Reddit reviews Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: New Help for the Family

>Sometimes I find myself sinking into a pit of despair where I think that I'm permanently damaged because even the man who loves me most and knows me best can't get over the things I've been through, and it makes me question if I can ever reasonably expect to get over them then.

Please, don't do this to yourself! OCD doesn't com from a healthy or rational place in the mind, and not being able to let go is on of its main characteristics. It has nothing to do with you personally, it's just this particular thing that your boyfriend's brain is latching on to. There's nothing broken in you. Please remember that!

The gist of it is that it's your fiancé who needs to be doing the main body of the work. However, there are some things you can do to help/not hinder his progress. For example:

>. I try to calm him down by talking to him, but nothing I can say ever makes his obsessions stop.

Reassurance is not a good thing for OCD sufferer's, and one's obsessions will typically not respond to logic. He needs to be in Exposure and Response Prevention therapy, not avoiding his triggers, and identifying and resisting his compulsions. This book has very good reviews and it may help you understand better.

Also, it's great that you guys are working to be together ASAP, but keep in mind that it's likely that his OCD will get better and then worse again, because that in itself will not cure him. From my experience it's typical for long distance partners to experience this with rOCD (less intense symptoms when they reunite).

I hope everything works out fantastically for you two, congratulations on the engagement, and feel free to post here whenever you need it!