Tryingtostaycalm

Thank you for this very helpful advice. I will try some of your suggestions. At the moment he does not engage in family life. I understand it is exhausting and terrifying for him, but from the outside it is also so exhausting and emotionally draining for me as I spend several hours every day working through his hand washing. I feel anxious as the time creeps up for another handwash session. Next week I’m back to ‘work’ - teaching remotely so this won’t be possible. Not sure how that will go. Thank you again for your response. It’s good to have such a measured perspective; I feel terrible for him; Inalso manage my own mental heath and keep the family going. It’s very upsetting for the kids. Sorry for hijacking this thread. I was just relieved to find it.

My life is like this at the moment. I feel broken by it. My husband makes me watch his hand washing to ‘help’ him with his contamination OCD and tells me if I don’t I will be killing him. I find this very difficult as there is so much in this ritual that is nothing to do with hygiene, and I feel he has now co-opted me as a kind of enabler. He won’t open cupboards, participate in any way in normal life - I have to prepare everything for him. I have been angry and upset and said terrible things that in normal circumstances I would never say but I feel at breaking point. Like the original poster, neither me nor 2 teenage children are able to leave the house for exercise or essential services, including the week leading to school closures. It’s awful for our family, and I don’t know what to do.