OCD Treatment for Children and Teens
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a common and highly treatable condition that can significantly interfere with a child's or teen's daily life. Children with OCD experience unwanted, intrusive thoughts (obsessions) that create anxiety, along with repetitive behaviors or mental rituals (compulsions) performed to reduce that anxiety. Left untreated, OCD can affect school, friendships, family relationships, and overall quality of life.
The good news is that OCD is highly treatable. As a board-certified child and adolescent psychologist, Dr. Diana Bastien specializes in the evidence-based assessment and treatment of pediatric OCD. Through specialized treatment, children and teens can learn to manage OCD, resist compulsions, and regain confidence in their everyday lives.
What Is OCD?
OCD often begins during childhood or adolescence and is characterized by obsessions and compulsions that become difficult to control.
Obsessions
Obsessions are recurrent, intrusive thoughts, images, or urges that create significant anxiety. Common themes include fears of contamination, harm, making mistakes, uncertainty, morality, or the need for things to feel "just right."
Compulsions
Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental rituals performed to reduce anxiety or prevent something feared from happening. Examples include excessive handwashing, checking, reassurance seeking, repeating, counting, arranging, confessing, or mental reviewing.
Although compulsions may provide temporary relief, they ultimately strengthen OCD over time by reinforcing the cycle of anxiety and avoidance.
How Dr. Bastien Treats Pediatric OCD
Comprehensive Evaluation
Treatment begins with a comprehensive psychological evaluation to better understand your child's symptoms, identify the factors maintaining OCD, and develop an individualized treatment plan. Rather than applying the same treatment to every child, Dr. Bastien carefully evaluates each child's unique strengths, challenges, developmental level, and family circumstances before beginning therapy.
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the gold-standard psychological treatment for OCD and has decades of scientific research supporting its effectiveness.
ERP helps children and teens gradually face situations that trigger obsessive fears while learning to resist compulsive behaviors. Over time, they discover that anxiety naturally decreases without relying on rituals and that feared outcomes typically do not occur.
Treatment is individualized to each child, progressing at a pace that is both challenging and achievable while building confidence and resilience.
Parent Involvement
Parents play an essential role in successful OCD treatment. Dr. Bastien works closely with families to help them understand OCD and learn practical strategies that support recovery.
Parent sessions often focus on:
Reducing reassurance and other forms of family accommodation
Supporting ERP practice outside of sessions
Setting consistent boundaries around compulsions
Reinforcing brave behaviors and independent coping
Helping parents respond differently to OCD is often one of the most powerful components of treatment.
Collaboration with Child Psychiatrists
Some children benefit from medication in combination with ERP. When appropriate, Dr. Bastien collaborates closely with trusted child and adolescent psychiatrists to ensure coordinated, evidence-based care. Medication recommendations are made based on each child's individual needs and are considered as one part of a comprehensive treatment plan.
What Makes OCD Treatment Successful?
Successful OCD treatment involves much more than learning coping skills. Recovery requires helping children change their relationship with anxiety while reducing compulsive behaviors that keep OCD going.
Effective treatment focuses on helping children and teens:
Face feared situations rather than avoid them
Resist compulsions and reassurance seeking
Build confidence in their ability to tolerate uncertainty
Practice ERP skills between sessions
Generalize progress across home, school, and community settings
With consistency, children and families often experience meaningful improvements in daily functioning, independence, and quality of life.
Why Early Treatment Matters
Without treatment, OCD often becomes more severe over time and may begin to affect additional areas of a child's life. Early intervention can reduce symptom severity, improve functioning at home and school, and help prevent OCD from becoming increasingly disruptive.
Request an Appointment
If you are concerned that your child or teen may have OCD, early evaluation and treatment can make a meaningful difference.
Treatment begins with a comprehensive psychological evaluation to understand your child's symptoms and develop an individualized treatment plan based on their specific needs. Early intervention can make a meaningful difference, and effective treatment is available.
Request an appointment today to learn how specialized, evidence-based treatment can help your child move toward lasting recovery.