Talking OCD on The Full Tilt Parenting Podcast
Recently I had the chance to sit down and talk about OCD with Debbie Reber, author of Differently Wired: Raising An Exceptional Child in a Conventional World, and tireless advocate for neurodivergent children and teens and their parents. I hope you’ll check out the podcast here and share it with anyone struggling with OCD—whether for themselves or as a parent. OCD is a very treatable disorder and equipped with the right treatment including cognitive-behavior therapy and sometimes medication—your child, with your help, can reclaim their path through life unencumbered by rituals and intrusive thoughts.
This was a return visit for me to Full Tilt Parenting. Years back I sat down with Debbie and spoke about the challenge of parenting kids with negative thinking (and let’s just say—all kids can be “negative thinking kids” at times). We talked about the many ways that parents can shift their focus from trying to make their kids think more positively to thinking more accurately about the situations they face in life, by helping their kids right-size their conclusions, consider other perspectives, and keep an eye on the thinking errors that can plague us all: all or none thinking, catastrophizing, personalizing, and jumping to conclusions. You can check out that podcast here.
On a personal note, I wonder if you, like me, just really appreciate a good conversation—whether you’re part of it, or listening in. I know for me, in these times that can feel so disconnected, I am bolstered by the conversations I’ve been having around the launch of the revised and updated edition of Freeing Your Child from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder including what I have shared here and in a couple of previous posts—with Natasha Daniels of AT Parenting Survival here, and with the No Guilt Mom Podcast here.
Looking back on the past year, another treasured conversation that left me feeling like I’d made two new friends was with Sissy Goff and David Thomas over at the Raising Girls and Boys podcast. Sissy and David who are in Nashville Tennessee (gosh did they send me the most delicious toffee after!) have devoted their lives to helping support kids and families through their therapy, their imaginative and comforting books, and their illuminating podcast. We had kind of a sweeping conversation about how hard it is to parent these days, and how parents deserve more credit for being the front line in so many new and evolving ways. In addition to talking about childhood stress, we discussed the increasing awareness that kids have about diagnoses—they often come into a first session having googled and diagnosed themselves! That is a triumph, but it’s not enough. The road ahead for kids to really be free is having treatment strategies be a matched set to any diagnosis. Meaning, if kids learn that they might have a diagnosis, we want them to also learn a few strategies that work to address that diagnosis! In honoring and acknowledging the struggles as well as pointing to the path through, we help kids understand that whatever they are experiencing is not an identity that have to park in, it’s a set of thinking patterns that they can learn to recognize, edit and change. That is how we truly instill hope: we empower kids to learn how to help themselves.
I know we’re all so busy these days, so I often am multi-tasking listening to podcasts while I’m folding laundry or doing dishes. How about you? But even if you just catch a few minutes of a conversation, I hope you’ll leave feeling—you’re not alone, there is always hope that kids can feel better, and parents are the best teachers, and most of all– that people really do care about the world our kids live in and want to make it a better place!
As this is Thanksgiving week here, I wish you all warmth and fullness of heart this Thanksgiving. Here’s to less worry, more well-being, and more connection all around!
