Childhood OCD: The Invisible Disorder
I looked at my son from across the room. “What do you want for breakfast?” I asked. “I’ll have my usual,” he said. I don’t know why I asked. Of course, he’ll have his usual. It’s been over six months since he’s said anything different. His small, skinny frame swallowed up by the dining room table as he carefully places one small goldfish in his mouth at a time.
It seems like a blur when I think about how this happened. How my healthy, growing boy put his growth on pause. How his thoughts started to dominate his life – our life and put his health at risk. I remember the days when I would tell myself it is just another phase. The days when I thought I was letting all the horror stories from my work as a child therapist distort my perception of a simple issue of “picky eating.”
It started with a question. An innocuous question, or so it seemed. “Where does bacon come from?” At first, It warmed my heart that he cared so much – that he thought so deeply. Maybe he was destined to be a vegetarian I had thought to myself. But soon enough the questions took a concerning turn. “Do carrots hurt when we eat them? Can food watch down from heaven as we eat it?” And slowly I watched in horror as plates of food remained uneaten, as bones on his tiny body started to protrude where they shouldn’t.
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To finish reading the full story, visit the Huffington Post: Parents website: http://ow.ly/i1aP30fhgH1.
