Mindfulness for Parents of OCD-affected Children

Overview

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of a mindfulness-based skills training program for parents of children with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The investigators will explore if parents involved in this group experience any change in their levels of stress, feelings of being an effective parent and family relationships compared to a waiting list control period. The investigators will look at how the family manages OCD in their lives. In particular, if mindfulness skills training will help increase the parents ability to tolerate distress in their child secondary to OCD and as such reduce the family accommodation of OCD. As family accommodation is an important negative prognostic predictor for children with OCD, changes in OCD symptom severity and functional impact in these child will also be measured.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating psychiatric illness that frequently begins in childhood. It is characterized by obsessions and/or compulsions that are distressing, time consuming and significantly impairing. OCD is distinct in the extent to which it disrupts family functioning, in that there is intense parental pressure to become involved in rituals and to change home environments and schedules to avoid triggers, thus accommodating the OCD. It is also well known that OCD severity tends to worsen in the context of stressful environments and situations. While effective treatment approaches for pediatric OCD have been identified, partial response and treatment refusal are all too common, leading to chronicity of both the illness itself and of its deleterious familial effects. The investigators plan to study a novel approach to help manage the stress of parenting a child with OCD, thus facilitating more effective resistance to OCD family accommodation and supporting the child in fighting this difficult illness. The investigators will explore the role of group-based mindfulness-based skills training (P-MBST) in supporting parents of OCD-affected youth, in particular investigating the possibility that increased distress tolerance as a result of mindfulness practice may help parents reduce OCD accommodation.