- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
Maybe you could tell him about it and ask not to give you reassurance when you ask for it..?
- Date posted
- 6y
I get similar, I get a lot of OCD thoughts about my relationship. I can't promise it'll work but I stopped asking for reassurance in order to break that cycle, and I find it eventually makes it easier
- Date posted
- 6y
I’ve been having VERY similar issues, and still haven’t managed to cut off reassurance all together (I am getting better at recognizing what’s valid reassurance to seek in a relationship, and what’s compulsive reassurance seeking). That being said, as a compromise until I can get over the compulsion all together, my partner and I have established a routine where, if I can’t get past an obsessive thought, and it’s trending toward a panic attack (I DO attempt to sit w/ the obsession until that point), I squeeze their hand (to ask “are we ok”), and receive a squeeze back (signalling “we ARE ok”). I know there might be those on this site who disagree w/ this arrangement, but its a lot less time consuming, and still requires me to move past an obsessive thought w/out excessive reassurance. I consider it a stepping stone as I work toward ignoring the compulsions 100%.
- Date posted
- 6y
This stuff is hard, and I’m wishing all the best!
- Date posted
- 6y
Thank you for all your responses ❤️ I’ve been nervous to post on this app, but this really made me feel like I’m not alone in this. I have mentioned to him not to reassure me and to ask if this might be an OCD thought but I only said that once so still a system we need to get used to but I will reiterate that to him. I did like the hand squeeze suggestion but sadly it’s long distance at the moment (different time zone too) so no way that’s possible, probably what’s making the OCd of disappointment worse ... anyway I will tell him not to reassure me
Related posts
- Date posted
- 21w
I am at a very difficult spot in my relationship. My boyfriend and I have been together for 6 years, and I have a history of cheating that for years we’ve been trying to work through. To me, it makes a lot of sense that my OCD has attached itself to this and for the last few years I’ve experienced intrusive sexual thoughts of others and relationship ocd. I have been open to him about the content of my thoughts and now, with a proper diagnosis of an anxiety disorder, I am able to reframe them and work through them with ERP so that my brain will *hopefully* get bored and stop sending them. But, things have not been easy. As a result of this and everything in our past, he has become anxious about all the scenarios where I could be having sexualized thoughts about other people. To him, if I am thinking something utterly different than what I am telling him or acting like to him, he can’t fully trust it. And of course, I can imagine how difficult it is to know your life partner is sexualizing others in her brain and to be able find a way to dismiss them as unthreatening, especially when past mistakes say otherwise. Is there anyone that has gone through this with a partner? And other than repeatedly explaining the egodystonic nature of my thoughts and providing reassurance, what are some things you did that helped them? Any advice helps! Thank you
- Date posted
- 20w
So I have been struggling with the same theme of ocd for 4 months now. My ocd centers around past events/false memories that ocd skews to make seem bad or it twists my thoughts on what my intentions were. this is related to cheating or being weird while I have been in my amazing relationship. I have never cheated on my partner and never will and I believe it is wrong. But my ocd is telling me other wise. I love my partner so very much and I would never want to hurt him but my brain is getting to me. I was getting better. I was trying “maybe I did, maybe I didn’t”, I have been back on meds and in therapy and I stopped confessing random interactions from years/months ago about 1.5 weeks ago and it really helped. But now I woke up this morning and feel the pit in my stomach again. I feel extra critical and like why would you do this? What does this say about you? What was your intention with this? And I’m just stuck mentally reviewing and ruminating on everything you could imagine. I know my personality and I know in the moment maybe I did find them attractive but mainly I was just being nice or funny or even just a good friend, but looking back now I’m like “was it flirting?” “Why did I still snap this person” “why would I even talk to them” and stuff like that. I feel this intense sense of guilt. I have told my partner everything that I keep getting stuck on and he didn’t care, he said he understands or “that’s a little weird but it’s okay” and hasn’t missed a beat. He said eveything I’ve told him is normal and I’ve heard that from my friends too. I just really need help. I don’t know what to do anymore. I am so disappointed because I thought I was gonna be done with this, so why am I still so worried and caught up in this.
- Date posted
- 15w
Hi everyone, I’ve already been diagnosed with OCD, and I strongly suspect that I’ve developed a ROCD pattern. I wanted to share a specific situation that just won’t leave me alone – even though it’s objectively been cleared up. I’m in a relationship with a man who is, by nature, a very transparent, honest, and loyal person. Rationally, I know I can trust him. Recently, he got a phone call while I was with him. I asked him to check who it was. He hesitated briefly and then checked kind of slowly – the number wasn’t saved. To me, the whole thing just felt a bit strange. It didn’t seem like “open behavior,” even though he told me afterward that he simply didn’t have the energy to deal with it, since he had generally had a bad day. The problem is: Even after this explanation – which makes sense – the thoughts won’t go away. I keep replaying the situation in my head, analyzing his reaction, wondering if that hesitation meant something – even though I know he didn’t do anything wrong. I feel like I need to bring it up again to feel at ease. But I also know that would only bring temporary relief, and then the cycle would start all over again. It feels just like other OCD loops – only this time, it’s centered around my relationship. Have any of you experienced something like this? How do you stop yourself from falling into the reassurance trap over and over again? I don’t want to overwhelm or hurt my partner unnecessarily – I just want to learn how to manage this inner tension better. did it sound like ocd?? Rocd?? the situation happened a day ago and it still bothers me Thanks for reading. It really helps to know I’m not alone.
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