Psychiatric Hospital

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2800 S. MacGregor Way

Houston, TX 77021

713-741-5000

Open 24 hours
Provides services to individuals and families dealing with mental illness, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and emotional conflict.
Accepts clients, insured and uninsured.Payment plans can be arranged.

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Resource Guide for parents and students 

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Resource Guide for parents and students 

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How to read between a modification or accommodation

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Information on understanding the difference between 504 and IEP.

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Both Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and 504 plans can offer formal help for K-12 students who are struggling in school. They're similar in some ways but very different in others. This chart compares them side by side to help you understand the differences.

A blueprint or plan for a child's special education experience at school.

A blueprint or plan for how the school will provide support and remove barriers for a student with a disability.

To get an IEP, there are two requirements: A child has one or more of the 13 disabilities listed in IDEA. The law lists specific challenges, like learning disabilities, ADHD, autism, and others. And the disability must affect the child's educational performance and/or ability to learn and benefit from the general education curriculum. The child must need specialized instruction to make progress in school.

To get a 504 plan, there are two requirements: A child has any disability. Section 504 covers a wide range of different struggles in school. And the disability must interfere with the child's ability to learn in a general education classroom. Section 504 has a broader definition of a disability than IDEA. (It says a disability must substantially limit one or more basic life activities. This can include learning, reading, communicating, and thinking.) That's why a child who doesn't qualify for an IEP might still be able to get a 504 plan.

There are strict legal requirements about who participates. With a few exceptions, the entire IEP team must be present for IEP meetings. The team must include:

The rules about who's on the 504 team are less specific than they are for an IEP. A 504 plan is created by a team of people who are familiar with the child and who understand the evaluation data and special services options. This might include:

* The child's parent or caregiver

* General and special education teachers

* The school principal

* The child's parent or caregiver

* At least one of the child's general education teachers

* At least one special education teacher

* A school psychologist or other specialist who can interpret evaluation results

* A district representative with authority over special education services

The IEP sets learning goals and describes the services the school will provide. It's a written document. Here are some of the most important things the IEP must include:

There is no standard 504 plan. Unlike an IEP, a 504 plan doesn't have to be a written document. A 504 plan generally includes the following:

* Specific accommodations, supports, or services for the child

* Names of who will provide each service

* Name of the person responsible for ensuring the plan is implemented

* The child's present levels of academic and functional performance - how the child is currently doing in school

* Annual education goals for the child and how the school will track progress

* The services the child will get - this may include special education, related, supplementary, and extended school year services

* The timing of services - when they start, how often they occur, and how long they last

* Any accommodations - changes to the child's learning environment

* Any modifications - changes to what the child is expected to learn or know

* How the child will participate in standardized tests

* How the child will be included in general education classes and school activities

When the school wants to change a child's services or placement, it has to tell families in writing before the change. This is called prior written notice. Notice is also required for any IEP meetings and evaluations. Families also have "stay put" rights to keep services in place while there's a disagreement about the IEP.

The school must notify families about an evaluation or a "significant change" in placement. Notice doesn't have to be in writing, but most schools do so anyway.

How to resolve disputes

IDEA gives families several ways to resolve disputes (usually in this order):

Section 504 gives families several options for resolving disagreements with the school:

* Mediation

* Alternative dispute resolution

* Impartial hearing

* Complaint to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR)

* Lawsuit

* Mediation

* Due process complaint

* Resolution session

* Civil lawsuit

* State complaint

* Lawsuit

And if you need help navigating special education law in your state, consider reaching out to your local Parent Training and Information Center. The people there can answer questions and give practical advice on issues specific to your area.

Do you want to learn more about how IEPs and 504 plans compare? Watch as an expert explains the differences between them.

About the author

About the author

The Understood Team is made up of passionate writers and editors. Many of them have kids who learn and think differently.

Reviewed by

Reviewed by

Andrew M.I. Lee, JD is an editor and attorney who strives to help people understand complex legal, education, and parenting issues.

