Moorhead Early Childhood Family Education

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treatment. Individuals also tend to be secretive about their symptoms and do not seek treatment. In addition to being under diagnosed, OCD is often misdiagnosed as other mental health disorders.

is help available?

OCD was once viewed as a disorder that was very difficult to treat, but when it is accurately diagnosed and treated by skilled treatment providers, most individuals experience significant symptom relief.

Dr. Renae M. Reinardy, licensed psychologist

Research evidence supports the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy [CBT] with or without medication in reducing OCD symptoms. The main tool used in psychotherapy is called exposure and response prevention [ERP]. ERP involves exposing an individual to the situations or thoughts that trigger OCD, and encouraging them to then not do anything to “fix” or escape from the anxiety. For example, a client might be encouraged to touch a shoe that he or she believes is contaminated and will then be asked to resist washing. As a client practices these ERP exercises, the strength and frequency of the fear decreases and it becomes easier to break OCD patterns. This process is called habituation and can be done in a very gradual way [which is typically preferred] or very intensely [flooding]. It is never a good idea to trick someone with OCD into confronting a fear; this runs the risk of sensitizing the person [making the fear worse]. It is important to remember that most people with OCD want to change their behavior; they just need a plan to stand up to their symptoms. As miserable as it can be to live with OCD, know that treatment is available and it is often very successful.

This article is not intended as psychotherapy. If you or someone you know may suffer from OCD it is important to receive a diagnosis and treatment from a mental health provider.

Other resources:

• International Obsessive Compulsive Foundation Resource for finding articles and treatment providers. www.ocfoundation.org

• OCD Twin Cities Local non-profit affiliated with OCF to provide education, resources and assistance to treatment providers, individuals with OCD and family members. www.ocdtc.org

• Trichotillomania Learning Center National resource for individuals who experience compulsive hair pulling and skin picking. www.trich.org

story by | kathleen wrigley

Dear OTMOM Friends,

Gone are the days where our main means of corresponding was sitting down and writing longhand letters. We have the world at our finger-tips literally. Email. Texting. Cell phones. Facebook. Twitter. Our new- age communication is immediate. Impulsive. And sometimes impersonal.

I was curious to see how foreign this concept was for the techy generation and conducted my own non-scientific study on my kids. They love when I do this to them! I asked what they thought the word “longhand” meant. We stared each other down for several seconds and the deer-in-the-headlights look in their eyes was my confirmation evidence of a lost art. I pressed on because I know they have pen pals in school. “Come on. Take a stab at it!” Patrick, 8, said, “You mean the long hand on the clock?” Quinn, 10, just brushed me off, thinking I was attempting to tell a joke, she’d be the brunt of it, and then I’d “post it on Facebook.” Clearly, we need to work on trust issues. But back to the task at [long] hand…

Certainly, there are advantages to these new, technologically savvy ways of chatting. They save us time and money. But these doohickeys also dull our senses, heighten our impatience, distract us, and have tabled our manners which is an entirely different column. For this one, I’d like to explore the lost art of writing and make an attempt to find our way back to the stone-age of penning our thoughts, slapping on a stamp, and sending them via “snail mail.”

Longhand is defined as “n. ordinary handwriting, in which letters, words, etc., are set down in full, as opposed to shorthand or to typing…” And I’ll add “or texting…or emailing…or instant messaging…or facebooking…or tweeting.”

This longhand letter-writing concept may seem [to some] like an old fashioned, tedious, barbaric, lost form of exchange. Who has time to handwrite a letter, when we could easily and conveniently tap away at our keyboards and send our message in an instant? Unfortunately, these messages, though time sensitive, are often desensitizing, incomplete, and wrought with abbreviated language that may require a 16-year-old to decode it for us!

Who doesn’t go through the mail and open the handwritten envelope first? It’s special! Someone took the time to sit down and pen their thoughts to you.

Writing requires effort and concentration. And thought. Longhand communication is meaningful and personal. And, because it takes effort, it gives us warm fuzzies.

I credit my husband for teaching me the magic of longhand notes. Drew is a fantastic writer, but luckily it’s not necessary to be verbose or eloquent to write longhand. He’s not the best speller don’t tell him I told you which isn’t a prerequisite for letter writing, either! Still, he does it. He writes notes all the time. Drew keeps a list of people to whom he wants to send a personal note. The list never runs short. And I know people appreciate it.

I know this because I have saved every letter he’s ever written to me. These notes are eternal. The author carefully chooses his words. Penmanship is like a finger-print: it’s his and his alone. They’re some of my favorite gifts and I wouldn’t trade them for all the Venti bold coffees in Seattle.

I read this quote some years ago and would like to share it with you. Unfortunately, I don’t have the author’s full name to properly credit him or her. Scherstrom, a former schoolteacher and writer says that, “Speaking makes a quick mind, reading makes a full mind, and writing makes a precise mind. The act of writing narrowing your thoughts and double-checking them and getting them to say exactly what you want is a wonderful intellectual exercise, and letter writing promotes that.”

You don’t need a fancy quill or scented stationery. Grammatical and spelling errors are charming bits of your style. Bad penmanship is not a reason not to write. Even the worst handwriting is better than the best email. It’s part of you and through your strokes, readers see the clarity of your intent and it’ll always give them warm fuzzies unless of course it starts with…Dear John.

Thank you for reading my “thoughts…”

Best regards,

Kathleen is a stay-at-home mom who serves on a number of community boards/committees, is active in her church, kids’ school, and politics and runs to sustain her own mental health! This Philadelphia native is married to a fourth generation North Dakotan, Drew, and proudly considers North Dakota her home. They have three children. Before becoming a mom, she was director for Bismarck’s Child Advocacy Center and was a speech writer. Kathleen received a BS from The Pennsylvania State University and completed her graduate studies at Temple University, in Philadelphia.

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We provide a creative curriculum based program for infants through school aged children. Though the activity varies with each age group, this strategy leans toward project-based and activity-based learning environments to promote a child’s social, emotional and intellectual development. We believe that learning these traits are the basis for a happy, creative & well-rounded child.

You know how they always make you cry—those movies where young, vibrant moms get the very worst cancer. And by the time you see the last conversations with the kids, you’re sobbing.

But still, doesn’t it make you think? What if this was you? What would you do? Would your life ever get back to normal?

Susan’s surgery took place March 21st, setting the stage for a breast reconstruction process that took several months. “But it was well worth it,” says Susan. “A mastectomy is disfiguring, but a mastectomy with breast reconstruction? I’m happy with that.”