Reply To: Daughter has OCD refusing help

[wannabefreeParticipant]

Hi there. I’ve only just seen your post, but do empathise with your situation. I have autistic children and grandchildren, and to an extent myself too. It is a nightmare all round, that even invades our sleep.

Something that may help, is linked to reading and writing…  Perhaps your daughter could write a journal, just for herself. I write sometimes, just to get the thoughts into some sort of regulation.

A  book I have found pretty helpful over the years is ‘Feeling good, The new mood therapy’ by David Burns MD. It is available from Amazon, on Kindle, as well as paperback. It was written largely to help us with depression, but as OCD is largely driven by negative thoughts that end up overwhelming us completely.  Autism affects highly intelligence, and that can make things more difficult to deal with.  It is surprising how long ago the book was actually written.

Music can help sometimes… from shaking a tambourine to favourite music she may have. It’s cheaper than a lot of musical instruments! Listening to favourite tracks on Youtube on headphones can be a massive help. I have a keyboard, and actually try joining in with the music by ear. (I cannot read music notation). My grandmother had a piano, that I used to just play notes on, listening to the way different sounds worked together.

It is said that music touches the soul… It doesn’t have to be loud, although sometimes disco volume can help to distract from the torrents of thoughts that overwhelm us so much… Anything to just allow us to rest, without fighting off feelings of negativity and dejection.

Perhaps a portable music player, loaded with favourite tracks, and a set of in-ear headphones, that give good audio, but that don’t shut out the outside world…

One other thing… My Grandson borrows audiobooks from the local library…

Welcome.

Wannabe