HOCD? Anyone? Anyone?

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
Has anyone ever heard of Harm Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)? I could not find it in the DSM, either IV-TR or 5. I've researched it and there is information on it but I do not think it is fully recognized by the mental health community...but I don't know. Any info would be helpful.*

Here is why: Apparently, difficult child's therapist (mine too) told difficult child that this is what she has. That she believes her depression, etc., is a manifestation of HOCD. She recommended difficult child see a psychiatrist to be treated with different medications.

Here is what difficult child has: pmdd (severe) and anxiety, which causes depression.*

The reason the therapist says it's HOCD is because when difficult child sees a person she doesn't like, it sticks with her, she obsesses about that person and why she doesn't like them and it will often ruin her day. This also happens if someone pisses her off. In her head she can envision being violent, though would not. But it does scare her at times.*

I don't mind the diagnosis, but I am wary of yet another diagnosis, Know what I mean?? As soon as the therapist told difficult child this, difficult child burst into tears and cried all the way home. Then she googled HOCD and really lost it, sent me a text and had an anxiety attack. This morning, discussing it she became so upset, she needed to take a Xanax so she could deal at work.*

She is not keen on the idea of exploring other medications for the diagnosis. I had suggested that she go back to her gyno to explore options for the pmdd, since that is the one that gives her the most trouble and her anger is cyclic in nature...she's only like that about one week a month.*

Anyway, if you've made it this far, please give me your thoughts. Thanks!
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
No idea... but, man, I sure wouldn't want to be sorting THAT out. All I can do is send some calm and some {{hugs}}
 

recoveringenabler

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Sorry, no ideas to share, but sending caring thoughts and calming wishes for you and your difficult child, poor kid, big hugs for you both.............
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
Thank you, it's as I suspected...it's not a real diagnosis. I have searched and searched everywhere and every medical site I can think of, using a combo of words and there is NOTHING on this, except an NPR independent film that was made by a man with AS, but it really doesn't seem to go into any depth about HOCD at all. difficult children therapist suggested the film, we looked it up and I know that difficult child is completely distraught that the therapist would suggest she would relate to this man. Ugh.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Not a real diagnosis. More like a symptom that can be present with other dxes. Nichole had this for some time until psychiatrist, therapist, and I helped her to see that the behavior was only harming herself. Her docs and I viewed it as part of her skewed reality thinking that can be present in borderline.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I was thinking it sounded more like something to do with borderline myself. trust me on this one, I can carry a grudge to the Nth degree and fantasize for days in my mind over what I want to do to get back at someone who has done me or mine harm. Just look at some of the posts I have put on here. Most of the time just getting it out on here is enough for me to get the anger out and I do nothing but a few times I have actually taken the anger a step or two further but not often to the extent I really want to.

I can also get things stuck in my head about just how bad things are. Almost so badly I cant think of anything else. I think most people would just shake it off and move on but I dont. I have actually planned things like blowing up the school board building when the kids were still in school but its still standing...lol.
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
I have actually planned things like blowing up the school board building when the kids were still in school but its still standing...lol.

Another part of the problem may be that our family has a very warped sense of humor...that line, Janet, had me howling with laughter! Omg.

Seriously, Lisa and Janet, that was what I was looking for...a possible diagnosis that her behavior actually could be! I had been checking out other possible diagnosis, but didn't make it to borderline. I'll do more research with difficult child and see what we find. I want to go with her next week to see the therapist armed with information. I'm really annoyed with her for throwing out this phony diagnosis knowing how difficult child is and how anxious she can become. Grrrr.

Thank you.
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
I entered the HOCD on HealthBoards.com in the search box and there are a bunch of messages. It appeared at a glance that sexual identify issues and other issues were grouped by posters. I only spent about one minute looking so have no idea if it would be helpful or not. I go there daily for my health issues so thought I'd check. Got to go to work. DDD
 

Josie

Active Member
If it were me or my child, I would view it as possibly just Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) with obsessive thoughts about the person. Does she take an SSRI? That could help with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), anxiety, and depression. Also, I was told by a therapist that some women are able to take an a/d just one week a month. She could ask her psychiatrist about something like that.
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
She already takes prozac 20mg every day, which has helped with the overall depression and pmdd, however, her pmdd is very severe the few days leading up to her period. When she was on the depo shot, she was very even tempered and rarely got bent over much...but she can't be on that long term. It doesn't help that her cycle is very irregular, painful and lasts up to about 10 days. I have suggested she call our gyno to go over other options.

