When does OCD develop and what does it look like?

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) usually develops between the ages of six and 12. Jerry Bubrick, PhD, with the Child Mind Institute, explains how the disorder is expressed among different age groups.

Transcript

00:00

So you might see kids scratching themselves here. And then they need to scratch here and continually do that until it feels right inside,

00:07

or tapping something over and over, and till it feels right. [MELLOW MUSIC]

00:17

Usually, we see OCD developing between the ages of 6 and 12.

00:24

And it's interesting that we see OCD starting in younger kids. We see a lot of "just right" feelings.

00:32

So we don't necessarily see a lot of superstition-like qualities to their thoughts.

00:39

So you might see kids scratching themselves here. And then they need to scratch here and continually to do that until it feels right inside,

00:46

or tapping something over and over and till it feels right.

00:52

But when kids grow into the tween years, into the 10, 11, 12 range, that "just right" feeling

00:59

tends to evolve into what we refer to as magical thinking or that superstitious-like thinking.

01:07

So the same behavior of scratching and needing it to be even is no longer about "just right" and more about, if I scratch here and I don't fix it,

01:14

then I'll get a bad grade, or Mom will die in a car accident, or I'm somehow preventing or changing