Anyone have childhood trauma and OCD?

Hello everyone, there is a chance that I will get into a relationship with this girl, and I really care about her. I know she had a traumatic upbringing, and very likely has PTSD from that from what I see. I am bringing this up because I want to do the best I can to support her if I end up in a relationship with her. For context, I have OCD, and it has spiked to an extreme degree multiple times throughout my life, and I have gotten to points where you look at IOP and PHP multiple times (of course I didn't do that because I didn't want to admit I had a problem to that degree, but I have stopped that unhealthy mindset in myself). I have had most OCD themes. Anyways, I have been doing some research on trauma, and I am seeing a lot of parallels between it and OCD. Both have triggers, both involve having a brain that cant feel safe, both send people into panic attacks sometimes, and more. It seems to me that the biggest difference is that OCD jumps themes. I should emphasize that I don't have actual childhood trauma. I have had traumatic experiences that are not actual traumal, and I would say that believing multiple times that my family was about to die, I was about to die, or I was a monster has given me some flavor of actual trauma, but it is separate from actual childhood trauma that causes PTSD. I am writing this because I want advice on how to help her if I am to get into a relationship with her. I am also wondering if I can look inward at myself with my severe OCD to maybe gain some insight into how she is feeling. And finally I will say my current plans for if I get to be with her: 1. Though I want her to feel better for her sake, I will support her, not try and "fix" her. I want her to feel better because I hate that she is sad but I adore her for who she is. 2. I will not get frustrated with her symptoms. I will listen to her and talk with a calm voice. 3. There's more. These are just the two main ones.

Dannyr

Date posted: Yesterday

You have good intentions and you seem like a good person for her. Her real help will be with therapy, as a partner, do your best to just be there for her, remind her you are there for her for anything she wants to talk about. Obviously if she gets therapy is her choice alone, don’t push her into it if she doesn’t feel ready, but let her know it would be helpful for her. It’s not your job to fix her like you said, that’ll overwhelm her, just be a good partner who understands, seems like you’ve already got that down.

JS55555

Date posted: 7h

Thank you! I really hope to be the best I can be for her if i get to be with her. I am wondering if the things that work well during an OCD panic attack help for a PTSD panic attack set off by a trigger. I am not trying to be a therapist here, but during a panic attack, some action is required by people around often and I want to know how to help her or anyone for that matter who is undergoing a PTSD panic attack. When I have an OCD panic attack, in order to resist compulsions, I first name 10 objects in a room to try my best to force my mind out of doing mental compulsions. I imagine my headspace as a room. I imagine the trigger/thought as a screaming monster in the room with me, and my job is to not push the monster out of the room, but refocus my attention as best as I can to a part of the room without the monster, while allowing the monster to yell at me in the background. I then make a deal with myself of pushing back (to reassess) compulsions anywhere from 15 min to 3 days in the future. I then do some activity to engage the mind, again, not to push out the fear but to stop my brain from the automatic mental reassurance seeking. In addition to this, I really appreciate it when people talk calmly but are also not dismissive. Would the things described here help someone during a PTSD induced panic attack as well. Also, another big question is does reassurance help or hurt someone with PTSD? I know it can really make OCD much worsse, but I am wondering if it is different for PTSD

Be a part of the largest OCD Community

Share your thoughts so the Community can respond