SPACE Treatment

OCD and anxiety share similarities, but there is an important difference. The “C” in OCD stands for compulsions. It’s really the defining factor between anxiety and OCD. Compulsions (repetitive, uncontrollable behaviors or mental actions that you feel driven to perform in response to intrusive thoughts) set OCD apart. Whereas anxiety might be around many general things or one specific thing, OCD can cross over into almost any area of life. In our first few sessions, we’ll take the time to conduct a thorough assessment and diagnosis of OCD and/or anxiety.

We’ve worked with many clients in OCD treatment. Some, like you, have felt discouraged after trying different treatments without seeing improvement. The gold-standard treatment for OCD is Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). This treatment is effective in reducing symptoms in people of all ages. However, something that can be overlooked is how OCD can impact the family. Your child might be engaging in safety behaviors, rituals, and reassurance-seeking at home that involves you. By making changes to parent behaviors, you will learn to break patterns so that you and your child can feel lasting relief. This is where SPACE can help.

SPACE is a treatment model that is highly effective for kids and teens with anxiety disorders and OCD. Unlike individual therapy, SPACE targets parent behaviors, aiming to create more collaboration and support between parent and child. Though the focus is on increasing the child’s independence and reducing symptoms, they don’t typically need to be present. Sessions are mainly with parents.

SPACE can help children and teens with anxiety and OCD. Treatment can provide lasting change for those with generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. It can also be helpful for specific phobias. Kids and teens with school refusal or separation anxiety can also benefit from SPACE. 

Working with parents can indirectly improve your child’s symptoms. Learning how to manage your child’s anxiety or OCD can be tricky. Oftentimes, parental instincts to remove kids from stressful situations or get rid of anxiety can maintain the disorder in the long-run. Having a balance between supporting your child without giving into anxiety can make a big difference. Getting out of cycles of providing reassurance or accommodation is where SPACE treatment can come in.

In the beginning, a therapist trained in SPACE will explain how anxiety shows up in kids and teens. You will get to explain what this looks like for your family and the ways your child’s symptoms impact you. Two core features of SPACE are increasing support and decreasing accommodation. More support may mean reframing ways to communicate with your child and practicing this between sessions. Less accommodation means pinpointing ways that you try to reduce your child’s anxiety and working on decreasing these behaviors. Breaking this into manageable steps is important, but leads to healthier boundaries and independence. Your child should be aware of the changes that will take place and your therapist will guide you in this process. The goal is for you and your child to work as a team on their path towards recovery.