How to identify OCD in toddlers?

Children between the ages 1 to 3 years are classified as toddlers. This is the stage for children to learn their routine. This routines and rituals should not be confused with obsessive compulsive disorder. OCDs are associated with words, ideas, thoughts and actions. The toddlers at this stage do a lot of exploration and learn a lot of new things. By learning so, they tend to do those things repeatedly as though they have achieved something great. Again this act should not be misunderstood as OCD.

Parents being in the close circle of their children at this stage should be clear in assessing and identifying the abnormalities from normalcy. The child may want to change her clothes when something spills on it, don't panic; this is just a mannerism that they have learnt from you (parents) or a teacher from their play school to keep themselves neat and clean. Some children might want a particular toy by their side while going to sleep, this is again something not to be worried about. Children like particular toys and they are comfortable with routines.

On the other hand, those parents and grand parents who have OCD should have a watch on their children's activities. OCD is said to be a heredity disease but this doesn't mean that the children of all OCD parents will get it. They are at risk. The OCD in toddlers cannot be assessed and diagnosed completely at this stage because they are in the learning process of life. Their habits and behaviors tend to change in course of time. The parents have to keep an eye on them continuously as they are grow. If the symptoms persist, say till the age of eight to ten, then they must seek a good psychiatrist.

One in two hundred children have some kind of compulsions. No vigorous treatment is necessary at this stage because they have not yet learnt to do something with rationale. As they grow, and when they come to a stage where they can sort out the right things from wrong (or know what they are doing does not make any sense) is the best time to seek treatment. Start the treatment with behavioral therapy and move on to drugs only if needed. Children do not need treatment if it does not affect their studies or their daily activities.

Assessing obsessive compulsive disorder in Children:
1. Doing the homework again and again.
2. Arranging the dolls or toys in a perfect row and not playing with it.
3. Arranging the closet repeatedly till it looks extra-ordinarily neat.
4. Checking repeatedly whether the parents and sibling have slept.
5. Using the toilet for longer time.
6. Using soap and toilet tissues lavishly until they 'feel' they are clean.
7. Not touching certain surfaces at home or anywhere which they feel is dirty and wash hands repeatedly if they touch those areas.
8. Spending hours in front of the mirror involved in combing hair to keep every strand in place.
9. Thinking other's toys are the dirtiest on earth and segregating himself/herself from other children and play.
10. Feeling insecure that he/she will die or acquire some diseases when there is no actual chance of getting the disease. They express a kind of fear they have to their parents regarding doing or not doing something.
11. Collecting unusual or unwanted things like clipped nails or used bandages.
12. Assess the child for behavioral change after a stressful incident which may trigger the existing condition.
13. Assess the child after a streptococcal infection which may also trigger the symptoms of OCD.
14. OCD can be associated with other psychiatric conditions like autism, anxiety and schizophrenia. Not all autistic children suffer OCD.
15. Avoiding kisses (thinking saliva contains germs and wash their face again and again till its clean) or wanting six kisses from each person in a family is also a sign of OCD.

Behavioral therapy works great on children, expose them to situations they fear and explain nothing happens in doing so. Introduce them to children who undergo similar problems, so that they feel they are not alone and will learn to overcome their thoughts and actions from each other.