Download What is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?

Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder
What Every Teacher Needs to Worry About
Kristina Planinsek
Objectives
Participants in this seminar will be able
to:
Think differently about students with
OCD.
Identify the symptoms of OCD and how
they can affect your students’ learning.
Analyze ideas you can implement in your
own classroom.
Copyright 2007 K. McCallen-Planinsek
What is
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?
Classified in the DSM-IV-TR as an anxiety disorder.
Characterized by recurrent, time-consuming obsessive or
compulsive behaviors that cause distress and/or
impairment.
Obsessions may be repetitive intrusive images, thoughts,
or impulses.
According to the DSM-IV-TR (2000), compulsive
behaviors, such as hand-washing or cleaning rituals, are
often an attempt to displace the obsessive thoughts.
(Surgeon General’s Report, 1999)
Glossary
OCD – Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
DSM-IV-TR – The guide used to
diagnose mental disorders in the United
States.
Obsessions – recurrent, persistent,
irrational thoughts, impulses, or images
that cause marked anxiety or distress
Copyright 2007 K. McCallen-Planinsek
Glossary
Recurrent – occurs for more than an hour
a day every day
Compulsions – repetitive acts or behaviors
(rituals or routines) that are
uncontrollable
FBA – Functional Behavioral Assessment –
observations of student completed by a
professional to analyze the benefits of
certain behaviors for a student in order
to create a behavior plan
Copyright 2007 K. McCallen-Planinsek
Prevalence
Estimates of prevalence range from 0.2 to 0.8
percent in children, and up to 2% of adolescents
(Flament et al., 1998).
Affects children and adults. It is usually detected in
childhood, the teen years, or early adulthood.
Children as young as 5 or 6 can show full-blown OCD.
Affects males and females equally.
Between 30% and 50 % of adults with OCD reported
that their symptoms started during or before midadolescence (Watkins, 2003).
What Does
OCD
Look Like?
Compulsions
Obsessions
(irrational thoughts)
worrying about germs
concerned about
intruders
need for everything to
be neat & orderly
(rituals and routines)
repeating words, phrase,
& songs
being a “pack-rat”
cleaning; themselves &
their personal/living
space
checking & rechecking;
that their locker is
afraid they will do
locked, the curling iron
something that will hurt
is unplugged, that their
or offend someone they
crayons are in the box
Copyright 2007 K. McCallen-Planinsek
care about
Biological Factors
Often times OCD appears to run in families.
Cause of OCD is unknown.
Regularly appears with another disorder such
as eating disorders, depression, or other
anxiety disorders.
A group of patients have seen a connection
with streptococcal infections and an increase
in the severity of symptoms (Evans, et. al, 2007).
OCD & School
Peer pressure to fit in and be like
everyone else is troublesome when you
cannot stop yourself from completing
certain rituals.
Students with OCD often look at their
symptoms as fantasy or magical…if they
don’t do things a certain way something
bad will happen to someone they care
about.
OCD & Family
OCD often runs in families, but no
direct cause is known.
Stress can exacerbate symptoms, so
unstable home life can increase
problems.
Ignoring symptoms does not help.
Support and reassurance from parents
makes OCD more manageable for their
children.
How OCD Affects School
Performance
Affects schoolwork
Perfectionism
 Fear of germs on paper

Distracts fellow classmates
Inadvertently breaks rules without
meaning to
 Distractions can affect own and others’
ability to learn

Legal Safeguards in
Pennsylvania
Students with OCD would qualify under
PA Chapter 15 for a Section 504 plan
District must provide necessary supports for a child
to participate in and benefit from the educational
program at school.
The child must have equal access to all
extracurricular school programs and activities such
as clubs, assemblies, lunch, and field trips.
(Pennsylvania Education Law Center, 2006)
What Teachers Can Do
Keep routines as predictable as
possible.
Establish rules and consequences and
keep them consistent
Encourage tolerance and understanding
of peers who are different
What Else Teachers Can
Do
Involve movement into your
teaching…exercise can help to calm symptoms
Encourage older students to journal…this can
help them to identify triggers for symptoms
Ask for an FBA, Functional Behavior
Assessment, to be completed on a student
who is diagnosed with or you suspect might
have OCD. If triggers are identified, you
may be able to help eliminate them.
What Teachers Should
Avoid
Avoid negative responses to
symptoms.
Avoiding rewards such as chocolate
Caffeine can cause symptoms to flare
up.

Avoid abrupt changes to schedules
and routines.
How Do I, as a
Teacher, Help a Parent
Understand OCD?
See Brochure Handout
Help
http://www.ocfoundation.org/
Founded by a group of individuals with OCD in
1986, the mission of the Obsessive Compulsive
Foundation is to educate the public and
professional communities about OCD and
related disorders; to provide assistance to
individuals with OCD and related disorders,
their family and friends; and to support
research into the causes and effective
treatments of OCD and related disorders.
Help
Blink, Blink, Clop, Clop: Why Do
We Do Things We Can't Stop?
by Moritz and Jablonsky, ChildsWork, ChildsPlay
(1998)
This illustrated book explains OCD to
elementary-aged children. It uses the
metaphor of farm animals who are
tormented by "O.C. Flea." It can be a
useful story early on in the child's
therapy. This book is probably best read
with or to a child. Some of the concepts
and vocabulary are more advanced and
should be explained.
Case Study
See Handout
to read Josie’s Story
References
American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, fourth edition (text revision). Washington, DC: Author.
Evans, D.L., Ed. et al. (2007). Treating and Preventing Adolescent Mental Health
Disorders; What we know and what we don’t know. Retrieved October 14, 2007
from the World Wide Web:
http://amhitreatingpreventing.oup.com/anbrg/public/index.html
Flament, M. F., Whitaker, A., Rapoport, J. L., Davies, M., Berg, C. Z., Kalikow, K., Sceery, W., &
Shaffer, D. (1988). Obsessive compulsive disorder in adolescence: An epidemiological study.
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 27, 764–771.
The National Institute of Mental Health. (2007). Anxiety disorders. U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES • National Institutes of Health.
Retrieved September 8, 2007 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd/index.shtml
Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation. (2006-2007). Retrieved September 16, 2007 from the World
Wide Web: http://www.ocfoundation.org
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1999). Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon
General—Executive Summary. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental
Health Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health.
Retrieved September 8, 2007 from the World Wide
Web:http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/features/surgeongeneralreport/chapter3/sec6.asp
Watkins, Carol E., and Brynes, G. (2003). Anxiety disorders in children and adults. Retrieved
October 14, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://www.ncpamd.com/anxiety.htm
Copyright 2007 K. McCallen-Planinsek
Contact Information
If you wish to duplicate this material,
please contact the author,
Kristina Planinsek, at
[email protected]
314 Pittsburgh St.
New Derry, PA 15671
Copyright 2007 K. McCallen-Planinsek