WEBVTT

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Funding for this program is provided
by the Mental Health Evaluation

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and Community Consultation
unit of UBC through a grant

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by the Ministry of Children and Family Development as part
of the Provincial Child and Youth Mental Health plan.

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I kind of new that I had anxiety
because I knew somebody on

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my brother soccer team his brother had anxiety
and I kind of like related myself to him.

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I thought I was dying of course and apparently
that those are called anxiety attacks

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as much as I want to deny it but yeah I
was having a lot of those. Just in that

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amount of time just 30 seconds seems
like nothing. You are just happy

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now you just feel like
strangling yourself to death.

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Jason, Alana and Marley live
with anxiety disorders.

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Attacked from within by their own thoughts.

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Their disorders affect their
behavior, their emotional stability

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and can eve make them physically sick.
Each day is a struggle,

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fighting their fears.

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There has been a myth that anxiety is just a stress problem
that someone if these kids would just learn to relax

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that everything would take care of itself.
But we actually know that for these kids

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it is more than that day-to-day anxiety or stress
that we all face. This is a real health problem

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with significant symptoms that really
do impact their day-to-day living.

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The symptoms fall into four basic groups,

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unwanted or disturbing
mental images and beliefs,

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high levels of emotions around the
anxiety and fear usually lot of tears.

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Stomach ache, rapid heart
beat, difficulty in breathing

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and behavioral problems almost
always including avoidance.

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Anxiety disorders come
in different packages

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and kids can be plagued by multiple
disorders, phobias, panic attacks,

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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, generalized anxiety,
social anxiety, post dramatic stress disorder

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and separation anxiety. One in ten kids

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are coping with at least one anxiety disorder.
(inaudible) we are talking about 70,000 kids

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in families as we speak are currently
suffering. So they are big numbers.

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For younger children one of the most common ones
is separation anxiety. They are extremely anxious

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about being away from their parents.
All children are to some degree

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but these children are paralyzed.
The child who is in March

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is still feeling that their parent can’t leave
them at school. So it’s gone on way too long

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and it’s usually way too intense.

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I didn’t like being

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away from my mom like when I was in kindergarten I
would try every day till like the end of kindergarten

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almost like still like the end of kindergarten I
would cry everyday because my mom was leaving me.

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Are you talking when the teacher talking or if you are
yelling at someone you are saying. Okay like self control.

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Yeah. Seeing 11 year old Marley at
the dinner table with her family

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you would never guess that she suffers
from a high level of anxiety.

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As a small child Marley watched
her brother two years older,

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start school with no problems.
But when it came Marley’s turn.

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Everyday she would open up her eyes in the morning,
I would wake her up say Marley time to get up,

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she would open her eyes and say is it school
day and I would say yeah and she start crying

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like not even out of bed it was awful.

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They would want me to just leave her with the child care
worker, say goodbye and go. And so I did that every day.

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It was awful. I don’t know
who had more anxiety.

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But I wouldn’t cry or I wouldn’t be upset in front
of her. I just kind of until I got out of the track.

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What’s hard about it is that anxiety is (inaudible)
so we are asking a child to go to school

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who instinctively feels that if they go to school
it’s the end of the world. So we are asking

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to overcome that instinct. Because they feel
it’s instinctively dangerous to having tantrums,

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they are threatening to run away, they are threatening to jump
off the roof if you make me go to school imagine a parent

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facing that situation on a daily basis
at home and having to still perceived

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and say you need to go, it needs to happen.

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These are very difficult challenges.

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You see her stuck on the floor of
the bedroom for a long… long time

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because she is afraid of (inaudible). but
she said well I said the Tony I don’t care

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if she sleeps on the floor until she is 15 or
she is on the floor she can come in and sleep.

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Around age ten Marley’s early
separation anxiety shifted

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showing up more as social anxiety.

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The older child gets the more we start to look at there are
other things probably also interfering with separating

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and that starts to look a bit
more like social anxiety disorder

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which is the fear of being scrutinized in front of your friends.
If when people are looking at me and if I am going to do well

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and what kind of grade I am going to get and
like I mess up or like if my anxiety is going

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to affect me and then I am going
to do something bad or something.

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Marley’s list of worries grew long.

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Very long. Like when I am in front of crowd
or I am in front of like older people

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or if a test is coming up
or if I am doing a speech

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or things where I am around people.

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She worried about if her friends would like her they thought she
was stupid, if they thought she was smarter than her friends

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or she is dumber than her friends, is she wearing
the right thing, is she holding her arm right,

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does she walk funny does her shoes
look funny, it’s just was everything.

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I used to like cry and tell her everything that
happened today and why I was worried about.

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She is worried about a lot of
everything but just too much,

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volume was way too high. She just couldn’t turn
it down. She couldn’t – she worried about things

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that everybody worries about but too much.
She didn’t know when to shut it off.

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It became apparent that Marley
would need outside help

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to turn down the volume on her
increasingly unbearable anxieties.

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That was about for a night at seven
she could be crying at night

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and couldn’t get to sleep.
Then she goes to bed,

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8:30, 9 o’clock and then she is
thinking about this going on

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and on till like three, four in the
morning. She can’t get to sleep.

