About one in every 200 children and teens live with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), according to the International OCD Foundation. The means that in your average-sized elementary school, a handful of children are battling compulsions and obsessions that interrupt their lives. In a high school, that number may be as high as 20 teens. And that’s all in a normal year. What happens when you introduce a pandemic?
Researchers have found that COVID-19 has worsened OCD symptoms in children and teens with the disorder. Furthermore, it appears that some people are developing OCD in response to COVID-19 trauma, even when they did not live with the disorder before. It’s important for parents to know what to look for, when to get help, and how to best support their children if they have OCD.