Centacare program treating more SA children for obsessive compulsive disorder

More families are seeking help for children struggling with OCD, especially in the wake of COVID. What are the signs to look for?

Growing numbers of children are seeking help for debilitating symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder, triggered in part by the COVID-19 virus and disruption to routines.

Children as young as eight have sought help from one specialist service in Adelaide, where workers warn there are not enough treatment options available.

Cases include a 13-year-old girl who feared her friends or family would come to harm if she used her tablet device and an older teenage boy who worried he was going to hit someone with his car and so repeatedly drove laps of the block to check.

Other children have developed skin conditions from repeatedly washing their hands, or refused to eat at school or in public places.

OCD affects up to 2 per cent of the population.

Sufferers develop obsessions, which can centre on hygiene or germs, safety concerns or a certain fear.

In an attempt to manage these obsessions they develop compulsions, such as repetitive checking, counting, tapping or handwashing, perfectionist tendencies or regimented thought patterns. These are not always directly related to the obsession.

Centacare runs the PACE service, which helps young people with anxiety and eating disorders and OCD.

“Before COVID we could go weeks without having an inquiry related to OCD but in the months after the (March) lockdown lifted we were seeing several inquiries a week,” PACE manager Shane Strikwerda said.

“During 2020 we had a waiting list for individual appointments, sometimes of a couple of months.”

Experts say it is likely children who developed signs of OCD post-COVID were predisposed to the condition but could have been triggered by fears about hygiene, losing normal routines or being isolated at home where parents could notice compulsive behaviours.

“We’re also seeing a trend of OCD developing a bit earlier, the more severe symptoms starting a bit younger,” Mr Strikwerda said.

Australian Medical Association SA vice president Dr Michelle Atchison said OCD affected a very small proportion of people but if a child “had that propensity to develop OCD this (pandemic) is a perfect storm to bring it on”.

She said the disorder could be “incredibly frustrating for families” but the “worst thing” parents could do was to enable or encourage compulsive behaviours.

Clinical psychologist and former teacher Dr Judith Locke said sometimes obsessive tendencies in children resolved themselves but parents should seek advice if a child’s behaviours are “really impacting on their lives or particularly when a child is trying to hide” their rituals.

Children’s Commissioner Helen Connolly said while she had not been approached about OCD specifically “it would be fair to say there’s been a general increase in levels of anxiety in children” in recent years.

Ms Connolly has previously flagged concerns about long wait times for child mental health services and a lack of options in rural areas.

PACE service: 1800 809 304

SA COVID-19 Mental Health Support Line: 1800 632 753