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IEP vs. 504 Plan: What's the Difference?

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Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and 504 plans are similar but different. See how they compare in what they provide and the processes and laws involved.

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This resource is beneficial for parents on how to prepare for an IEP meeting and what things to expect.

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The maximum amount of time allowed to pass between the parents' request and/or agreement to conduct the evaluation to the IEP development differs from state to state, but most regulations cite a time line somewhere between fifty and 120 days. (Note: In some states the meeting at which the IEP is written is called by the somewhat misleading phrase Admission, Review Dismissal meeting-the ARD meeting.)

Whatever it's called in your state, you will have a lot to prepare so that the meeting is productive and so that the school personnel understand the necessity of the accommodations. Being prepared will also ensure that the IEP is well written.

Parents must be prepared to educate the school team, develop a resource binder, rehearse the meeting beforehand, and decide who will be at the meeting with them (the child psychiatrist, an advocate, an educational lawyer).

Any written materials about early-onset bipolar disorder that you want the special education team at school to review (perhaps the article What is Juvenile Bipolar Disorder?) should be sent about two weeks before the scheduled meeting so that the IEP team will have time to digest the materials and better understand how to write the IEP. Few could skim and grasp the implications of this illness and construct an IEP in the hour or two allotted to the process without prior knowledge about the student's challenges and illness.

Preparing the Binder

The three-ring binder should carry a picture of your child on the front, his or her name and grade on the spine, and be divided into sections inside. These should include:

1. Important contacts and telephone numbers.

2. Reports or letters from the professionals working with your child. An example would be letters from the psychiatrist or therapist with any recommendations they have for your child's education.

3.Results you have from private assessments such as the neuropsychological testing. These test results should support your child's need for an IDEA classification.

4.The complete list of accommodations from this article.

5. The sample IEP from The Bipolar Child website. This sample IEP will help you with your input at the IEP meeting.

6.The Behavior/Symptom/Accommodation chart from this article is a visual aide to help the IEP team better understand how to interpret disruptive behaviors and recommend how to develop interventions which will reduce these unruly behaviors.

7.Examples of your child's work which exemplify areas of difficulty and areas of giftedness.

8. A copy of Jennifer Bollero's beautifully written and reasoned article called "Playing Hearts, Not Poker" available at the Harbor House Press Law site. No parent should leave home for an IEP meeting without reading or re-reading this article.

Educating the Team About Accommodations
That Will Benefit Your Child

Since a parent usually understands the illness and the side effects of the medications better than anyone, he or she should be ready to spell out a list of symptoms and medication side effects and proposed modifications in the academic schedule to accommodate the child's difficulties and to make the school day more productive and comfortable for the student.

Hopefully, by the time the education team sits down to write the IEP, the parents can provide the independent neuropsychological assessment which can pinpoint any specific learning disabilities, learning styles, and possible weaknesses in the domains of executive functions. (This neuropsychologist's report should make recommendations for the academic arena and these recommendations should be addressed in the IEP also.)

We thought it would be helpful to divide the modifications into categories where parents and educators could see at a glance which symptoms the student has and which accommodations will have to be incorporated into the IEP. Four categories the IEP team should consider when developing an appropriate IEP for a student with a mood disorder are:

I. Symptoms caused by the mood disorder

II. Side effects of the medications used to treat the condition

III. Attention and organizational difficulties

IV. Specific learning disabilities

(Click here to view all the symptoms and accommodations)

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How to Prepare for the IEP Meeting - Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation

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The maximum amount of time allowed to pass between the parents' request and/or agreement to conduct the evaluation to the IEP development differs from state to state, but most regulations cite a time line somewhere between fifty and 120 days. (Note: In some states the meeting at which the IEP is written is called by...

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My name is Molena Minix and I am a school counselor graduate student at Angelo State University. Please feel free to use these resources. For any additional information or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
713-998-1415

mminix@houstonisd.com