What to Do When Your Brain Gets Stuck: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming OCD (What-to-Do Guides for Kids)

Great workbook and easy to go through, with lots of helpful tips and exercises.

This book is fantastic for adults and children alike, thank you so much. It offers practical, helpful and realistic advice which can be put into practise. I have bought this for several members of my family who have all found it extremely valuable and useful. My nephew has an autism spectrum condition and chronic OCD at present. I have purchased this book for his mom to work through with him to help his OCD rituals. He wants to use this book with his mom in order to help himself, which is fantastic news as they have been really struggling with this horrendous condition. I would definitely recommend this book to others, it's well worth it, as well as the other excellent books in this series. Thank you very much. Mrs Julia Priestley, Kingswinford.

One evening my normally happy 10 year old son came down stairs after being in bed for 15 minutes in floods of tears saying his mind was telling him to keep checking under his bed, check the light, check his water glass and it was screaming at him to do it. He was distraught, it wouldn't shut up and we had no idea what to do. He'd be clutching his head in tears. He said it had been going on for several months. After a terrible few days and some research we found this book, along with a few others on Amazon including Talking Back to Ocd: The Program That Helps Kids and Teens Say "No Way" -- And Parents Say "Way to Go" . We decided my son had OCD and was very anxious. This book gives an excellent strategy for dealing with OCD. It is split into chapters each building on a strategy to deal with OCD. We did find that there were lots of suggestions about other types of OCD which our son didnt have and which we didn't want to plant seeds in his mind about so we were careful about how we read the book and what information he saw. The overall strategy of both books is the same and whilst OCD is tough, we found if you tackle it with these strategies and persevere then it will subside. This book definitely threw us a lifeline! Whilst this book was a great help, after a year or so we did have to seek professional help from a psychologist. We found the advice from a third party was invaluable, giving a clear path and strategy to deal with the problem. I would say to anyone with this sort of issue with their child the sooner you seek professional help the sooner you and the child will have the right toolkit to deal with the problem. The NHS did not help us it was just taking to long, so we found a private psycholgist. Not cheap but well worth the price to help our child. :-)

My grandson has started to get OCD since his parents split up. I bought this for him to read at his own leisure. Not sure if he has yet. But some good tips for kids to understand in the book.

This is an extremely good book for parents to read with children suffering from OCD. It is well written, in large text with brilliant exercises and pictures to involve the child fully in understanding the glitch in their brain, and how to resist their urges. Unless the OCD is very mild, the book will not work on its own - you will most likely need the help of a qualified registered CBT therapist, but this book is great for reading with your child, to reinforce the messages they receive from professional therapists. It is also great for children suffering relapses in OCD, to bring them back on track again. The parents also need to be trained by a CBT therapist to use the correct language when speaking to the child about OCD (you should talk about OCD as being a bully and that the child has to resist what the bully is telling the child to do; you have to show them that resisting only makes them anxious for a very short period of time and then the anxiety goes away; you have to take it slowly step by step and not try to tackle all the OCD at once; you have to learn to distract the child when they are anxious with various tools like colouring in, I-spy games etc, you have to learn never to say 'snap out of it' and never to get angry with the child over their OCD). OCD is complex, horrible, and has a nasty habit of coming back at times of stress, but this book has all the information you need. Thank you to the authors, if they ever read this review! I would also recommend going on OCD-UK's website. They offer invaluable information on how to find a CBT practitioner in your area, as well as a free Children's OCD guide which is also good, though not on the same scale as this book.

Anxiety in kids is on the rise - as an educator I see this on the ground, particularly after covid. We all have an amount of anxiety. It's healthy. But sometimes it can either get too much or we just dont know how to manage with the fedlings. This can be especially true for children. Its a skill that needs to be taught, and for some, they need a bit more help than others. Anxiety and worries can be talked about, strategies learned, and confidence built. Dawn Heubner has written a whole series of these - all equally fabulous depending on what the area of need is. Very child friendly but it is important to be done with an adult that's familiarised themself with the book beforehand.

Perfect for my 9 year old. This is now the 3rd book of this series we have tried. The sleep one (what to do when you dread your bed) has worked a treat we have gone from having to be in the same bed to now being downstairs and doing 15 minute checks. The worry book was equally good with lots of ideas to help. We are half way through this book now and although I know overcoming her ocd is going to take time and hard work this book approaches it again in the step by step manner we are used to. She has had therapy and it wasn't until we got this book that it all made sense. It is very helpful to me as a parent too as it explains what her brain is doing in a very simple way. Fingers crossed it continues to work as things are so much better at the moment. Thank you Dawn Humber!

My son (aged nine) has suffered from OCD since approx the age of five. He has seen specialists in this field which obviosuly have helped him with this 'disorder' however he could by no means manage the condition 100%. I saw this book advertised and thought it would be worth getting..and yes it certainlly was. We are still reading the book at the moment(at chapter 8) however the chapters we have read have made a difference. He no longer has to check to make sure he has all his teddys on the bed, he no longer has to call down the stairs to us asking what time we are going to come and see him. This book should be made of gold its so good. The author is a genius and deserves 100% praise for such a good book!

Ein extrem gutes und hilfreiches Buch! Es hilft meiner 11-jährigen Tochter sehr. Ich bin den Autoren sehr dankbar.

The best book to work against OCD

I am a therapist specializing in OCD treatment. I am one of the few in our area who will treat children. The children that I have shared this book with are happy to recognize their own "stuck" thoughts in the illustrated pages. I have had adults purchase the book as well because it simplifies and clarifies an oftentimes misunderstood and debilitating disorder. I especially love how the OCD monster is pictures as a furry little creature with bad teeth and a top hat. He peeks around chairs, hides out, gorges on candy bars, and generally makes life miserable for kids with OCD. But when a child challenges the monster, there is an illustration of him jumping in the air in terror himself, as now a child is empowered and talks back to the monster. This change in behavior rattles the monster and he retreats because the child is no longer playing by the monster's rules. I actually had a 10 year old client get a monster doll to place in another chair and talk to. This book visually is appealing and its text simplifies for young and old that the tricks of the OCD monster can be foiled with cognitive behavioral therapy. It's a good workbook because children can draw in it and answer questions. I highly recommend this book, in fact, I think its my favorite of all the many books on OCD that I have collected. Of course, my hero Fred Penzel cannot be topped with the incredible information and examples shared in his book, and Jonathan Grayson's is full of beneficial information as well. Don't forget Bruce Hyman and Cherry Pedrick with the OCD workbook, another outstanding reference and a way for an OCD sufferer without qualified therapists in the area where he or she lives, to do self work on ERP in order to talk back to the monster and regain freedom in life.

A must have resource for every clinician and every parent who is working with a young person experiencing OCD! Easy to understand but evidence based language and ERP approach for managing OCD with great worksheets that kids really ‘get’.

Great tips for managing OCD, designed for kids but just as applicable to adults. Lots of good tips and tricks in straightforward language.