CONTROLLING COMPULSIONS

Apart from depression and anxiety, there are many other mental health conditions that teens are struggling with.

ANGELINE KIN is an art therapist and counsellor at The Center for Psychology. Currently, she is seeing many teens come in with relational, self-esteem and gender identity issues, as well as trauma. Another top issue she’s encountering with her teenage clients is obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) – a mental health condition that frequently starts during adolescence, but can begin during childhood, and affects quality of life.

While OCD might bring to mind excessive cleanliness and compulsive hand-washing, there are many other ways that the condition can present, explains Angeline.

“Obsessions are frequent, unwelcome intrusive thoughts that cause marked anxiety or distress. Themes may concern contamination, aggression, sexuality, hoarding, superstitions or magical, somatic, religious and miscellaneous themes,” she says.

“Compulsions are repetitive behaviours, rituals and mental acts in response to those obsessions. The teen feels driven to perform these behaviours according to rigid rules in order to reduce distress or prevent some dreaded occurrence. These behaviours are time consuming, very distressing and impair the teen’s functioning in all areas of life.”

Of course, the pandemic only worsened OCD symptoms, or created the onset of new ones, for people with the condition. One study in BMC Psychiatry looked at young people aged seven to 21 specifically, and found that 45 percent experienced a worsening of overall symptoms in 2020.

The good news is that OCD can be controlled when treated properly, says Angeline.

“A combination of art therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) can help the teen build motivation, insight and self-regulation tools in order to distance themself from the obsessions, ‘surf the urge and resist compulsions’ and, instead, act from their core of authenticity, strengths and values.”

She says recovery work also includes embracing mindfulness, a growth-mindset and self-compassion.