Identifying and Supporting Students with OCD in Schools

Learn how to identify and support students with OCD in schools.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a neuropsychiatric illness that often begins in childhood and has significant impact on family, academic, occupational, and social functioning. Children and youth with OCD have obsessions or unwanted and upsetting thoughts, images or ideas that get stuck in their heads.

In order to ease their anxiety or to make the obsessions temporarily go away, they perform compulsions or ritualistic behaviours and routines over and over again. Obsessions and compulsions tend to be time consuming (more than 1 hour/day) and cause significant distress or interfere with students’ daily functioning at home and/or at school.

The information provided below is intended for educational and informational purposes only and should not substitute the opinion of mental health professionals.