She was diagnosis with tourette syndrome at around age 10...for a few years, besides her obvious facial tics, she had wild and massive rage attacks that would often last all weekend, she was spending a majority of her class time counting things, such as the stripes on her teacher's shirt or the lines on the clock or on her paper. We didn't know this was happening until mid-year and that was when she was tested and deemed eligible for 504 services. Over the years her Tourette's Syndrome has manifested itself in ADHD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), anxiety and depression - sometimes alone, sometimes all at the same time. She was on medications for the depression and ADHD/depression as well as the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and also for her trunk tics. Her medications were tweaked throughout her pre-teens and teens and finally at about 17 (I think) she stopped everything altogether. She cannot take mood stabilizers - we tried a few and they all wreaked havoc on her body. Anti-seizure medications work well in keeping her temper from flaring, but they also wreak havoc on her body after a while. A low dose anti-depressant works best, which is what she's on, prozac. If she takes too high a dose, she becomes manic and engages in extremely risky behavior so the DR would not raise her dose of prozac during her week of menses.

My feeling is that the best option at this point is to work very closely with an extremely experienced therapist to learn some coping skills and anger management the difficult child can use when the need arises. Simply adding or changing up her medications is not a smart thing in my humble opinion as we've been there done that and it's not pretty. difficult child is CAPABLE of normal function with a combo of therapist support and healthy tools, family support, and a low dose AD. It would probably be helpful if she could take some kind of low dose progesterine, but we'd have to check with her gyno to see if that's possible. difficult child has a difficult time remembering to take medications - has always been an issue.

Thanks again everyone!
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
If she only has the sx one week a month, and nto the rest of the time, it sure sounds a LOT more like it is related to pmdd than anything else. I did find quite a bit when I typed 'harm Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)' into a search engine though. Here is the result that I got from the search: http://www.swagbucks.com/?t=w&q=harm Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)&p=1&b=1 I have no clue if any of these sources are reliable though.

I found a lot of links also, but the thing is, it's not in the DSM. I felt it was irresponsible for the therapist to throw out a diagnosis like that, First, after only meeting with difficult child four times, Second, it's not even in the DSM, and Third, without even trying any CBT with her, which is what difficult child went to her for to begin with - how to manage her anger.

Also, in my research, I looked up anger management and more of what is described in those articles sound like what difficult child was/is looking for. And as I said above, also seeing her gyno to see about medications for that one week...

difficult child said she feels like she got all the poopy genes and then falls to pieces. Poor girl.
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
And she hasn't lived long enough to see all the left curves that others get... much later.

Seriously. We have discussed her life choices in recent months in regards to marrying E. After all, he comes with quite a bit of baggage - two kids from a prior relationship (one of which is a severe difficult child), E is a recovering addict (although there is still a dependency issue I'll explain later), he's much older than her, his kids' mom is a nutcase and physically harmed difficult child, and they live with E's parents who is always meddling in their business. That's a lot for a 23 year old difficult child, don't you think? But, she and E do click very well and have been together 4 years and he's good to her and she to him.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
She doesnt have to have all the symptoms of borderline to have a personality disorder not otherwise specified or just be dxd with traits of borderline. Since medication isnt an option, I would think that therapy would be the best option. With her past it could be that a support group for people who have survived some sort of childhood trauma might be good for her. Who knows how much that is still effecting her and she doesnt realize it.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Hearts, my oldest son has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and he had to drop out of college because he couldn't stop counting the words his professors were saying...he couldn't learn anything. He was on disability for about a year until he could get the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) until control. Along with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) comes anxiety.

Obsessive thinking is part of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). You get a thought into your head and it won't go away. My son has this too. medications have been very helpful to him, but right now he is only taking a tranquilizer so I can hear how he is over-obsessing on his ex-wife to the point of being unable to move on with his own life. People don't realize that Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) can be debilitating. I know Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) can be a big prescence with Tourettes. I would personally encourage your daughter to disregard the made up diagnosis. What a dumb therapist!

While I totally agree with Janet about the borderline...I have it...it's been under good control for quite a while, but I know how it is...because of your daughter's Tourettes and the mental health issues Tourette's is often aligned with, I am thinking maybe in her case it is more physically based than a personality disorder. Time will tell. I do know that, as a borderline who was untreated (and even now at times), I felt emotional peaks and valleys ALL THE TIME. Could be minute to minute. The mood dysregulation didn't ever take a vacation, but was close to homicidal before my period...lol. I have learned many tricks to stop the emotional roller coaster. If your child is bright and suffering from minute-to-minute moodswings, I highly recommend buying her one of the books on Dialectal Behavioral Therapy. It has really changed my life. in my opinion it's better than cognitive therapy for emotional dysregulation problems and anger. It is for borderlines, but is starting to be used for other mental health issues too, such as mood disorders. This therapy is on the fast track!
 

busywend

Well-Known Member
She sounds alot like my difficult child. Once a month her life turns upside down. I think if the depo shot gave her such relief there has to be an alternative withe the same helpful medication that she can take regularly.
 
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