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She just can’t shut it off. I said to her

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one night she was crying and
this is after about well weeks

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and week of crying a lot at night

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and I said to her what can I do to help.
And she said

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I need to go to a doctor. I said I
think I had a little bit of anxiety

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and I asked her if I can get like help or
because the person that we knew he had pills

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but I guess like it was really bad and I
was kind of scared because I didn’t want

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it to be too bad but I was kind of scared
that I had anxiety but then I wanted to know

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if I had it or not so I could help it.
This small.

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Yeah that’s good. They began the search
for help with their family doctor

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who referred Marley for an assessment
at BC children’s hospital.

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When I said to her okay we got an appointment for the doctor
and then after that we had an appointment for assessment

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and then we have an appointment for registered
psychologist it was once we had a plan in place

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that she was going to get help. Confident.

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Then she thought okay I am going
to be okay. And determined Marley

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did some serious homework preparing for her first
appointment with doctor Garland. A couple of days before

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I wrote down everything that I was worried about.
It was like whole page and she is like wow

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and she started reading all of it and she is like wow
this is a lot of stuff. And she just read it over

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and said why you are worried about this and what
happens when you are worried and so she said

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that was anxiety.

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She said Marley she is very
good at knowing herself

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and she is very motivated and so
she said that she will probably

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do well with just learning the strategies although there
was recommendations for medications if she needed it

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but we are going this way.

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An important thing about anxiety is to recognize
that it tends to be chronic which means

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that you need coping skills for the long
term. If we give someone a medication

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we may reduce symptoms but they don’t
necessarily develop the coping skills.

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So what we would suggest is the first
approach be to focus on the coping skills,

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the cognitive strategies, the behavioral
strategies and then if medication is needed

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it’s added as a tool rather than being
a primary treatment. Dr. Jane Garland

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and Sandra Clark have developed a
cognitive behavior therapy program.

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Their Taming Worry Dragons

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booklets available to parents,
teachers and therapist define problems

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or worries as dragons giving
form to their anxieties

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helps mobilization children, giving
them something visible to tackle.

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Virtually all anxiety disorders

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the one clear evidence based treatment is cognitive
behavior therapy. Cognitive behavior therapy refers

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to a set of approaches that include
changing your thinking style

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and changing your behaviors. It usually includes
being exposed to something you are anxious about

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like it’s going to school and learning some
skills to calm yourself in that situation

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and build confidence so that may include
self talk, and physical relaxation skills.

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Most children we have anxiety
are talented warriors.

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So we re-frame the anxiety problem as being
actually accretive talent for worrying

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which engages the children. The
second problem they have is they have

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an over sensitive body alarm system so when
they do start to worry the body alarm goes up.

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A big part of the program is simply
teaching people so they begin to see

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the anxiety symptoms and their physical symptoms
as not so scary but something that makes sense.

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Now that I am like seeing someone and I know
that I have anxiety and I am controlling it

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then I feel better about it. Marley
now has a two bag of strategy

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she uses to manager her anxieties.
This is a tape that she made me

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and it’s relaxing. She made me draw picture

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and it’s just like what the
dragon looks like in my head.

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This is before I go to school. If my stomach
is achy or if I don’t feel well in the morning

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I just do these, just take deep breath and
stuff like that. And this is called Daisy

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and it’s just solving the problems like if you
have a problem and you don’t know how to fix it

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I will use this and then it will kind of calm me down. So
because I know it’s under control and I know how to do it.

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And this is the worry taming book.

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I write things in it and then it gets my like all
the stuff in my mind out onto like… like a paper

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so it feels like I am telling
somebody about something.

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Marley also continues to see her registered
clinical psychologist who guides her

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through cognitive behavior strategies.
She no longer feels powerless.

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As Marley learn to cope with her anxiety

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she was able to tell friends about her
disorder. A big change from the early days

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of hiding her pain. What if you told
you friends about your anxiety.

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Well I told them like what happened
and like what it makes me feel like

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and like what like what they can
do and like what like what I do

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when it happens and stuff like that.

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Well kind of I knew because like she always had stomach aches
all the time when she had slept over or she played with me

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and stuff and then I found out
that she was going to the hospital

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to because of her anxiety.

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Well I think it kind of helped us to know just so that we don’t like
say anything that would make her more worried or anything. So yeah.

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Did it make you like her less? No. No. Good.
It doesn’t change your friendship really?

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No.

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Recently Marley faced a big test of her
coping strategies. Her favorite teacher

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went on maternity leave and the
anticipation of this unwelcome change

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began taking on huge dragon proportions
but Marley was able to talk to her mom

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and therapist and put a plan in
place that would tame that dragon.

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When we went to the school base
meeting and everybody was receptive

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and they were like and she was at this meeting too and
they were like well what can we do to help you Marley.

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The teacher -students had
no idea Marley had anxiety.

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She – she is a leader, you know, the
thing, well she was like leader

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of the group more or less. You know. It’s been
amazing really however things fell into place.

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Very, very lucky. Very lucky.
Starting with from my family doctor

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to Dr. Garland to Dr. Roathan, to the
school being so receptive and open.

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Good night baby. Night mom.

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Love you. Love you. Good.
And when I go to Dr. Rosy

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she gives me things that I do like at night
so I fall asleep and I am not worrying.

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And just focus all your attention
on your body now Marley. Starting.

