For OCD, Not Helping Might Be Best ( were instructed in how they should resp...),Health

After the treatment, researchers noticed a significant decrease in how often families were assisting children during their OCD behaviors and rituals. Children whose families had the biggest decrease in these accommodations also had the biggest improvement in their OCD symptoms, Merlo said.

Jonathan Abramowitz, an associate professor and associate chairman of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, noted that this unintentional reinforcement of OCD has also been reported anecdotally by adults in relationships.

"We see it with adults' spouses and partners, too," he said in the news release. "In trying to be helpful to the person with OCD, they end up making the problem worse."

The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry estimates that roughly one in 200 U.S. children has obsessive-compulsive disorder, and the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation estimates that 1 in 50 adults has it.

More information

The Obsessive Compulsive Foundation has more about OCD.

-- Kevin McKeever

SOURCE: University of Florida Health Science Center, news release, June 2009