OCD Compulsions Parents Don’t See
AT Parenting Survival | Raising Kids with OCD & Anxiety
Natasha Daniels: Child Therapist, Child Anxiety and OCD Expert, Parenting Coach and Parent
4.9 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2026
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Most parents think they know what their child’s OCD looks like. They see the washing. The checking. The obvious behaviors.
But what they’re usually seeing is just the tip of the iceberg.
OCD isn’t only handwashing or checking. It’s mental reviewing, silent debating, internal checking, trying to “neutralize” a thought, confessing, reassurance seeking, avoidance, symmetry rituals, and that constant need for things to feel just right. Many of the most powerful compulsions happen completely inside your child’s mind, which means you will never see all of them.
In this episode, we’re talking about how OCD really works, why you can’t be the OCD police, and how to shift from trying to catch compulsions to teaching your child the skills to delay and resist them. Because empowerment, not surveillance, is what actually builds long term resilience.
If you want detailed guidance on how to teach your child to handle OCD at home, you can learn more at www.natashadaniels.com/parentcourse.
If you are a parent who feels like you’re missing something but can’t quite see what OCD is doing behind the scenes, this episode is for you.
Get this week’s PDF handout at www.natashadaniels.com/handout
***
This podcast episode is sponsored by NOCD. NOCD provides online OCD therapy in the US, UK, Australia and Canada. To schedule your free 15 minute consultation to see if NOCD is a right fit for you and your child, go to
https://go.treatmyocd.com/at_parenting
This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be used to replace the guidance of a qualified professional.
Parents, do you need more support?
🌸 Here’s are resources I offer parents 👇🏻❤️
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the AT Parenting Survival Podcast, where you get help and guidance through the chaos of parenting a child with anxiety or OCD. |
| 0:11.9 | This show is for educational purposes and is not intended to replace the guidance of a qualified professional. |
| 0:18.4 | Here's your host, child therapist, Natasha Daniels. Well, hello there, |
| 0:23.1 | and welcome to another episode of the AT Parenting Survival Podcast. Today, I want to talk to you about |
| 0:29.2 | OCD compulsions that most parents don't see. They either literally can't see them or they miss them. So often we think compulsions are |
| 0:40.6 | just hand washing or checking or the really big things that you probably notice with your child |
| 0:48.1 | that actually got them the diagnosis, but it's the subtle things that we often miss or the things |
| 0:54.0 | that we don't even realize are |
| 0:55.4 | compulsions, but you're going to know all about that by the end of this episode and you're |
| 1:00.1 | not going to miss these. But before we get started, I do want to thank NoCD for sponsoring this |
| 1:05.5 | episode. NoCD offers affordable, effective, convenient therapy, and they're available in the U.S. |
| 1:11.3 | and outside the U.S. You can schedule your free 15-minute consultation to see if no CD |
| 1:17.3 | is a right fit for you and your child. Just go to treat myocd.com. That is treat myoced.com. |
| 1:24.0 | I'll leave a link in the show notes as well. All right, let's dive into today's episode. |
| 1:30.0 | Compulsions are a little bit sneaky. And I want to start off with just explaining to you |
| 1:37.4 | in very simplistic ways, the framework of OCD, because you have to understand the framework of OCD |
| 1:44.1 | to understand the compulsions. So OCD, because you have to understand the framework of OCD to understand the |
| 1:45.5 | compulsions. So OCD starts with an intrusive thought or feeling. I say feeling because sometimes |
| 1:52.2 | OCD is not a fear. You can have themes around discussed, themes around feeling things need to feel |
| 1:58.8 | just right or be just right. And so the idea is that you're |
| 2:03.7 | having this intrusive thought or feeling. That's overwhelming. That's part A. And then part B |
| 2:09.7 | is the bossy part that OCD says that you need to do something or avoid something to get |
... |
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