Accommodation occurs when family members change routines, provide reassurance, participate in rituals, or help someone avoid distress in an effort to reduce anxiety. Although accommodation often comes from a place of care, it can unintentionally reinforce anxiety and OCD over time.

Many parents feel stuck when a child refuses therapy for OCD or anxiety. Learn why treatment resistance happens, how accommodation can maintain anxiety, and how SPACE treatment can help parents support change.

Wondering whether psychological or psychoeducational testing is right for you or your child? Learn what these evaluations involve, the questions they can answer, and how comprehensive testing helps clarify learning, attention, emotional, and behavioral concerns.

For many people, repeated reassurance can unintentionally teach the brain:

• uncertainty is dangerous

• anxiety must be resolved immediately

• reassurance is necessary to feel safe

• confidence should come from other people rather than from one’s own ability to tolerate uncertainty

When a child is anxious, offering reassurance often feels like the most natural response in the world.

Parents want to comfort their child, reduce distress, and help things feel manageable again. In the moment, reassurance often works. A child may calm down temporarily after hearing things like:

• “You’re going to be okay.”

• “Nothing bad is going to happen.”

• “I’m sure everything will work out.”

• “Yes, I checked already.”

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a structured, evidence-based form of psychotherapy commonly used to treat anxiety disorders, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), insomnia, stress-related difficulties, and many other mental health concerns.

CBT is based on the idea that thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and physical reactions are interconnected. Over time, certain patterns of thinking and behavior can unintentionally reinforce distress and keep people feeling stuck.

Treatment focuses on identifying and changing the patterns that may be maintaining emotional difficulties over time.