Feelings
OCs!
By Emmanuelle
Everything must be just-so. This ten-year old child carefully rips-off a sheet of paper so as not displace the red glue keeping the rest of the pad intact. She pairs the paper with the soft cardboard of the pad removed just as carefully earlier. The cardboard-and-paper must pair neatly, edge-to-edge, corner-to-corner. She lays them flat, bottom edge lined exactly with the edge of the desk on her side.
She lines up blue and red ballpen, pencil, short and long rulers shoulder-to-shoulder, and lays these perpendicular to the paper, on the top edge of the desk. Beneath the desk, arranged by order of size, are her notebooks and books and the rest of her pad. Her schoolbag, thermos lunch bag, and umbrella are soldiers standing stiff and snappy beside the desk.
A child to delight a teacher’s sense of orderliness, if this child were not so weirdly insistent on her preferences, arrangement, even her colors. The uniforms she cannot do anything about, but she has this attitude of pinkness in everything. Pink ribbons on pigtails perfectly halved. Pink watchband. Pink notebook covers. Pink pencil holder. Pink bag, pink thermos lunch bag, pink umbrella. And strawberry-smells on pink stationeries for those cute send-offs to her friends.
Her Mom boasts that her child goes on a tantrum when presented with a different color of her favorite things. Or when her arrangements were somehow disturbed accidentally or intentionally.
Other than these, she is the most behaved little person. Mom worries, though, why this child’s hands are so chapped and sore from the constant washing-off with water and soap. Germs couldn’t be attaching themselves only to her person. How could these be when she lets others turn the doorknobs for her, at home or at school. She also keeps her hands in her side-pockets most of the time.
Worry no more, Mom. Or rather, should you worry more?
Your child, most probably, has OCD. or the OCs, in layperson’s term. It is not a disease passed on to their families by Overseas Contract Dockworkers, or by our Overseas Contract Slaves. (Author’s Note: Our most sincere apologies to our modern-day heroes.)
To be more correct about it, OCD is not a disease at all, but an anxiety disorder. Let me quote from the health experts:
All children have worries and doubts. But some kids and teens who have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) can’t stop worrying, no matter how much they want the worrying to go away. Those worries compel them to behave in certain ways over and over again, the brain gets stuck on a particular thought or urge and can’t let go.
Obsessions are repeated thoughts or impulses that are out of place – they cause the child to experience anxiety or distress. They’re out of the child’s control and different from normal thoughts. The child usually attempts to ignore or suppress obsessive thoughts or impulses by neutralizing them with another thought or action – a compulsion. For example, a child who is afraid of the disorder (that has been a constant part of her daily life) intruding unto her life might compulsively choose a one color-scheme or insist on maintaining her strict control on the order of things immediately around her, such as the vicinity of her desk, her bed, her toys.
Compulsions, or rituals, are the deliberate and repeated behaviors a child with OCD performs to relieve the anxiety caused by the obsessive thoughts. For example, a child who has a fear of germs may repeatedly wash his or her hands until the skin becomes raw; a child who has an obsession with neatness will redo a test paper so many times that he or she may tear a hole in it from constant erasing.
OCD in children is usually diagnosed between the ages of 7 and 12. Since these are the years when kids naturally feel concerned about fitting in with their friends, the discomfort and stress brought on by OCD can make them feel scared, out of control, and alone.
If you think your child has OCD (or if you think you have OCD!), consult your family doctor. You may need further referrals.
I’ll see you there. Hahaha.
(To be continued next week.)
(Readers may reach columnist at jingmil@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/feelings/
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