I'm dating a woman with OCD

[educ8me]

I have been dating a woman who has OCD. We started a relationship a couple years ago, but because of necessary circumstances, we hadn't seen each other for 4 months. We have recently started seeing each other again, but her OCD has gone from "cute and quirky" to (almost) debilitating.

 

I truly love her, and it doesn't "turn me off" or "make me want to run", but I realize I am momentarily over my head, and I am underprepared to help. Can I get some help understanding the disorder, and some direction in what to do and not do?

[Wombat140]

Really don't know where to start! If I were you I would get a good book about OCD. There are some good ones listed at http://www.ocdshop.com/index.php?cPath=1 - I haven't read most of them, but they're all ones that somebody or other at OCD-UK particularly likes. There's one on the second page called "Loving Someone with OCD: Help for You and Your Family", which might be useful to both of you. Be warned that "Brain Lock", although well meant and quite good in some ways, makes some very insulting remarks about people who co-operate with family members' compulsions. Which is unfair, because there are times when there simply is no alternative, or the alternative is much worse. I know I've frequently put my own family in that position...

 

Is she getting Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for her OCD? It really is the best treatment by a long way, the results are usually quite striking.

 

Good luck to you both.

Wombat140