Patience & Understanding

It is so important to have patience and understanding with someone who has OCD. this is because they know full well that the actions, they may be performing don’t make any sense, but are longing for just a little relief from the anxiety produced by the intrusive thoughts. This only works short term and will become more and more frequent and intense the more the compulsion is performed. If their OCD is driving you crazy, just think what it’s doing to them.

It is literally impossible for someone to ‘just stop’ and this goes for ‘just stop the compulsions’ and ‘just stop thinking about XYZ’. If I told you to not think about a mermaid and kept telling you to not think about a mermaid, I guarantee it will be a long time before that mermaid disappears from your mind (if ever)! You’re just lucky I used an example of a mermaid because someone with OCD doesn’t get to think of such pleasant images, it’s not on OCD’s list of torturous themes like murder, sexual assault and cheating on your partner – thinking of this now? Oops, my bad ;p.