Dissociative Hand-Washing In Schools

When it comes to children they may have an obsession or a compulsion that they are frequently doing or thinking about. One compulsion that a child may have is repetitive hand washing. The student may think that they are not clean and they will need to rewash their hands. The student will rewash their hands even though they just washed them. They may need to do this multiple times until they think that their hands are finely clean. Another compulsion that a student may have is that they have to count everything. The student may think that they have to take an even number of steps in order to enter into the cafeteria from their classroom. If the student takes 101 steps they may feel like they have to go back and start again. This is an example of repetitive counting and contamination.

They may not want to think it, but it just pops into their head and will stay their until it is addressed. The student may see somebody blow their nose and not wash their hands afterwards, and the student could just be thinking about that. They will forget all about the work they need to complete and will only be thinking about the student who didn't wash their hands and everything that they are touching. Another example is, if a student is touched. If another student comes over and touches their shoulder, they may think about that and not be able to stop. They will continually think about the student touching them on the shoulder and feel the other student's hand long after it happened. Both of these are examples of obsession in a student with Obsessive Compulsive