Stories from the trenches: 3 doctors on treating OCD

Dr. Evelyn Stewart is the founder and director of the pediatric OCD clinic at the B.C. Children's Hospital. The clinic is the first of its kind in Canada and is only six years old.

"We're focused on identifying kids and teens who suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder and also studying the illness," she said. Dr. Stewart went on to explain that their goal is to "find ways so that we can treat it better so these kids aren't plagued with these terrible long term outcomes, and being bullied by OCD for life."

While there are differing approaches to treating OCD, this clinic specializes in exposure response prevention therapy or ERP. A main part of this approach is to encourage patients to push back against their compulsions or fears. 

Click listen above to meet Dr. Evelyn Stewart, Dr. Janine Slavec, and Dr. Robert Selles to learn more about OCD and hear about the creative methods these doctors come up with to help their young patients.