About OCD Therapy
what is ocd therapy?
When someone has obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), they are often visited by thoughts that feel “nasty,” scary, and intrusive, resulting in high levels of anxiety. These thoughts are persistent and continue to focus their attention on the bad things that might happen (obsessions). Because of how distressing these thoughts can be, it is natural that we want to do anything we can to avoid having those thoughts.
Often this looks like taking a specific action (checking the stove, continually asking for reassurance, etc.) or avoiding a specific thing (being alone with their baby, being anywhere near trains, etc.). Unfortunately, the relief someone receives from doing or not doing the thing (their compulsion) is short-lived.
Thankfully, OCD is highly treatable with the right types of therapy. Ultimately the goal of OCD therapy is not to eliminate obsessive thoughts, but to find peace living with them, and finding a new response to those thoughts.
Adults living with OCD work to accept their thoughts for thoughts and not facts. OCD-specific therapy breaks the cycle of obsessions and compulsions by confronting fears, changing your response to OCD thoughts, and/ or changing the way you relate to those thoughts.
relationships and ocd
When someone’s child or partner is distressed, it is natural to want to comfort and care for them. This can look like continually reassuring them their thoughts are not real, or by finding ways to help them avoid their fears.
When OCD is in the picture, how we love and care for loved ones looks inherently different because their worry is inherently different.
This could look like not reassuring someone for the 15th time that their food is all the way cooked or not excessively washing hands so they feel you are germ free. Instead of removing the distressing object or thought, helping often takes the place of boundaries. This could look like telling your partner you will not tell them more than once that their food is cooked, but remind them of the skills they have in managing their anxiety.
