Anxiety, OCD, and BFRB’s

Anxiety

Anxiety is the most common emotional problem in children. Kids can develop crippling worries about many things, from germs to vomiting to their parents dying. Some anxious kids are painfully shy, and avoid things that other kids enjoy, some have tantrums and meltdowns, and others develop elaborate rituals, like compulsive hand washing, aimed at diminishing the fear.

If your child’s fears are persistent, overly intense, or begin interfering with her daily life, it might be time to seek help. Signs that a fear may be something more include:

  • Obsessive worrying: Fixating on the object of his fear, thinking or talking about it often, or even when the trigger isn’t present. For example, becoming terribly anxious months before the next dentist visit.
  • Fears that limit your ability to enjoy life or participate in activities. For example, refusing to go on a class trip to the park because there might be dogs there.
  • Intense, specific fears that cause impairment. Signs of severe anxiety like panic attacks, compulsive or disruptive behavior, or withdrawing from activities, school or family.  If your fears seem like they might be something more serious, make an appointment to talk with a professional to see if more help is necessary.

OCD, and OCD Spectrum Disorders

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a disorder that involves both obsessions and compulsions that take a lot of time and get in the way of important activities, such as school/work, developing friendships, and self-care.

  • Obsessions are recurring intrusive and unwanted thoughts, images, or urges. Common obsessions may include: worrying about germs, getting sick, or dying, extreme fears about bad things happening or doing something wrong, feeling that things have to be “just right”, disturbing and unwanted thoughts or images about hurting others or disturbing and unwanted thoughts.
  • Compulsions (also referred to as rituals) are behaviors you feel you “must do” with the intention of getting rid of the upsetting feelings caused by the obsessions. A sufferer may also believe that engaging in these compulsions will somehow prevent bad things from happening. Common compulsions may involve excessive checking or re-checking, excessive washing and/or cleaning, repeating actions until they are “just right” or starting things over again, ordering or arranging things, or mental compulsions.
  • In general, OCD is treated when these obsessions and compulsions become so time-consuming that they negatively interfere with daily life. Symptoms may come and go, ease over time, or worsen. Although most adults with OCD recognize that what they are doing doesn’t make sense, some adults and most children may not realize that their behavior is out of the ordinary.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Tourette’s Disorder/Tics
Hair Pulling Disorder (Trichotillomania)
Skin Picking Disorder
Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
Hoarding
Emetophobia

BFRB’s

Body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB) is a general term for a group of related disorders that includes hair pulling, skin picking, and nail-biting. These behaviors are not habits or tics; rather, they are complex disorders that cause people to repeatedly touch their hair and body in ways that result in physical damage.

Common BFRBs

Hair Pulling: (Trichotillomania) causes people to pull out the hair from their scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, and other parts of the body resulting in noticeable bald patches. 5-20% of people who have hair pulling disorder also swallow the hair.

Skin Picking Disorder: (Excoriation) causes people to repetitively touch, rub, scratch, pick at, or dig into their skin, resulting in skin discoloration, scarring, and even severe tissue damage and disfigurement.

Nail-biting Disorder: (Onychophagia) causes people to bite their nails past the nail bed and chew on cuticles until they bleed, leading to soreness and infection.

  • Other BFRBs include frequently cheek and lip biting, nail picking, scab eating, and other self-grooming-related behaviors.

Other Mental Health Issues We Treat:

CPE Clinic, LLC has providers who have expertise in treating a variety of mental health issues including depression, bipolar disorder, behavior, autism, etc.  (please copy our services page from original website)

All of our providers are out of network and do not participate with any insurance programs.  Please contact your insurance provider – click here for a guide for How to Check Your Health Insurance. Some clients have success advocating for out of network benefits – here is some information that you might find helpful about advocating for out of network benefits.

Appointments

To make an appointment with any of our providers, please call the office line at 410-979-2326. You can also email erin@cpeclinic.com or jennifer@cpeclinic.com.