Aspies For Freedom

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=st...n_paxil_dc

:!: Mich :?:

SO mich


How do you feel about it?

Greetings,

I welcome that news to be honest.
My OCD was really severe at the age of about 10 / 11 and made my life utter hell so I have a pretty good idea of what these children are going through.

However - I still refuse to take the pills I've been given for it now (only because I've been on so many for other things)

OCD seems to be one of the anxiety conditions so it would be logical to suggest that anti-anxiety medications could help. However, the situation gets more complex when a person not only has OCD, but depression, ADHD and/or autism.

if CBT hasn't worked, and a child is badly affected by OCD, then pills could make sense (obviously taking care to alter doses etc appropriate). BUT surely Paxil is a bad choice of SSRIs due to the short half-life/withdrawal problem.

If CBT hasn't worked, and a child is badly affected by OCD, why don't we try to find out exactly what it is in the child's environment that is making them so distressed, and do something about it?

I don't want to put my kids on drugs so that they comply with 'the rules' - I want them to see the rules are not worth complying with, and ditch them.

I don't want to put my kids on drugs so that they will stop their comforting rituals that help them maintain some control - I want to give them real control over their own lives.

I don't want to put my kids on drugs so that they will no longer feel suicidal about bullying - I want to stop the bullying!

I'd also question if CBT is really such an effective strategy for us as it seems to suggest we should gloss over environmental factors that can and could be changed. If it works fine, then that's good but I seriously doubt some of us would be able to trust a therapist far enough for it to work with us.

Sorry I didn't mean to cause offence, certainly whilst environmental factors contributed to my OCD over the years, (childhood bullying, parental pressure to be "normal" and "popular" by the time I was in treatment I really don't feel that there was any obvious environmental change that would have helped me. However I am open to the perspective that had my school days been happier, and teachers paid more attention to my differences, that maybe I would have avoided OCD.

In my case, it wasn't the case that OCD manifested in compliance/non-compliance with arbitrary social rules. I was germ-phobic and washing my hands 70x per day, causing much physical and mental discomfort. I wanted to get better to make ME happier, not to be "normal".

Very good points and I wish more parents could see that it's not the best thing to make kids conform to every stupid rule out there. Sure, we have to have some rules to ensure society runs properly, but not so many that we are afraid to say or do anything in case somebody takes offence.