Did you know nearly 2.2 million Americans are diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) every year? This disorder causes distressing intrusive thoughts that affect thinking, behavior, and life. When people suffer from OCD, they have intrusive thoughts which lead to anxiety and uncertainty, and that in turn leads to compulsive behaviors. This not only impacts you but people around you. However, certain strategies can help you manage them. Learn how OCD impacts your relationships and ways to cope with them. Visit the best Mental Health Clinic in Brooklyn at Doral Health & Wellness or log on to www.doralhw.org.

How can OCD impact your relationships?

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can not only affect the person’s life but also the people who are related to them. Here are some major changes (and impact) you notice in your relationships with others:

1. Romantic relationships:

If you’re dealing with OCD, you often feel like you need constant and repetitive reassurance. This makes you ask your partners for continuous reassurance. This struggle with OCD may often look like asking their partner if someone or something is clean or engaging in behaviors which are beyond normal and avoiding certain situations that they feel are at high risk (like public places).

Certain times people with severe OCD ask for reassurance from their partner about the negative events that have occurred in the past. As reassurance reinforces OCD and causes more anxiety in the long term, it can exhaust you and your partner. Regardless of the cause, this relationship strain may not only diminish the physical and emotional intimacy but can also complicate things between your partners. You need to ensure everything your intrusive thoughts make you fear (like losing the person or fear of not being loved). This leads your partner to frustration and confusion when they aren’t able to recognize or understand the worry and anxiety (because for them it might seem like neediness and disrespect for personal boundaries).

Additionally, OCD can intrude on the sexual affection in the relationship (for example, by making you obsessed with uncleanliness and distressing sexual thoughts) which makes the person with OCD sexually avoidant or disappointed in relationships.

2. Family relationships and friendships:

OCD affects not only your partner but also your family members whether that is children, parents, grandparents, and even your friends. Mostly, family and friends often understand and handle a person’s compulsions (like cleaning) for the person, engaging in checking behaviors to increase certainty, and doing things repeatedly until their effects are gone. OCD can sometimes lead to anxiety, depression, and feeling like a burden on your loved ones.

Sometimes, this also disturbs your social life and financial well-being due to living with an individual struggling with OCD. The family/loved ones take responsibility for the daily tasks of the person dealing with OCD (that they can’t handle), which leads to distress and disruption in their lives. It also lowers self-esteem or gives feelings of shame, humiliation, and self-doubt to a person with OCD, leading to a lack of concern for being around other individuals. These behaviors might lead to feelings of isolation and unhappiness. Furthermore, when individuals with OCD act on compulsions, it can often become a challenge for family or close friends to handle. For example, they will need to give time and help the person with OCD to complete their routines. Dealing with compulsive behaviors can be demanding, challenging, and tiresome.

3. With work colleagues:

OCD behaviors with severe compulsions can be time-consuming which affects your work productivity. This can strain your relationships with your colleagues, especially if they don’t know that you have OCD, or they don’t understand OCD. If you make a mistake in worrying about a task and become convinced that it can have disastrous consequences, then you might check every piece of work multiple times and end up missing deadlines. You may worry about opening up about your mental health at work for fear of being discriminated against. This could make you feel lonely and isolated from your colleagues.

Coping

To cope with the relationship difficulties with OCD, you need patience, understanding, and effective coping strategies. Here are some things that will help, including:

• Knowledge is power: Educate yourself about OCD and how you can fix your relationships.
• Seek therapy and counseling as individuals and/or as a couple/family. Professional guidance provides couples with the tools to manage OCD’s impact effectively.
• Share a time to talk with each other to understand needs, fears, and victories, fostering an environment of mutual support. Effective communication allows the relationship to thrive amidst the challenges.
• Finding healthy ways to manage intrusive thoughts, such as journaling or mindfulness techniques.
• Create boundaries and seek support when needed.
• Individuals with OCD should focus and prioritize self-care by engaging in joyful activities and practicing mindfulness for personal well-being and resilience. This helps your mind to think of more fulfilling things.
• Cultivate self-compassion for your personal growth, which helps you overcome challenges with therapy and counseling posed by OCD.

Living with OCD is very difficult because it doesn’t affect the person but the people around them. Your partner, family friends, or colleagues need to be able to handle your compulsive behavior. However, with the above-mentioned coping tips you can manage your intrusive thoughts and keep your relationship healthy.

If you need help with OCD, visit our behavioral health clinic in Brooklyn to get professional medical help. Call us to book your appointment here!!!!!

Book your appointment with the best mental health professionals in Brooklyn where doctors and staff ensure you get the best results. Call us on +1-347-384-5690 to get a consultation. If you need help learning coping methods, register your information and make direct contact with our doctors and psychiatrists to learn those methods, log on to www.doralhw.org. Visit us at 1797 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11212.