OCD affects 1 in 50 people and associated with high IQ. There are many famous people with OCD, including such diverse individuals as David Beckham, Nikolai Tesla, and Jeff Gomez, creator of the mythic series, Magic: The Gathering.
The current issue (May / June 2008) of 2e Newsletter spotlights issues and resources of interest to parents with a gifted child with OCD (unfortunately articles not free online). We especially liked their resource links like School Accommodations for Children with OCD.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is known to be particularly effective in children and adults with OCD, and a recent study at UCSD and UCLA showed that improvements in PET brain imaging can be seen in as little time as 4 weeks post daily desensitization therapy.
From Dr. Sanjaya Saxena: "First of all, we discovered significant changes in brain activity solely as the result of four weeks of intensive cognitive-behavioral therapy," said Saxena. "Secondly, these changes were different than those seen in past studies after a standard 12-week therapeutic approach using SRI medications or weekly behavioral therapy."
Saxena used exposure and response prevention which desensitizes patients to provoking factors: "It teaches patients to pay attention to their internal experiences and tolerate scary thoughts without having to act on them," said Saxena. "They learn that nothing terrible happens if they refrain from their usual compulsive behaviors."
Rapid brain effects of intensive therapy for obsessive compulsive disorder
Does your child have obsessive compulsive disorder?
Reference for PET image OCD