Hi there, I need some advice about being in a relationship with a person with OCD.
I'm new to OCD, and only started reading about it a few months ago when my bf told me he had it. A lot of it focuses on his sexual orientation and it comes and goes in episodes of a few days to a few weeks, with breaks where he seems better or simply doesn't talk about it. In his better periods I am reluctant to ask him about how he's doing in case it triggers another bad episode. When he does talk to me about it, I never know how to respond in a way that will be helpful way because I've read that reasurrance is one of the worst things you can do to a person suffering from OCD, but I love him so much and hate to see him suffer so naturally I want to reasurre him. I've already told him that I will support him no matter what, even if he did turn out to be gay etc (which he realises is extremely unlikely since he's never had any attraction to men, but he's afraid that he's been lying to himself all his life about being attracted to women). He's having a really bad time right now to the point he's having trouble sleeping and doing everyday stuff. He went to therapy a few times but he finds it extremely uncomfortable to talk about his OCD fixations with anyone, but I want him to go to regular therapy to work on getting better at dealing with OCD for his own sake.
I was wondering if you've got any tips for how to support him when he talks about his OCD? How can I respond in a way that will be most helpful for him? And how can I encourgae him to stick with therapy and help him see that he has to be consistent with it and with the exercises that therapists prescribe in order to see results?
