Q: my gf of about a year i’m pretty sure has ocd, and it makes things between us kind of hard because i try to understand but sometimes cant. She will take her shoes off five or six times until it feels “Ok” for her. On a normal average day she takes about 2 hours to get ready for work when it normally would take 30 mins to get ready but she has to go over and over things againg and again. She wont go to any kind of therapist or get any kind of help for it, and i dont want it to get any worse on her. I just want to find some ways to better understand or help her. What should i do?
A: Most people with OCD adapt to living with it until it starts to interfere with normal life in ways that are either too painful or too time-consuming. Once she reaches that threshold, your girlfriend may get frustrated enough with it to want to try to make some changes. I’m sorry that she won’t consider treatment. There is medicine that can help relieve symptoms. Talk therapy and hypnosis also sometimes help people learn to cope. If she is open to talking about it with you, maybe you can encourage her to look at her options. If she is adamant that she doesn’t want to change, you only have a couple of choices: either to adapt to her OCD rituals yourself or move on. I hope the two of you find a way to work things out.
I wish you well.
Dr. Marie
What's Related
- Other posts by Dr. Marie Hartwell-Walker
- No related posts
