I have had a close family member experience and recover from severe OCD. This was at UCLA's child and adolescent OCD program (which was amazing). Let me share what worked:
1) The program first prescribed SSRIs in order to reduce the child's anxiety enough to do the difficult work required.
2) Intense ERP (exposure response prevention) solo and in a group setting. The social aspect of being with fellow sufferers was critical.
3) Coming up with rewards for successful ERP sessions (not food related due to potential overeating)
4) Starting treatment as soon as possible. OCD has a tendency to get worse and harder to treat over time. I clearly saw the difference in treatment efficacy based on how long it took for the child to start treatment.
1) The program first prescribed SSRIs in order to reduce the child's anxiety enough to do the difficult work required.
2) Intense ERP (exposure response prevention) solo and in a group setting. The social aspect of being with fellow sufferers was critical.
3) Coming up with rewards for successful ERP sessions (not food related due to potential overeating)
4) Starting treatment as soon as possible. OCD has a tendency to get worse and harder to treat over time. I clearly saw the difference in treatment efficacy based on how long it took for the child to start treatment.
The link to the program is https://iocdf.org/clinics/ucla-child-adolescent-ocd-intensiv...