When Children with OCD and other Anxiety-Related Disorders Refuse Treatment: A Protocol for Working with Parents in Therapy. Presented by Allen Weg, Ed.D

This one-hour presentation describes an intervention protocol for engaging parents in therapy when they have children who suffer with OCD or other anxiety-related disorders but who refuse treatment. The protocol differentially addresses children of school age, as well as adult children who may still be living at home with parents. This workshop reviews how to  engage the parents in treatment without the child, presents some specific assessment interventions, and guides the therapist in designing a program for parents to utilize under these circumstances. 

In this workshop, participants will become skilled at supporting parents in therapy as they struggle with their own emotional reactions of guilt, shame, anger, hopelessness, isolation, and frustration.  They will be better able to respond to parental resistance to the introduced interventions which are sometimes emotionally challenging for parents to implement.  Participants will be able to discuss how to plan interventions to help parents identify, differentiate, and limit boundaries in the family, and how to instruct parents in negotiating anger or acting out by the child.

Learning Objectives 

After attending this seminar, participants will be able to: 

Objective 1:

Identify and assess parental behaviors contributing to the exacerbation and/or maintenance of the child’s anxiety difficulties,  and design a protocol to institute parental behavioral changes. 

Objective 2:

List the 5 steps that guide family members in responding in a clinically appropriate way to anxiety-driven demands by their child, and describe how to coach parents through this process. 

Objective 3:

Discuss the shifts in family member boundaries necessary to achieve a positive therapeutic outcome resulting in the reduction of family distress and client’s disruptive behaviors.