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Cognitive behavior therapy
works for anxious kids.

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[sil.]

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And even better studies have shown
that we can actually inoculate kids

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against developing in anxiety disorder
through awareness and education.

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All children should be taught early how to
manage anxiety because from time to time

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all children will feel anxious. That’s the key to
prevention is letting children have these skills

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and be able to practice them over and over and see them
as something that all children will need in the future.

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These kids are working
through the friends program

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at ten session curriculum aimed at grave four,
five level which targets symptoms of anxiety

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and teaches children to calm down when
they are worried. I think it’s really cool

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that we get to learn how to do the breathing
exercises and stuff. Sometimes we have a situation

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that we should be able to self to do it
fast, really fast. It helps cope with self.

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British Columbia’s Ministry of Children and
Family Development makes the friends program

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available to all BC schools as a
prevention tool. And actually today

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and next lesson we will be looking at problem solving. And how
to actually take problem something that you are worried about,

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concerned about and make
a plan of the action.

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This is your problem. Get the balloon from
one side of the room to the other side

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as fast as possible without touching
the balloon with your hands and feet.

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Just stop and think about for a second.

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It opens up the dialog
and it provides the kids

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sort of a format which they need in a structure
and sort of the language they need to communicate

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their worries or anxieties.
It helps us calm down

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and like (inaudible) worry. Helps to
cope with the problems and (inaudible)

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and it helps us relax. If you do
something beside worrying about it

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then you kind of forget about your worries.
These kids are

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becoming aware of the mechanics of thinking
one element of cognitive behavior education.

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Creating an awareness, a
cognition about worry

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and about what worry does to one’s body. The other day
I came in one of the kids had – something happened

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and I said well how did you feel. I thought oh my
gosh, you know, like usually you wouldn’t say that.

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On your mark. Get, set, go.

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Because anxiety symptoms are so common we think
that as many children possible should be equipped

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with coping skills to manage anxiety.

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The other thing that is important however
is picking up children who are not coping

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for early intervention. One of the most important
reasons that children need to get treatment

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if they have an anxiety disorder is you know if they don’t get
treated they do seem to worsen and become chronic every time.

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[music]

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In grade four I was very sick.

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When I go to school I will
come home, I would throw up

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and I would be okay and then it was
just continue. I (inaudible) went home

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at least once a week.

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Alana is now 15 and has
generalized anxiety disorder.

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When condition is at her worst, there
is little time left for normal life.

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Generalized anxiety is generalized just like
the title says to lots of different areas.

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So not only are they worried about social situations
but these children are worried about their pets.

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They are worried about their homework. They are worried about looking just right.
They are worried about mom going away. They are worried about dad’s business.

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They might be worried about the family’s finances.
So it’s on every dimension the child’s life.

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She would cry. She would burst in
tears if an ambulance went by.

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She was starting to have a
lot of concerns about debt.

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We just thought that it was a phase that was
going to go through. I was always so afraid

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that one of my family members was going to die,
all the time I wouldn’t let them out of my sight.

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I remember my dad was supposed
to go on golfing trip

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that I mentioned and I would like wouldn’t
let him. I seriously wouldn’t let him

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unless I went with him. And so
it didn’t end up happening.

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I was convinced that something
bad was going to happen.

00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
Anxiety disorders are truly a puzzle.
They are not caused by any one thing

00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
but rather by a number of pieces coming
together in a complex interaction

00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
of the child’s temperament,
genetics, and environment.

00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
We know what anxiety disorder that they run
in families. There is a strong genetic risk

00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
that runs in family in a number of studies
particularly sfor panic disorder.

00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
Some of the other disorders it’s not so clear that it’s a
true genetic risk. It may be partly a (inaudible) risk

00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
in other words learned
and pattern behaviors.

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
As a parent you are always concerned that you have
done something wrong in her early life that has caused

00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
all these anxiety attacks.
Kelly Anderson can empathize

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
with a Alana’s dad. Kelly often
felt lamed when seeking help

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
for her own anxious son. She fought
back by founding force a training

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
and support group for parents of
children with mental health problems.

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
These are tough kids to parent and thus so you
have parenting problems because they are so tough

00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
and that’s our – our belief
but I think the medical field

00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
has kind of gone down the road that these kids
have become problem because of our parenting

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
and we are saying it’s chicken egg you know. So that’s
something that we are hoping through time that the stigma

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
because there is enough stigma on mental health. We don’t need
to also add to that the stigma around how we parent them.

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
Kelly’s model when parents know better

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
they can do better through
force she make sure parents

00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
get the knowledge they need. In order
for our kids to really succeed

00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
we need to have people who
are involved in their life

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
to all have the same training and
parents without that training

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
they can’t be assisting that
child to sustain that skill

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
that they are going to need the rest of their
life and they have to get the training.

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
After years of struggling on their own at age
10 Alana and her parents finally agreed.

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
They needed help. They turned
to government services.

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
It’s an avenue open to
any concerned parents.

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
Just go to the phone book’s blue pages, find the
BC government section and look for children

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
and family development. Under there, find
Child and Youth Mental Health in your area.

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
For Alana this connection
sparked a profound

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
and happy change. Her counselor Tammy Smith

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
was teaching her to try not to
let persistence thoughts remain

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
to rewrite the endings of her dreams.
They called it taming the worry dragon

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
and it was really helpful and she was
able to give me some information

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
about what I would do to help.
She was the biggest impact

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
on my life out of a lot. She
was one of the biggest.

