How did you decide whether or not to have children? My psychologist tells me that people with contamination ocd can be great parents but I just don’t know how I will possibly be able to handle it. My partner wants children and I think I do too but I’m just not sure if it’s the right choice for someone like me. I can’t take care of a human being if I go back to having full-on breakdowns and constant panic. Any advice or personal experience is appreciated.

I don’t have any experience with this but I just wanted to say that if you decide to have children I believe in you. In my opinion just the fact that you’re worried about this is a ”sign” that you would be a good parent.

My personal thing was not to have kids because I did not want to pass down bipolar or ocd.

I have 3 kids, and to be honest, some days are hard, I deal with different types of ocd, mostly magical thinking, and it usually involves something happening to them if I don’t do This or that, sometimes contamination ocd kicks in too, and it’s a struggle, but they are the best thing that has ever happened to me. Ocd will give you good days and bad days, you can be a great mom even with ocd. There are sh*tty parents who don’t have ocd so... ??‍♀️

Thank you for that sweet reply, Lorette. Rachel, I totally get that and it’s also a concern of mine as well. And T, thank you for your honesty. It really helps to hear from someone who is actually living that life.

The “good” thing is that even if we pass ocd to our children, we’ll be able to help them at the first sign, I didn’t know I had ocd or even that ocd was a thing until I was in my 20s. So I didn’t have any help as a kid when it started, cause my parents didn’t know a thing about ocd either. I know that you’ll be great moms if/when the time comes, cause my mind may be a mess, but my kids are great, healthy and happy.

Thank you for this feed. I’ve been worrying about this a lot. I’m currently 28 and my dream has always been to have my own family but recently I’ve been feeling like I don’t feel I could cope.(I went to the doctors yesterday as I want my future children to have a happy healthy mum) I want to have all the joys that come with parent hood without ocd . We can all do this!