Have your family’s routines started revolving around your child’s anxiety or OCD? Learn what family accommodation is, why it develops, how it can unintentionally maintain anxiety, and how parents can respond in more helpful ways.

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.

Has your child’s anxiety or OCD begun affecting your entire family? Learn the 10 signs that anxiety may be shaping your family’s routines, relationships, and decisions, and how parents can respond in ways that build confidence instead of reinforcing anxiety.

Supporting someone with OCD can be challenging. Learn how reassurance, accommodation, and participation in compulsions can affect OCD, and how to provide support without reinforcing the disorder.

What happens when a child refuses therapy for OCD or anxiety? Learn how SPACE treatment helps parents reduce accommodation, support change, and move treatment forward even when a child isn’t willing to participate.

Is your child’s anxiety beginning to affect your family’s routines, relationships, or daily decisions? Learn how family accommodation develops, why it can unintentionally maintain anxiety and OCD, and how SPACE treatment helps parents respond in supportive, effective ways.

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.”

For many parents, it’s difficult to imagine how to tell their child that she is about to begin seeing a child psychologist. While every family is different, here are a few guidelines to keep in mind when planning this conversation: · Be honest It’s crucial...