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
She was just so great and she could like if
I didn’t know how to describe the feelings

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
she would describe the feelings and I would be
like yeah that’s exactly how I feel at the things.

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
Tammy has left the mental health team in
Alana’s area but she will never be forgotten.

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
Tammy. The family dog is named after her.

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
Most children in adolescence with an
anxiety disorder you would never know.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
They are very socially adapt. They by and
large are popular with the other children.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
They have at least average if not above average
intelligence. And the symptoms that they suffer from

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
are all internal. We call it
an internalizing disorder.

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
Over the years Alana has been
misdiagnosed several times.

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
We often have been told that she is an attention
deficit. We have been told that she is oppostional

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
that she has problems
with people in authority,

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
that she is hyper. OCD
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
anybody who is suffering from anxiety

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
is going to exhibit symptoms of
those other kinds of disorders.

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
Alana’s academic highs and
lows added to the confusion

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
around her diagnosis. In grade three she
was on the gifted list. In grade four,

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
she performed poorly. One
year she couldn’t do math.

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
Another she was the top math student in her
class. Her mom had a learning assessment done.

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
No problems with Alana’s ability.
The problem is anxiety

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
making it impossible for
Alana to focus on much else.

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
In her early teens and
already anxious Alana

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
came face to face with her worst fear.
Remember that much of her early anxiety

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
was about something terrible
happening to one of her family.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
When Alana was 13 her brother
Chris died from a brain tumor.

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
He was one of my best friends for sure.
I was holding his hand

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
when he quiet breathing. When I came home,

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
I was lying here in bed and I woke up

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
and I just couldn’t move like I couldn’t breath, I
couldn’t move, I had tears streaming down my face.

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
I just – I was in his bedroom actually.
And I just realized

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
it’s going to be okay and it was the most incredible
feeling I have ever experienced in my whole life.

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
I just suddenly quiet crying and
didn’t cry until his funeral

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
which is (inaudible).

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
At the time Alana grieved her brother’s death
appropriately but it added to her burden of worries.

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
A year after Chris’s death
Alana hit another bad patch

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
just as she was entering high school.

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
Her mother tried to head off trouble by getting
a job at Alana’s school. Alana was coming to me

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
at school saying I don’t know what’s
wrong with me. I am shaking. I am not.

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
I am sweaty. I am sick. By
now Alana was also showing

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
signs of depression. Experts
think that anxiety improperly

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
or untreated often leads to depression.
I wrote.

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
I hate my life. If you consider this
living you are better off dead.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
Nobody will surely understand how much I missed
Chris. Parents fight, both they are angry on me.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
I just got out of a nine
month relationship.

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
The only thing keeping me alive was my
friends. Nobody else understands me.

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
I know a lot of people that felt that but

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
it was just so high and it was
just so hard to deal with.

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
While they waited for a
psychiatrist’s appointment,

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
Alana’s doctor prescribed Celexa a drug in the most
common medication group used for anxiety and depression.

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
SSRis. These drugs adjust the functioning
of the Serotonin system in the brain.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
But the drug didn’t seem

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
to work for Alana. Alana was
trying to harm herself in school.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
She was trying to harm herself at home.
She was wanted to be dead.

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
She was scared, very… very scared.
She was cutting herself.

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
Wanted to go to into the hospital
where she would be safe.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
This was after she had begun medication.

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
Then Jane read newspaper for
articles about a possible link

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
between SSRis and suicidal
attempts in children.

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
But Alana was now seeing a psychiatrist who believed
that he could find the right chemical solution for her.

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
He had her on Celexa increase the
dosage to something that I found to be

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
really large amount but
added Remeron to that,

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
said that she was attention deficit. Why
don’t you put her on medication for that.

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
I think it added up to be four pills,

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
two anti-depression, a
sleeping pill and an ADD pill.

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
He put me on ADD because he thought
I had attention deficit disorder

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
but really I was just too stressed out to be
thinking about school work kind of thing,

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
like not concentrating in classes.
The medications did not

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
make me feel better. Now they
actually made me way worse

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
because I wasn’t suicidal
and so I went on them.

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
In Canada none of the medications
for treatment of anxiety

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
have been officially approved for children.
Doctors prescribe them at their own discretion.

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
And in June 2004 health Canada
issued a warning about SSRI.

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
[music]

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
Some children are helped by medication.

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
But finding the right drug for a
child can be extremely difficult.

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
Children are more sensitive to some of
the side effects of these medications.

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
The most common one is getting
agitated or hyper active

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
or dis-inhibited and a number of the studies
would suggest that up to a quarter of children

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
put on these the SSRis will
get fagity overactive,

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
dis-inhibited, agitated.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
One night I was home alone

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
nothing even happened to me that day. I
just felt that it was time to end my life

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
because of feelings that have been going
and on and they just keep on adding up.

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
So I took nine pain killers.
It was clear cry for help.

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
Alana had friends coming over that evening.
Friends who immediately called her parents.

