Intensive OCD Treatment for Adolescents and Children
Conveniently located near Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach (Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties), NBI’s Intensive Treatment Program for OCD was developed to meet the needs of local, out-of-town, and international children and adolescents as an alternative to inpatient treatment. It was designed to provide participants with the level of services and education necessary to address their current symptoms and improve their level of functioning. The program was developed to meet the needs of those who lack access to specialized care where they reside, or whose symptom severity requires intensive care. This program was also designed for those children and adolescents who have not benefited sufficiently from prior treatment or desire to accelerate their course of treatment.
Program Duration
The program is designed based on the patient’s symptom severity and current level of readiness for change. Patients may meet daily, full or half days, or only attend a few sessions a week depending on specific treatment needs. Sessions usually take place from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. five days a week, but more flexible hours can be arranged given a child’s needs and schedule. The program is designed to meet each individual’s needs and can range in length between two weeks to four months.
Assessment
A Complete Clinical Diagnostic Evaluation (CCDE) is used to assess a patient’s program. This process includes:
Meeting with two different clinicians
Home/natural environment observation
Parenting assessment
Videotape review
Review of medical/psychological records
Report and recommendations for future care
Activities
The entire treatment is designed for each individual case. Therefore, after the assessment process with the CCDE, specific recommendations are made. The treatment includes:
CCDE
individual sessions
psychoeducation
Exposure and Response Prevention (ER/P) training,
ER/P in game format
Parent training
Family therapy
ER/P in naturalistic settings
Coping skills training
Education Materials
During this program, we often engage patients with games developed for the treatment of OCD in children, OCD books, worksheets and other educational materials.
Dr. Katia Moritz’s OCD book, “Blink, Blink, Clop, Clop: An OCD Storybook”
OCD worksheets: Documentation by patients and family members is used to track progress and as part of the maintenance and relapse prevention aspects of treatment.
Behavioral Analysis: This includes functional analysis of OCD, identifying triggers, mapping OCD, planning strategies to “fight” OCD.
Special OCD Activities such as an OCD Treasure Hunt, an OCD Fashion Show, OCD Teaching Day: children teach parents about OCD and give them a quiz. We also host a graduation party at the end of the program.