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October 6, 2025 36 mins
Host: Kate Brownfield, Certified Whole Person & ADHD Parent Coach Guest: Dr. Tamar Chansky, founder of the Children’s and Adult Center for OCD and Anxiety, has helped thousands of children overcome fears and gripping mental compulsions. She is also the author of Freeing Your Child from Negative Thinking, Freeing Your Child from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Freeing Yourself from Anxiety. Episode Overview

Kate sits down with  Dr. Tamar Chansky to discuss how OCD differs from general anxiety and how it can overlap with ADHD. They cover emotional regulation, PANS/PANDAS and sudden-onset OCD triggers, evidence-based treatments like exposure and response prevention, and when medical evaluation is needed, plus practical parent strategies to support children and hopeful long-term outcomes.

 

What We Talk About (Highlights)
  • Language that helps: Parents can lower fear by calling patterns “OCD-normal,” separating the child from the disorder, and shifting from “correct” to connect, then problem-solve together.
  • Anxiety vs. OCD: Anxiety = “what-ifs” and future worry; OCD = intrusive thoughts + compulsions (“superstition on steroids”) that even the child knows don’t make sense.
  • Emotional regulation: Parents’ ability to down-regulate their own nervous system brings calm, the child can co-regulate with.
  • PANS/PANDAS: Sudden, severe OCD-like spikes can follow infections (e.g., strep, Lyme, some post-viral cases). Treat the medical trigger first; CBT may play a role later.
  • First-line care for pediatric OCD: Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)—stepwise “courage challenges” to retrain the brain; meds are not first-line for most kids but can help some, especially teens with co-occurring depression.
  • Parent power: Coaching parents in response patterns can be as effective as direct child therapy for many families.
  • Outlook: Highly treatable. Kids learn skills, build neuroplastic change, and may only need occasional “tune-ups” during new life stages (“last-yearing it”).
Resources & Links
  • Dr. Tamara Chanksy & her books: https://tamarchansky.com/
  • Panda’s Physician Network: https://www.pandasppn.org/practitioners/

 

About Your Host, Kate

I’m Kate Brownfield, Certified Whole Person & ADHD Parent Coach, author of How We Roll: A Parent’s Journey Raising a Child with ADHD, and host of The ADHD Kids Can Thrive Podcast. It’s my pleasure to help you understand ADHD more deeply because every child with ADHD is unique, and so are their strengths and struggles.

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