OCD

[Camper]

My 11 year old daughter has OCD among other things and its so tricky to help her as her obsessions are around dying. Just so heart broken for her and its hard to keep my mental state in check with so much care and worry.

[Jynx]

@Camper welcome to the forums, glad you found us! 

I'm sorry to hear that your daughter has OCD, and so young too, that is really hard. Sounds like you're doing your best to support her, but it can be hard to know the best way to do so, and it would definitely weigh heavily. 

Do you have mental health support for yourself, like a therapist or counsellor maybe? You definitely don't deserve to go through this alone. And I know there's plenty of other carers and parents of children with mental health issues here on the forum who can relate to what you're going through. 

You can also always give our support line a buzz if you want to get some stuff off your chest, or if you are looking for some ideas/insights on how best to support your daughter - give em a go on 1800 187 263 (Mon-Fri, 10am-8pm). 

We're here for you hun 😊💜

[Camper]

I do have a psychologist, but understand the power of shared experience. 

Feeling not so alone. It’s a tricky subject that most people don’t understand. 

Thanks for reaching out 

[defaultusername]

Hi @Camper,

Welcome to the Forum, and thank you for sharing.

I'm also very sorry to hear that your daughter is having to deal with such dark thoughts, I can only imagine how difficult that must be for the both of you…

If you'd like, I'd be more than happy to help look for some resources or keep an eye out for parents or caregivers in a similar situation to try to help connect you with.

That's great you have a psychologist. I also highly recommend SANE's support services - https://www.sane.org/get-support including their Support Line as mentioned in @Jynx's post.

If and when your child feels they need to speak to someone, do they also have some supports?

Kids Helpline are a wonderful support service for children and are available 24/7 via phone: 1800 555 1800 and online chat: https://kidshelpline.com.au/get-help/webchat-counselling

I hope you can both find the support you are looking for.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

defaultusername

[8ppleTree]

Hi @Camper 

Welcome to the forums 🙂

You might find others with some similar experiences here who might be up for a chat. You can also type a topic or word in, ie 'OCD' into the search function of the site and see what threads and chats come up.

Feeling alone, or like no one understands can make our challenges feel even heavier. You're not alone, there are many people caring, or who have lived experience with OCD and/or dark thoughts. Do you find that distraction techniques work for you and your daughter, or are the thoughts something to be managed through to the other side of? 

It's great that you also have support in place for yourself as you care for someone else. The more avenues for support and connection, the stronger we all are. It sounds like you are giving a lot, so well done for reaching out for yourself, too 👍

[Ramman]

It's tricky; it is fickle; it's hard work.

On one hand you have someone whom you swore to protect and pprovidefor and yet you see them struggle with the basic concepts that being alive is too difficult.

Their is help out there for parents/ carers  but when it's middle of night and your listening hoping that they are safe it's scary as.    

My strong suggestion after doing the  similar  twice is get your gp to find a psychiatrist to help.  They can prescribe  medication.  Honestly sometimes its all  I have beside ED. I am not proud to advocate for it; it makes me feel a failure - but I would rather fail at that than something irreversible.    

Don't be afraid to find a psychologist that your child identifies with and makes progress with.  I have taken my 2 kids to 12 different at 5 different providers over last 3 years.  Somewhere so bad.

In my journey I discovered that I had too be there advocate and represent there desires and needs. Often when chatting parents only to the psychologist/ medical staff I could offer thoughts anacodotes suggestions about why things may be happening.    If things not going well tell them

My thoughts to you.