Hi,
Does anyone know if dyspraxia can lead to or is linked with OCD in adults or having phobias and fears?
Thanks,
Soraya
Dyspraxia and OCD
Moderator: Moderator Team
Re: Dyspraxia and OCD
Hi Soraya welcome!
Yes definitely I'd say we're much more prone to having our own ways of how we do things and will often find confort in these different ways. Therefore we'll often feel put out if things differ from our accepted norms. You should find plenty of examples on these fora. Our ways may be different but they're equally valid and in some cases better too. I'm a bit of a hoarder though.
Tom
Yes definitely I'd say we're much more prone to having our own ways of how we do things and will often find confort in these different ways. Therefore we'll often feel put out if things differ from our accepted norms. You should find plenty of examples on these fora. Our ways may be different but they're equally valid and in some cases better too. I'm a bit of a hoarder though.
Tom
Tom
Moderator/Administrator
With a foot full of bullets I tried to run faster but I just hobbled on to the next disaster.
(from Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Foot Full of Bullets)
Moderator/Administrator
With a foot full of bullets I tried to run faster but I just hobbled on to the next disaster.
(from Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Foot Full of Bullets)
Re: Dyspraxia and OCD
I remembered seeing someone suggest that OCD can often be found along with ADHD, which quite a lot of people with dyspraxia also have, so I've just done an online search on this. Although a lot of entries came up, some people seemed to think that the neurological causes of OCD and ADHD are so different that they weren't sure this could be the case.
Something which I've become interested in recently is the longer term effects of emotional abuse, as I believe that children with dyspraxia are particularly vulnerable to falling victim to this in the family environment. I did a search on OCD and emotional abuse, and there was quite a lot of agreement that there's often a connection. People don't often want to think that their parents (or other family members, but particularly parents) were emotionally abusive to them as children, but I have come to the painful realisation that various ways in which my parents behaved towards me growing up (especially things they said) were abusive. Sadly, it does make sense that any parents who have a tendency to belittle, criticise or even name-call would be especially likely to do this to a child who didn't 'measure up', which means that a child with dyspraxia would be an obvious target for this. I think it's quite common for children with dyspraxia to be called 'stupid,' 'thick' or 'lazy' by their own parents, and I think that we need to acknowledge that calling a child these things is likely to cause them emotional harm. Also, comparing children unfavourably to others (whether it's siblings or others outside the family) is also emotionally harmful, and is also something which I suspect happens all too often to children with dyspraxia.
I've often wondered why things weren't suddenly all rosy once I had a diagnosis of dyspraxia- for me, the excuse that my parents 'didn't know about the dyspraxia' when I was growing up didn't suddenly make various things they'd said to me over the years ok. Even when someone does get a diagnosis of dyspraxia as a child, I believe that some parents will still make damaging comments to them, perhaps in the hope that it'll somehow make them less clumsy or more like their siblings- for this reason, I think that teachers need to be especially vigilant where a child with dyspraxia is concerned, so that they can spot the signs that the child might be experiencing emotional harm at home.
I've gone into a lot of detail here, but I think awareness needs to be raised about this issue. I believe that this could be one of the main reasons why people with dyspraxia often suffer from mental health problems such as depression and OCD in adulthood- perhaps the Dyspraxia Foundation could run a campaign on how children with dyspraxia can be particularly vulnerable to emotional abuse. It's probably too often assumed that parents will want to do all they can to help a child who has a condition such as dyspraxia, but sadly this is not always the case. Emotional abuse in childhood is actually a lot more common than people think- the NSPCC did a survey a few years ago which said that about 30% of people who responded had suffered this kind of abuse in childhood- however, it's a form of abuse which doesn't get talked about much.
Something which I've become interested in recently is the longer term effects of emotional abuse, as I believe that children with dyspraxia are particularly vulnerable to falling victim to this in the family environment. I did a search on OCD and emotional abuse, and there was quite a lot of agreement that there's often a connection. People don't often want to think that their parents (or other family members, but particularly parents) were emotionally abusive to them as children, but I have come to the painful realisation that various ways in which my parents behaved towards me growing up (especially things they said) were abusive. Sadly, it does make sense that any parents who have a tendency to belittle, criticise or even name-call would be especially likely to do this to a child who didn't 'measure up', which means that a child with dyspraxia would be an obvious target for this. I think it's quite common for children with dyspraxia to be called 'stupid,' 'thick' or 'lazy' by their own parents, and I think that we need to acknowledge that calling a child these things is likely to cause them emotional harm. Also, comparing children unfavourably to others (whether it's siblings or others outside the family) is also emotionally harmful, and is also something which I suspect happens all too often to children with dyspraxia.
I've often wondered why things weren't suddenly all rosy once I had a diagnosis of dyspraxia- for me, the excuse that my parents 'didn't know about the dyspraxia' when I was growing up didn't suddenly make various things they'd said to me over the years ok. Even when someone does get a diagnosis of dyspraxia as a child, I believe that some parents will still make damaging comments to them, perhaps in the hope that it'll somehow make them less clumsy or more like their siblings- for this reason, I think that teachers need to be especially vigilant where a child with dyspraxia is concerned, so that they can spot the signs that the child might be experiencing emotional harm at home.
I've gone into a lot of detail here, but I think awareness needs to be raised about this issue. I believe that this could be one of the main reasons why people with dyspraxia often suffer from mental health problems such as depression and OCD in adulthood- perhaps the Dyspraxia Foundation could run a campaign on how children with dyspraxia can be particularly vulnerable to emotional abuse. It's probably too often assumed that parents will want to do all they can to help a child who has a condition such as dyspraxia, but sadly this is not always the case. Emotional abuse in childhood is actually a lot more common than people think- the NSPCC did a survey a few years ago which said that about 30% of people who responded had suffered this kind of abuse in childhood- however, it's a form of abuse which doesn't get talked about much.