She is having intrusive thoughts as well as obsessions centering around worry about harm coming to loved ones and her own physical health. She does not have any compulsive behaviors, other than asking for reassurance. I did not understand that this could be OCD at all. The suggestion was made by her therapist especially after a battery suggested cause for concern in this area, and discussion with DD has revealed that this is happening a lot, inside her head.
DS12 (ASD/ADHD) has fixated about health issues as well, along with the asking for reassurance bit. It was out of control for him (first grade) for months and was the first time I contacted NP about possible OCD.
OCD is an anxiety disorder. It's also common for ASD (as is anxiety, generally), from what I've read.
DS new psychiatrist was running through the DSM ASD criteria with us and when he brought up fixative type behaviors--DS surprised me by sharing he can become very worried/fixated at school about something like "my leg hurt while I was climbing the stairs--I wonder what that could be?" I guess there are things going on in his mind about which I'm completely unaware.
The psychiatrist said sometimes the fixations are somatic in nature. He thought it fit with ASD.
All this to say: it doesn't seem so surprising, giving your description of DD as ASD/ADHD-ish, that she has this thing going on. Has she had a neuropsych eval? When DS was younger, we had psych evaluation and the diagnoses were Generalized Anxiety, Depression NOS, and rule-out on ODD, ADHD. Looking backward through ASD lens, the entire report described an Asperger's kid. The neuropsychologist actually cited the earlier report in her narrative and said it was consistent with ASD.
DS stopped the reassurance seeking (at least about health concerns) as he matured. When he was little, we did all kinds of deep breathing exercises at bedtime, which was his witching hour.
This is a poorly organized response. I hope you can make sense of it!