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
My parents came home and
they forced me into the car

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
and brought me to the hospital.
And they didn’t know

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
if the pain killers were going to harm me or
not and I was crying and kicking and screaming

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
and I was just a total mess. That night in
hospital Alana picked up another survival tool

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
and on called doctor taught a
key cognitive behavior strategy

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
changing negative self talk. It was
the right advice at the right time.

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
He told me to write down five good
things that happened to you that day.

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
And I did it for about two months
and after two months of doing that

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
I suddenly just felt better. And I
did no more self harm or anything

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
and I still do it to keep my spirits up.
So that’s

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
my biggest coping method right there.
Five good things every single day.

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
After the suicidal attempt resolving
medication issues became critical.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
The unwillingness to consider that
medication just might be making Alana worse,

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
coupled with Alana’s reports that she couldn’t
talk to her therapist meant it was time to look

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
for a new psychiatrist. I have sit
there in the waiting room actually

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
and she would come out with another
prescription. I really don’t feel that

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
what was the best situation. So I asked for
second opinion through the Ministry of children

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
and youth through Tammy and
she arranged for Alana

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
to see another psychiatrist who was
coming out from the lower main land

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
and that psychiatrist suggested
that we started taking Alana all

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
of the medication.

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
I like that. Her new doctor carefully
supervised Alana’s gradual withdrawal

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
from medication. Since it’s
dangerous to stop cold turkey.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
He slowly decreased it. And so now
I am completely off of my meds.

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
And how do you feel? Awf… awesome.
Awesome. I feel awesome.

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
I do. I really do.

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
Alana needs support to stay feeling
awesome. She still works with the Child

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
and Youth Mental Health team and
with a counselor at her high school.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
She has been lucky that the most effective treatment
for anxiety disorder cognitive behavior therapy

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
is radically accessible in her part of
British Columbia. Parents should ask

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
whether the therapist has some knowledge and
experience with cognitive behavior therapy.

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
They should be asking for that set of skills when
they are looking for help with anxious children.

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
Through the Ministry of Children Family Development
which oversees the children’s mental health system

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
all of the child and family therapist in
this province will be specifically trained

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
in cognitive behavior therapy over the next
year. Many of them have already been trained.

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
Hi girls. Hi. One of the cognitive
behavior therapy programs

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
Alana uses is called ACE,
Adolescents Coping with Emotions.

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
The Child and Youth Mental Health team and all
of her brought the program from Australia

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
in partnership with (inaudible) secondary
counselor (inaudible) they set up the program

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
to help at risk teens learn
positive thinking styles.

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
Last time we talked about how we end up the
certain feelings sometimes good, not good. Okay.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
We are going to make sure that we sort
of understand how our thoughts affect

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
how we interpret that event.
Wow look at that.

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
Alana’s get real thinking presentation is a
good indication of just how far she has come

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
aware now of her feelings and how they
affect her. Came for, what is another way

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
to look at this situation and….
Well last semester

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
I was screwed up like my life
was pretty messed up back then

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
and I wasn’t doing well in that and I
was very upset by it. And I decided

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
I can do better than that
and so I went in math again

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
and right now I have a
B and just a week ago

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
I got 100% in my math test. So that was
pretty cool. And so yeah (inaudible)

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
with that you know, if you do try
and get well that you can do

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
what you never thought was possible. As
many of you know Chris was an inspiration

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
to the student body at secondary
school as well as – Today Alana’s dad

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
presents a memorial anniversary in her brother’s
name. It’s an emotional time for the family.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
Alana monitors herself carefully
using her get real thinking

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
and she has friends close by.
If there was a problem

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
I just take my problem solving
cheats from that I got from ACE,

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
yeah I just deal with it. I just
cope and I have coping methods that

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
I can try out for the different problems.

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
I couldn’t go on without those

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
you know therapy skills. Alana is aware
that anxious youth often face anxiety

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
at other times in their lives but
now she knows how to manage it.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
I don’t know if I be a denial kind of thing but I am hoping
yeah alright guys. I am hoping that I will recognize.

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
I will try my hardest to tell myself that

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
oh I am having anxiety attack.
Alana’s name the problem

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
learn behavior modification techniques
and made basic lifestyle changes.

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
When it comes to anxiety we know quite
a number of things will improve

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
anxiety symptoms getting more
exercise helps. Eating regularly.

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
If you are not eating. Your blood sugar is low. You have
extra adrenal and you are going to feel more anxious.

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
Getting enough sleep.

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
The brain is very complex and anxiety
is a very – is a fundamental instinct.

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
So it involves very complex
web of brain systems.

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
Many different chemicals systems, some of the most primitive
areas of the brain and some of the most advanced areas

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
of the brain and how they interact.

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
I get the good anxious
when I get the go do stuff

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
but that leads into the bad anxious
because right away it’s a mental trigger.

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
Every time I know that comes
it’s like I am my OCD days

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
oh you are not going to have fun. You are not
going to do it. I am not going to let you.

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
21 year old Jason has an anxiety
disorder commonly called OCD,

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. OCD
can be anything from mild to severe

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
and in Jason the condition is
almost completely debilitating.

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
The day we went to meet him he was
stuck in bed paralyzed by his anxiety

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
but Jason had anticipated this
probability and was prepared.

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
Well I slept in my clothes because I knew
you guys were coming. And I wasn’t sure

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
if I can be up on time and I didn’t want you
guys to just come in and see me in my boxers

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
because you guys have to pay to see that.

