Covid-19 Leaves Wake Of Anxiety for Families Heading Back To School
OCD specialist creates free resources for parents, children, and teachers
BARRIE, Ontario: Merrisa Bragg is the founder of Canada's first and only privately funded and specialized OCD clinic. She and her team at OCD North, are seeing unsettling patterns of cases in children emerging in the wake of COVID-19.
Since March, her clinic in Barrie Ontario has received an increase in the number of calls from people seeking treatment due to COVID-related OCD symptoms.
In the last few weeks, every call coming into the clinic has been from parents and OCD families seeking help for the complications that come from returning children to school next month.
"This pandemic has definitely raised anxiety levels and triggered OCD symptoms in those who have it," said Bragg. "OCD can impair functioning for children who have not only had to cope with isolation but now need to prepare for the reality of a disjointed and uncertain school year."
Merrisa has treated hundreds of individuals, currently, more than half of her practice consists of families with children ages 7 yrs to 16 yrs.
Pre-COVID-19, approximately 645,000 Canadians met the criteria for OCD (approximately 1% of the population). Bragg says we can expect that number to rise to at least 759,000 (2% of the population) as the pandemic continues.
"Health care practitioners should prepare that the pandemic will produce more complicated cases of OCD and other anxiety disorders in the months to come," she said.
Merrisa is the first Canadian to be trained in Exposure and Response (Ritual) Prevention (ERP) treatment, recommended by the Canadian Clinical Guidelines. She says ERP has the highest treatment success rate as unlike other anxiety disorders, OCD is more complicated to treat.
In response to families living with OCD, Merrisa has created new resources and webinars, for families, teachers, and support workers, specifically around the upcoming school year. "Our goal is to get people back on their feet and functioning in the world sooner, without leading to OCD relapse or risk overwhelming the healthcare system down the road."
Her mission is to retrain and educate families and current professionals on how to update their OCD treatment models and assist with best practices for more successful outcomes on both sides.
