Take Control of OCD: The Ultimate Guide for Kids With OCD

by Bonnie Zucker

Overview

Take Control of OCD is a unique guide just for kids ages 8—14 with obsessive compulsive disorder to help them take control of their disorder and find success in school and in life. Using a cognitive-behavioral therapy method to stress gradual exposure to students' obsessive thinking patterns, the book takes kids step-by-step through a ladder-based process to conquer their fears and demolish their worries.

Focusing on helping kids change their obsessive thoughts, tolerate uncertainty, develop positive self-talk and stress management, advocate for their needs in school, find successful relaxation procedures, and face their fears, the book includes workbook-style pages for kids to complete. By interviewing kids with OCD from across the country, the author offers tons of advice, information, and ideas for students, by students just like them. This handy guidebook is sure to help children with OCD change their behaviors and conquer their worries, discovering a sense of accomplishment and achievement.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781593634292
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	11/01/2010
Series:	Take Control
Pages:	175
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	10 - 16 Years

About the Author

Bonnie Zucker, Psy.D., is a licensed psychologist in Washington, DC, where she has helped hundreds of children overcome OCD and anxiety in private practice at Alvord, Baker, & Associates, and at the National Center for the Treatment of Phobias, Anxiety, and Depression. She was named one of Washingtonian Magazine's Top Therapists in the fields of OCD and phobias in 2009.

Table of Contents

A Note for Your Parents xi

Introduction xiii

Chapter 1 What is OCD? 16

Chapter 2 How to Overcome OCD 30

Chapter 3 Developing Your Ladder 46

Chapter 4 Learning How to Relax 72

Chapter 5 Challenging Obsessive Thoughts and Worries 92

Chapter 6 Tolerating Uncertainty 110

Chapter 7 Facing Your Fears: Exposure/Response Prevention 118

Chapter 8 Becoming Resilient to OCD: Going the Extra Mile With Exposures 136

Chapter 9 Stress Management 146

Chapter 10 Congratulations: Celebrate Yourself and Your Accomplishments 160

Conclusions: Best Wishes for Continued Success 169

Resources 171

References 177

Editorial Reviews

Written by a practicing psychologist who reportedly helped "hundreds of children become anxiety-free," this reader-friendly guide is for children and teens who wish to break away from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety. Zucker begins by clearly defining terms and explaining what constitutes OCD and is known about its causes. From page one the guide is clear, direct, and respectful. Zucker offers sensible, concrete, step-by-step help through life with crippling OCD to life free of its most troublesome behaviors. She illustrates her points using examples of real children's experiences, giving readers a sense of what others face. Her how-to approach enables readers to digest information while simultaneously working on their own difficulties. After helping readers develop "ladders" of difficult situations, and ranking them in order of difficulty, she shares relaxation techniques useful for managing anxiety, including scripts for recording relaxing imagery tapes, progressive muscle relaxation, and calm breathing. Her suggestions about challenging faulty thinking include scheduling "worry time," when OCD sufferers may listen to a personalized endless-loop "worry tape." Speaking of "uncertainty training," she refers to works by others in the field and cites books for finding more in-depth treatments of an area or technique mentioned. Readers who follow her directions—with the support of family and others—could conceivably have much success to celebrate by the time they work through to the end of her book. Zucker's comprehensive guide is a gift for OCD sufferers of all ages and those who love and work with them. Reviewer: Cynthia Winfield

VOYA - Cynthia Winfield