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
No. No. and no because…

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
because you might just only see me
for my body and not who I – no,

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
no I don’t but I like – But when
we asked why he was still in bed,

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
the natural comedian in Jason was silent.

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
HM, well because of images
again it was around oneish

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
and it was just money in there

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
and all these images just
ah, started to come.

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
Can you describe like
what are the images like?

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
What can you tell? It’s just horrible. Like
what? They – they used to be like back

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
when I was – when I first started getting
images they used to be about like hmm,

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
hmm, violent only

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
and they violent went away because
something worse came on and it was sexual.

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
And that was just it was
disturbing and disgusting.

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
And I think – An OCD is characterized by
two phenomena obsessions and compulsions.

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
Obsessions are unwanted intrusive images

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
that keep invading the person’s mind,

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
ah and compulsions tend to be form of
ritualized behavior designed to somehow

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
undo the disturbing content of the
obsessions. The horrible images

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
are Jason’s obsessions. In order
to wash the images from his mind

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
Jason feels a compulsion to rewind the images.
It’s a self fashion decontamination process.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
This I can explain is it’s rewinding

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
like a video cassette or whatever like one frame at a time and
it used to be like… Jason is absolutely compel to rewind.

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
Sometimes 300 images.

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
And he must rewind them in the exact
reverse order that they have occurred.

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
He cannot do anything else until that’s
done and done right. I went 290, 291

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
and 209, 287, 286 so I
got down even to like

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
number sixth and then I remember
oh crap I didn’t do 89, 88.

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
I did 87. So then I have to go all
the way back up from six to 87

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
and then I skipped 88 and 89

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
and do 90, 91, 92 then I would
have to rewind all over again,

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
try that process all over again. I
don’t know. It takes a very long while

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
and a very bright mind to keep
the almost 300 images in order

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
and Jason cannot get out
of bed until it’s done.

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
I don’t know if I can rewind.
Sometimes rewinding takes time

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
to get started too. Yeah that’s okay.
That’s okay. We have time.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
We are on your time today. Great. Of course that
means we maybe stuck in your room all day too right.

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
I am still aiming to get you to
(inaudible). Yeah I like to do that.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
That would be cool.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
OCD can start in one of two ways.

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
Slowly, building over a long period of time

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
or it can appear suddenly. All those
stress or physical illness can provoke OCD

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
is often triggered by the
rapid changes at puberty.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
We are half way through grade nine. He always
like to going to school and all of a sudden

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
he wouldn’t – he didn’t want to go. But it wasn’t just he
didn’t want to go. He would stop in the middle of the stairs

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
and just not move.

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
And he got (inaudible) and then it
just keeps getting worse and worse

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
and he would be washing his hands all
the time now, washing (inaudible)

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
until I see it this thing.

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
(inaudible) washing of the hands

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
and I got oh that’s him. And I
remember distinctly the day that

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
I had knew that something was wrong.
I kept pulling my books in

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
and out of my locker, I didn’t feel
alright. I had to feel alright.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
And it’s the weirdest thing
because it’s almost like

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
I was doing the subconsciously.
One day I thought about it

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
I guess and I just thought what the
hell is this. Why do I have to do this.

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
I knew it was the oddest thing
because I didn’t even know

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
I was doing this yet it had to feel right.

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
I knew it if I didn’t put them in something
in me would make me not feel right.

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
There were many days I would be going to
school at five o’clock to pick him up

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
and he was locked in the school because, you now, they
locked everything down and I would knock on the door

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
and the genrator would come to the door and
let me in and there he is you know, your kid.

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
It’s a (inaudible) disorder that can interfere
significantly with the person’s life

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
and for children very sadly even interfere with
ability to attend school and to complete school.

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
It’s very difficult. In grade nine

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
Jason seemed to be coping even earning the highest
mark in his high school for grade nine science.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
He had weekly therapy sessions
but it wasn’t enough.

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
His OCD patterns became
very well established.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
I didn’t know at the time looking back I realized
it was too far. He was already too far gone.

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
One hour a week just wasn’t enough. We were sort of
scratching the tip of the iceberg with trying to treat him.

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
It was very difficult transition

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
for his parents and sister to make to accept
that the happy little boy who was Jason

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
had disappeared beneath the weight
of debilitating mental disorder.

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
He was – he was happy you know.

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
He was… he has always been kind.

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
[music]

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
(inaudible) I always had fun with him.

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
Then something like this happens

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
and (inaudible). It’s hard
in some ways to go back

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
and look at those pictures.
We went back that way.

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
There are some anxiety disorders
that are more challenging

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
and one of them is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
At the more severe end of the spectrum

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
it may need a day treatment program and sometimes
it needs an intensive inpatient program.

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
One of the problems we had is
that is specialized program

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
and would require specialized unit and we
don’t have that here in this province.

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
Because of this gap in
services occasionally

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
the province helps send a BCU to
one of the intensive OCD programs

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
that do exists in the US. A few
years ago Jason went South

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
and it helped. So it was a full eight
hour day of complete intensive you know,

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
really working on and confronting all
the things that really bothered him

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
and so we did that for month and
he came back and you know, family,

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
friends noticed huge improvement.
It was so nice. I got wardrobe.

