I’m curious what people think about this. I’ve had OCD my whole life but only relatively recently found out that was the reason behind some of my behaviors. I’ve been in therapy for it for about a year and I’m doing better, but I’m definitely way more germaphobic and worrisome than what’s considered normal. I still wash my hands a lot and use hand sanitizer or wet ones after grabbing things. I also worry a lot about making mistakes or saying negative things to people so I overthink a lot after most interactions. I actively use tools from therapy to manage it, but when I’m stressed or nervous, it becomes much more difficult.
Do people on this sub have any opinions on whether or not this makes a difference, is a dealbreaker, etc? Of course it all varies, I would just like to get some feedback. Thank you!
7 comments
Nope, everybody has issues.
Yes it does. Because rejection is part of dating.
And when you get rejected, your OCD mind is going to go ape shit wondering what the real reason is constantly replaying stuff in your head trying to figure it out.
Everybody has disadvantages it just depends if someone’s gonna want to put up with it or not. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a disadvantage though, in some ways it might help you. So don’t worry about it
Im going to be a bit honest and say yes your OCD can be a deturant for some people, alot of people with OCD tend to be quite psycologically abusive towards people due to anting to control or being really nit picky you might not do this but its like some people are narsissists and their behavoir cant be helped but its ok for people to not date you if thats too much for them to handle
Plenty of OCD people I know get into relationships. I do agree it can be a disadvantage but that just means you weren’t compatible with that person.
Therapy helps but don’t be someone you aren’t at the start. If someone is willing to be okay with you being you? You got a potential winner.
if you are a guy, ANY mental illness give you a disadvantage and makes it almost impossible. I can’t manage. a date because of my mental illness
My BF and I have been in a relationship for almost 2 years now and he has OCD and I don’t see it as a negative thing or a deal breaker at all. I see it as just one of many sides of him and I don’t love him any less because of it. I’m also a teacher so I work with all kinds of students who come to school with all sorts of mental, social, behavioral, and physical health issues that I would like to think I’m a pretty open-minded person and I don’t see people as their disability or their diagnosis…I see people as human beings who are dealing with different things in their day to day life.
I first observed my BF’s compulsions around month 2 when he started staying over my place, but I was too nervous to bring it up until almost 6 months in for fear of a) being wrong or b) making him feel self conscious or bad about it. One day, he made a comment about having to wash his hands after touching something and I took that as an opportunity to dip my toe and mention that I thought I’d observed things and was curious if he’d want to chat about it. He was surprised, but also curious so he asked what I had seen and we finally talked about it and he opened up about how they come and go, they change, and so on. We had a really nice talk and I just felt like I got to know him SO much better after that.
He is undiagnosed and isn’t interested in therapy at this point, but from what I see his compulsions and obsessive hand washing/cleaning of things he feels are contaminated do not have a negative impact on his daily life. They might take 1-2 hours out of his day total so he feels it isn’t anything he wants to get help with and I love him regardless so I feel fine if he wants to live with compulsions.
I have actually started washing my own hands more often (still not as much as him) because of him hehe and cleaning my cell phone, changing out of my day clothes into clean lounge wear when we come inside and showering at night instead of the morning so I’m clean when I get into bed. I think some of his OCD has had a positive effect on my own cleanliness 😊