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For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, it’s no secret that my son Dan had negative experiences with medication used to treat his OCD. He was overmedicated, wrongly medicated, and improperly weaned from various combinations of ten different medications over a fifteen-month period. Medication didn’t help him; it hurt him. For him, the best meds turned out to be no meds at all.

There are, however, a good number of OCD sufferers who are helped by medication (usually in combination with Exposure and Response Prevention therapy). But even for those who benefit from taking medication it is often a long, frustrating journey to find the right medication, or combination of medications, that work. We’ve all heard it before: trial and error is the only way to find that often elusive “right combination.”

But is trial and error really the only way?

In…

Riffing off Kathi’s “Tweenland” post…

Many years ago I had the astounding good luck of being invited to join a longstanding critique group that Eloise McGraw was in. One of the rules of the group: Always start with a positive comment. Usually we did, but one time, when Eloise read the first couple of chapters of The Striped Ships, we got so involved in critiquing that we–all of us–simply forgot to say what we liked about the book.

First of all, what gall. Who did we think we were, critiquing Eloise? But that’s what she wanted, so we just, you know, scrambled to find things we didn’t think were quite working. At the same time, though, I think we believed on some level that she wouldn’t really take us seriously. Why would Eloise McGraw pay serious attention to the likes of us?

Still, I felt kind of bad…

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Because my son has OCD, many of my posts focus on a parent’s perspective; what are the best ways we can help our children?  But what if you are the child, and your parent is the one struggling with the disorder?

Of course, the issues children and their families face will differ depending on the ages and personalities of the children, as well as each particular situation. But no matter what their age, I think children need to be educated as to what OCD is and how it affects their parent.  Good therapists can help provide age appropriate information, whether the “child” is four years old or forty.

Anyone who has ever lived with someone who suffers from OCD knows it is a family affair. Children naturally want to please their parents, and will likely accommodate their parent with OCD to make them feel better. “Yes, Mom…

Imaginal scripts, how do I hate thee? I shall not count the ways.

I just wrote another script, and thought I would bring my emotional fallout over here.

This week, I’m supposed to write as many as I can (I have four more to go). I meant to write one yesterday . . . and then I didn’t. No excuses. Just did not do it. Sat down to write it today, and found myself more fidgety, procrastinating, and just plain reluctant than I’ve been in a long time. I did not want to write it. I hate delving into the very core of my fears. In case you’re unfamiliar with the concept, an imaginal script is basically where I write out my worst fears (obsessions) coming true. In loads of detail. There is no gratuitous detail in imaginal scripts. The more detail, the better.

I hate writing these scripts. And…

Let’s Talk is an occasional feature on Summer Next Top Story to shed some light on the less-known lives of book nerds.

[Image credits: Oh, Chrys!]

WARNING: Rant ahead. Proceed at your own risk.