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
Oh great dictionary. Nancy says
Jason’s symptoms were cut in half

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
making room in his life for life. But only
months after his return from the intensive

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
American therapy program Jason
began sleeping. When we came back

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
I mean there wasn’t really ah, I
didn’t get follow-up treatment.

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
There wasn’t follow-up treatment and I couldn’t
go enough hours of the day and stuff like that.

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
That’s basically what happened is slowly
started to sleep back and it got even worse,

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
worse than usual. I mean you have got

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
you know, 21 year old who is in bed
all day can’t really function,

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
has no social relationships to speak of.

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
It’s not good enough. That’s one thing. I think OCD took
away but it looks shit, I used to look like a model.

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
Okay. No I did. Seriously.
Am I right mom. Yeah.

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
(inaudible). No, that’s dam true. Okay. We
are going to make peanut butter cookies.

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
I have got everything ready but we just have to have
chocolate chips. See you got to rewash your hands.

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
That’s the first thing. Yeah I have just washed my hands. Mom you
didn’t just wash your hands. I didn’t – I have heard the water

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
but I you know. That’s
– just stop for a sec,

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
because I want to let you – you can – you wash
your hands a little like – I washed my hands…

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
Part of Jason Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder is a fear of contamination,

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
very common in OCD. Jason has
great difficulty eating any food

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
that’s been touched by anyone hands
even his mom’s. Help me. Help me.

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
Well I don’t know. Will you make these cookies?
Don’t roll them. Look you have to roll them.

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
No, no don’t. If I make them and roll them in my
hands. No. No. No. Don’t. How am I going to make them?

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
I should make them. How am I going to make them? Right.
I washed my hands already. So now I roll the cookies.

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
Stop for a second.

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
Stop mom. Mom. Mom. Are you going to have some
of these for your lunch. Stop for a second.

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
Stop for a second. Second.
Why? I – let me just

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
Hmm. How are you going to eat these cookies then? I
am going to make one giant but I won’t touch it.

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
No you can’t do that. Really he should not make
his own to cookies the way he made them specially

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
because that’s sort of enabling the OCD. That’s avoiding the
issue and the issue is he really should eat the cookies

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
that I have made that are contaminated. You know
he won’t do that for me but maybe if a therapist

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
well that could very well be an exercise that
(inaudible) stuff for us to say okay you go home,

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
your mom is going to make cookies. You are going to eat at
least one of the cookies. Theoretically really to make it work

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
we have to make cookies everyday and he would have
to eat one and then he would have to eat two.

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
Jason the (inaudible) are you going to eat
a cookie while we are here or not? No.

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
Jason’s anxiety symptoms make it very
difficult for him to eat or sleep

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
and the depredation feeds his anxiety.
He is a prime candidate

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
for medication to manage the symptoms
while he works on behavior strategies.

00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
The trick is finding one that works.
He has tried everything.

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
Every combination you can imagine. He has
been on ah, every SSRI that’s out there

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
and really with not a lot of success. He is taking
Effexor right now. No they are not helping me.

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
I sometimes I would – I don’t know, well look at
the side effects and know they are not helping me.

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
I have tried I don’t know how many medicate,
I over tend and not of them helped.

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
I have got all the side effects. So I have
had everyone of them no I am serious.

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
Most medications affect actually multiple
systems and the brain is a complex web

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
or network. You make a change in one
chemical system it affects changes

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
in other chemical systems. This
is not like giving antibiotics.

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
And I think that’s the thing that gets confusing.
You know you are targeting specific bacterium.

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
In fact if you look at most anxiety disorders
a whole range of medications work which work

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
by completely different mechanism on
completely different neurotransmitters.

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
No. Go ahead. One of the challenges with anxiety disorders
specially things like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
is we know exactly what
to do treatment wise.

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
But it’s very difficult to do it. It may
be relatively easy to give a medication

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
to say but the core behavioral treatment is
extremely challenging and we are asking parents

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
to do most of the work on the
front lines, on 24 hour basis

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
and this is the thing that becomes most difficult;
not figuring out what needs to happen but how

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
to do that on the daily basis.

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
Jason’s mom leads an OCD support group in Delta.
And that’s encouraging to hear a psychiatrist

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
is doing that kind of work because – Nancy made
good use of groups like these during the years

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
and wants to give something back. But
sometimes even old hands need support

00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
and fresh ideas.

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
Hello. Hi. Hi. Feeling like she has hit a wall
with Jason Nancy phones Kelly Anderson at Force.

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
We are looking for test of treatment here. We are looking
for – they keep saying that there may be something.

00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
Okay. But I don’t know. Do you know
of anything? Well have you checked

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
with the new – there is a new clinic at UBC. Oh. So it
might be also be a fresh place for you to start again.

00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
You know and maybe out of there
get hmm, another name or –

00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
Sometimes what we have had
to suggest the families

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
is that maybe we get somewhere
to fresh look at it

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
because you can’t just give up.
You know these kids are worth

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
us fighting for and sometimes you
just have to trust somebody new.

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
Kelly pushes parents to keep trying.
Force helps them navigate the system.

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
Well we are actually working
right now on a family toolkit

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
and that’s where the BC partners for mental health
and addiction so it’s a map on what is an IP,

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
who do you talk to first if you
suspect your child has a problem,

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
where do you go next. We are
trying to break down terminology.

