What is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a neurological illness and
the fourth most common psychiatric diagnosis in children. Many
children diagnosed with OCD also turn out to have other brain-based
disorders, particularly attention deficit disorder or attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD). Psychiatrists
sometimes categorize people who have certain common OCD behaviors
as "counters", "cleaners", "checkers", and "hoarders".
SEBASTOPOL, CA --OCD is not to be dismissed as a minor problem or
a personality quirk. An estimated 2.5 to 5 million people have OCD,
often beginning in childhood. When OCD occurs in children or
adolescents it can cause extreme anxiety and embarrassment. It
can prevent children from building good relationships, doing well
in school and having a normal childhood. The good news is that
OCD is very treatable.
Having experienced OCD as both a patient and a parent Mitzi Waltz,
author of Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder: Help for Children and Adolescents, provides parents
and professionals with information on how to:
- Secure an accurate and complete diagnosis and find available
resources
- Understand medical and therapy options
- Use effective parenting techniques, build support systems, and
handle difficult issues
- Navigate the special education system
- Get care with an existing health insurance plan
- Explore therapeutic and other interventions, such as cognitive
therapy, vitamins or supplements
Parents and family members of children diagnosed with OCD are faced
with many challenges on a daily basis. This is the only book
available for them to understand what OCD is, how it is treated,
and how they can act as an advocate for their child.
About the Author
Mitzi Waltz has been an author, journalist, and editor for more
than a decade, covering topics from computers to health care. She
has experienced the effects of childhood-onset obsessive-compulsive
disorder first hand, both as a patient and a parent of two children
diagnosed with OCD. She is an advocate for children's neurological
issues and offers advice and support to teens with OCD via an
Internet chat list. Waltz is also the author of
Pervasive
Developmental Disorders: Finding a Diagnosis and Getting Help
(Patient-Centered Guides, 1999) and
Bipolar Disorders:
A Guide to Helping Children & Adolescents
(Patient-Centered Guides, 2000).
Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder: Help for Children and Adolescents
by Mitzi Waltz
$24.95, 390 pages, paperback
ISBN: 1-56592-758-3
PUBLICATION DATE: May 2000
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