Obsessive washing of hands since Covid in a 14 year old

[WorriedNW]

My daughter is 14 years old and since we, the family, had Covid at Christmas she has taken to washing her hands after touching anything, to the point that they are a different colour to the rest of her arm, from wrist down. I have spoken to her and she says she can't help it, 'it makes her feel safe', but this has now developed into not touching anyone, no hugs, not opening doors, cupboards with hands but uses her feet and when she sits on her bed 'her clean space' she then even puts socks onto bare feet to get into bed so she doesn't contaminate the sheets. When getting out she takes them off making sure they don't turn inside out so as not to get germs on them, before putting them back on again when getting back into bed!

Please can you offer help - or is this the point at which I seek professional help?

[PolarBear]

Hey there.

This is classic OCD behavior. My choice is always to seek professional help. A qualified OCD therapist should be able to help her.

[BelAnna]

9 hours ago, WorriedNW said:

My daughter is 14 years old and since we, the family, had Covid at Christmas she has taken to washing her hands after touching anything, to the point that they are a different colour to the rest of her arm, from wrist down. I have spoken to her and she says she can't help it, 'it makes her feel safe', but this has now developed into not touching anyone, no hugs, not opening doors, cupboards with hands but uses her feet and when she sits on her bed 'her clean space' she then even puts socks onto bare feet to get into bed so she doesn't contaminate the sheets. When getting out she takes them off making sure they don't turn inside out so as not to get germs on them, before putting them back on again when getting back into bed!

Please can you offer help - or is this the point at which I seek professional help?

Hi WorriedNW,

It does sound like your daughter is experiencing significant anxiety due to her contamination worries. I think it is worth either seeing your GP for a referral to a CBT therapist, contacting your local IAPT service for CBT or alternatively looking for a private CBT therapist who is registered with the BABCP (British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies) and who specialises in the treatment of OCD. A lot of therapists are offering appointments online just now so that might help if she has any worries about contamination when outside at the moment. 

Therapy would involve challenging her thoughts and reducing her compulsions. You could get started with some CBT self-help- the OCDuk shop has some helpful self-help CBT books (which you can obviously buy elsewhere if you wish). I have heard lots of recommendations for the book 'Break Free from OCD' and have also used 'The Beating OCD Workbook' for self-directed CBT and found it helpful. 

I hope things improve for your family! 

 

[WorriedNW]

Thank you for your reply and advice. It is worrying times for all of us and I understand baby steps are needed to get back out into the world safely. I will look for the books you mentioned and seek out further help via our GP. Thank you again for responding very helpful.

[WorriedNW]

On 23/04/2021 at 14:04, PolarBear said:

Hey there.

This is classic OCD behavior. My choice is always to seek professional help. A qualified OCD therapist should be able to help her.

Thank you for your response. It has helped.

[Gemma@OCDUK]

Hi WorriedNW,

I hope you have managed to seek a referral for your daughter to her local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) who should be able to give her the tools to challenge these worries and behaviours. It might be helpful to watch some of our presentations aimed at families from our online conference last year here https://www.ocduk.org/conference/conference-map/family/ We also have a special edition of our member's magazine which is all about coping with OCD during the pandemic, you can read it online here https://www.ocduk.org/april-compulsive-reading/ 

Gemma

[BelAnna]

Oh sorry- just realised the IAPT is probably only for adult therapy self-referrals- obviously it would be CAMHS through your GP instead- sorry.

[Handy]

I did that too,  my first book is still out, The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Washing. 
 

Disease activated her amygdala which is now protecting her as if what the germs she was seeing were real. Lucky we have a neocortex or new brain to take over. 
 

As I went through this as a child too you need to evaluate the situation objectively.