Any tips on things we can do to help our partners understand what we are going through. My boyfriend is super supportive and feels for me, but I feel like I’m such a burden with everything and some days I’m so irritable and feel like he’s eventually going to get sick of it. I tell him I wish he could be with someone as carefree as he is and not someone with real event OCD who dwells on everything from the past

I deal with real event OCD as well and have had some couples therapy sessions with my husband to talk about boundaries and how he can support but not enable me. He is also going to check out the NOCD support group for family members. Would your bf find that helpful?

My bf found it helpful when I said that when I’m in a spiral, I need his help to maintain the non reassurance boundary. I asked him to say, babe, I know this is hard, but if we have this conversation we’ll just be feeding the OCD. It also helped when I explained that when we talk about my OCD thoughts, fears, and urges, we validate them. We essentially tell them that they are important brain signals worthy of our attention. They aren’t. They’re misfires.

Thanks AMMcK, I’ll let him know about that!

That is very helpful as well! Thank you