Clinical Psychologist

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Across Developmental Transitions: Childhood, Parenthood, and Perinatal Experiences

Call for Abstracts

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a highly impairing mental health condition that can emerge across the lifespan, yet important developmental and relational contexts remain insufficiently understood. Although significant advances have been made in understanding the cognitive, behavioural, and neurobiological mechanisms underlying OCD, less attention has been given to how OCD is experienced and maintained within key life transitions, including childhood, adolescence, the transition to parenthood, and the perinatal period.

Childhood and adolescence represent critical developmental periods in which OCD symptoms may interact with emerging identity, family relationships, emotional development, school functioning, and increasing demands for autonomy. In young people, OCD is often embedded within family systems, with parents and caregivers playing an important role in symptom accommodation, help-seeking, treatment engagement, and recovery. Understanding the developmental pathways and relational processes involved in childhood OCD is essential for improving early identification and intervention.

The transition to parenthood represents another significant period of vulnerability and change. Perinatal OCD, including intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviours related to infant safety, harm, responsibility, and caregiving, remains under-recognised and can be misinterpreted as reflecting parental risk rather than a manifestation of OCD. This may contribute to delayed assessment, stigma, shame, and barriers to accessing appropriate support. Recent work has highlighted the need for greater awareness and specific approaches to assessment and treatment of OCD during the perinatal period.

This special issue aims to advance understanding of OCD through a developmental and relational lens. We welcome contributions that examine how OCD develops, is maintained, and can be effectively treated across childhood, adolescence, parenthood, and the perinatal period.

We invite submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following areas:

• Developmental pathways and risk factors for childhood and adolescent OCD
• Family processes, parental accommodation, and caregiver experiences in childhood OCD
• The role of parenting, attachment, and interpersonal processes in OCD onset and maintenance
• Perinatal OCD, including intrusive thoughts, parental identity, caregiving fears, and treatment barriers
• Experiences of parents living with OCD and the impact on family functioning
• The role of stigma, shame, and disclosure in childhood and perinatal OCD
• Assessment and diagnostic challenges across developmental stages
• Evidence-based psychological interventions, including CBT, exposure and response prevention (ERP), acceptance-based approaches, and family-focused interventions
• Improving access to care and reducing delays in identification and treatment
• Lived experiences of individuals and families affected by OCD
• Novel theoretical, qualitative, longitudinal, and intervention research approaches

We particularly welcome submissions that bridge research and clinical practice, incorporate diverse perspectives, and advance understanding of OCD as a condition shaped not only by individual cognitive and behavioural processes but also by developmental, relational, and social contexts.