Does anyone else have a spouse who is skeptical of your OCD therapy and will only be convinced of its effectiveness if you meet his criteria of when you are “cured”? So disheartening 😞
Wow. That’s so unfair. You are trying to get well- that should be enough for him. Getting better is getting better and what the heck is his criteria based on? Or is he giving you an impossible goal knowing you can’t meet it? I’m so sorry you do not have spousal support. I hope NOCD can help educate him on how difficult OCD is and that it’s not a choice but a disorder.
@Erin P I don’t really know to be honest. I think he never believed that therapy could help. He thinks it’s pointless and a racket and that I should be able to “sort myself out” on my own. Now that I’m near completion of my therapy…and have begun to feel some pride in my progress…he’s saying he sees no proof yet so he’s unconvinced and seems to take pleasure in stating how right he’s been all along about OCD therapy for me. Funny thing is, I’m a very successful career person and I feel strong about my progress until he decides it’s pointless and ruins it for me in one fell swoop. Guess I’m on my own with my OCD. With or without him, I’ll prevail. Thanks for your message and support ♥️
@KateR43 Glad you aren’t letting him take you down. You have this. ❤️
No, not my slide and he doesn’t like psychology due to its dark past with mental institutions. But I found a great therapist and he sees my therapist with me fairly often. Your spouse also needs to realize there’s no such thing as curing ANY mental illness, so they can get over that messy thought real fast. Though to note, not for OCD since I don’t need ERP treatment anymore; I do it on my own. My therapist just happens to do everything under the sun.
@Nica My spouse* bad typo…
My husband just found out about my themes and how bad my ocd is after an erp session w my therapist. He kinda didn’t believe when I told him I wasn’t going to act on my thoughts and that it was all ocd. He met my therapist and she explained everything to him. After that appointment, he felt more sympathetic towards me but he did tell me that if he knew before we got married about all my themes, he probably wouldn’t have gotten married. It broke my heart that he said that but I don’t blame him and I don’t blame myself either. I didn’t ask for this disorder and quite frankly, I don’t think i would have wanted to marry someone w this disorder because it’s so difficult to run a family this way. But, here we are. I leave it at that God allowed for this to happen and He has a greater purpose in all this and while I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, I have to leave it in Gods hands. I pray that this will only make our marriage stronger. As for your husband, I think it’s kinda normal for him to not believe in therapy and it really doesn’t matter what he thinks. He is not the one suffering from the disorder and he certainly is not the one who wrote the DSM 5. At the end of the day only YOU are responsible for your mental health, you are the only one that can do the work. Would it have been nice to have your husband be 100 % supportive? Of course! But, sometimes our spouses don’t understand and can be selfish; we are all human. I pray that at the end of your treatment, your husband can see how much you improved and that this experience will only edify your marriage more.
My husband has contamination ocd and I try to be supportive and learn the most I can but he needs to take the lead and confront his anxiety. He tends to try to avoid and make his anxiety better with rituals. Even with professional help, he hasn’t consistently done ERP. I don’t know what to do anymore; it makes my general anxiety worse. At some point he needs to help himself. How does a person get to that point? Is there any other spouses of people with ocd out there?
Does anyone have any advice for helping your partner deal with your ocd? Mine is getting frustrated feeling it's stupid and finds intrusive thoughts I try and share hurtful.
Does anyone have any advice for someone with contamination OCD that is living with a partner without OCD? (Especially given that that partner intentionally or unintentionally sometimes /often says things that make me feel worse/down). I could really use any advice anyone has right now. Things are starting to feel hopeless and I don’t know whether it makes sense to continue with the relationship or if that’s just a temporary feeling in light of what I’m going through. I just feel so alone and misunderstood.
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