The Blog of P.U.R.E. and Sue Scheff

OCD, like ADD, ADHD, ODD, etc is another commonly used acronym that doctors use as diagnoses of teens and adults.  I am not making light of it, however I believe parents need a better understanding of it.  Today guest Blogger, Jenny Stowe from Masters In Healthcare , asked me to share this post.  I find it very interesting and I hope my readers do too.  The more we know, the better we can understand Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Despite being one of the most commonly diagnosed mental disorders and present in as many as one in 50 U.S. adults, obsessive-compulsive disorder tends to occupy a gray area in the public consciousness that’s marked more by myth than truth. Chalk it up to stereotypes or characters like Jack Nicholson’s in As Good as It Gets , but many people hold to a system of misconceptions about OCD that simply aren’t true. Those with the disease or who have a loved one with it know the truth, but for everyone else, here are the...

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a topic we are hearing more about. As a parent, we need to be aware of the signs to determine if your child may have tendencies and if so, to address them early. Recently, Connect with Kids posted an informational article with great parenting tips and resources about OCD. Source: Connect with Kids Research is beginning to indicate that Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a function of abnormal brain activity, not a result of a bad home life or learned childhood attitudes or behaviors. It has also shown that for every 100 people, two or three suffer from this disorder. Consider the following statistics developed by experts at the Child Development Institute: About 2.3 percent of the U.S. population ages 18 to 54 – approximately 3.3 million Americans – have OCD in a given year. OCD affects men and women equally. OCD typically begins during adolescence or early childhood; at least one-third of the cases of adult OCD began in childhood. OCD costs t...