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
Are there any circuits we know about? Are there any
resources that would save them ten phone calls

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
because when you are in crisis as a parent you don’t want
to have to do 20 calls. That’s something that if somebody

00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
had just told you… you could have saved yourself
18 of those calls. Okay. Well good luck.

00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
And let me know if there is anything we can do for
you. I will. Thanks Nancy. Okay. Bye bye. Bye.

00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:09.999
[music]

00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:14.999
Nancy won’t stop looking for help for
Jason. She wants her boy healthy again.

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
But today it’s a miracle just to get
him to the ring and out on the ice

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
a place where Jason really wants to be.

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
He played Minor League hockey in the Delta
League until his OCD literally stopped him

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
from getting on the ice. I
have coached the hockey team

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
and there is more those things you would see.
He would be trying to escape that fun time.

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
I said just come on here, you got to
get on the ice. He says well I can’t.

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
It doesn’t feel right. So I am trying to
skate him. (inaudible) doesn’t feel right.

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
Crap.

00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
I don’t know if I ah, So I bought him
a pair of skates he could pump up.

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
So I (inaudible) I am just pumping him up.
Does it feel alright.

00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
And that was an idea there. So. Yes.

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
We figured I guess it was OCD.

00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
[sil.]

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
Today, Jason’s obsessions are once again
keeping him from getting geared up.

00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
[sil.]

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
There are just 15 minutes
left of a two hour ice time.

00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.999
[sil.]

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.999
But when he finally gets on the ice

00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:49.999
Jason is okay.

00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
[sil.]

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
I am not ever going to really
happy until I get rid of it.

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
So I can do a lot of stuff
because it would be nice to do

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.999
I don’t know, what I want to do and be
free. Sort of like ah, it’s exactly like

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:14.999
being in your own sort of prison.
OCD is like a terrorist

00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:19.999
keeping you in a small jail
like (inaudible) or something

00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.999
except with the clothes on.

00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
[sil.]

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
So you are having the images

00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.999
that have something to do with – with
(inaudible). Yeah like the content is just hmm,

00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.999
somebody doing sex

00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:49.999
always a person that I
hate a male, never female.

00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:54.999
I don’t even hate any females I don’t think. But
remember it’s not you. It is just OCD right.

00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.999
And what we are talking about
is what the OCD is doing to you

00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.999
and you are so disgusted by this because
this is not the way you are as a person

00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.999
and that’s why you are doing all these… Jason’s
cognitive challenge is to understand that his OCD

00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:14.999
is a separate entity, the
images are not who he is.

00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:19.999
They belong to the illness. They
and it are separate from his self.

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:24.999
I know that they are false but the thing is they are so disturbing
that it doesn’t matter if it false. It’s just so gross.

00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:29.999
You cannot – So why is it Jason
that you get so upset about that.

00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:34.999
I have to rewind. I have to.. (inaudible)
yourself. I am done with those now.

00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:39.999
I am just I have to rewind.

00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.999
And here is Jason’s behavioral challenge.
Find ways to delay

00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:49.999
or eliminate the time and life
wasting compulsion to rewind.

00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:54.999
You can also look at OCD as
a habit forming disorder

00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:59.999
where it typically took the person a number of years
to kind of being at this full blown OCD stage

00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:04.999
so it takes a lot of time and effort to
kind of undo such an ingrained habit.

00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:09.999
[music]

00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:14.999
Like I have been pretty much stagnant
for six years and the only thing is

00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:19.999
I would have undone, I have
been in medical school

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.999
by now because I was going to be surgeon.
That’s what I hoping to be anyway and

00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:29.999
I guess I could have been that because
I had the grades and whatever.

00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.999
I am not going to let when
I just keep fighting.

00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:39.999
There is no way. Just keep fighting.

00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.999
Jason’s beating back his OCD
before with proper treatment

00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:49.999
this bright brave young man can
emerge again from behind his dragons.

00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:54.999
It’s a realistic cope

00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:59.999
for all young people
with anxiety disorders.

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.999
We are finally breaking through the silence

00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:09.999
and we are talking about anxiety disorders a lot
more and importantly there are system changes

00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:14.999
that are in process that will
be increasing our capacity

00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:19.999
to be there for kids and families with the
appropriate resources and treatments.

00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:24.999
Anxiety disorders

00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:29.999
can be tamed if we give these youth and their
families the tools they need to fight their fears.

00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:34.999
For more information about
mental health resources

00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:39.999
mentioned in this documentary
or to access in depth articles,

00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:44.999
links, videos and more visit our
website at knowledgenetwork.ca.

00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:49.999
Click on knowledge tools and go to taking
care Child and Youth Mental Health.

00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:58.000
Ah, what’s that. Is that hurting.
Looks like.

00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:04.999
Shut up. Alright. There he is.
See me and my sister

00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:09.999
we got this down. We got this down on.
You are yeah come on.

00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:14.999
It’s just a cat hair. Oh just the cat hair. Yeah
after you. Let’s see he has licked his butt

00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:19.999
and licked his shoulder. (inaudible) anywhere in the
food in the house it will wind up more than like this.

00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.999
No crap. It could be Alopecia areata which
is the disease where you have no hair.

00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:30.000
There will be hair in my dam food.