Let’s face it. Dating can be hard. There are ups and downs in any relationship, and if it’s going to work out, you need to be willing to put in the work. If you’re dating someone with OCD, you might have to put in a little bit of extra effort to build your relationship. The good news is that many people learn how to nurture thriving partnerships when someone they love has OCD.  Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is fairly common. In fact, more than 2 million adults in the United States have one or more of the different types of OCD, including relationship OCD. Dating with OCD may f ..read more

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a specific type of anxiety disorder where frequent behaviors and thoughts can have a negative impact on daily life. While the cause for OCD isn’t totally understood, researchers think it’s ultimately the result of poor communication between various parts of the brain. OCD affects an estimated 2 – 3% of the population.  There are several types of treatment for OCD, including therapy, OCD medication, or a combination of the two as OCD is a hard anxiety disorder and most of the time it needs much higher doses or at times a combination of medications to ..read more

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common mental health condition that affects more than 1% of the population, according to the American Psychiatric Association (APA). It can alter lives by causing unwanted thoughts and obsessions that are repetitive in nature and difficult to manage. Trauma, stress, and abuse all can be a cause of OCD getting worse.  OCD causes intense urges to complete a task or perform a ritual. For those who have the condition, obsessions and compulsions can begin to rule their life. Some common rituals might include repeated hand washing, checking (and recheck ..read more

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition that affects just about 1% of the population. There are several types of OCD that all overlap in symptoms but vary in how each person is affected.  Whether you or a family member have OCD or you’re dating someone with OCD, it’s important to understand the condition to know what makes it better and what causes OCD to get worse. When someone has OCD, they’re consumed with intrusive thoughts and obsessions that can interfere with their life — sometimes to the point of significant distress and disruption of daily functioning. D ..read more

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) can become all-consuming, and you may feel like your entire days become filled with it. It’s estimated that OCD affects about 1% of adults in the United States. This mental health condition causes uncontrollable excessive thoughts, obsession, and the urge to act on compulsive behaviors that are often irrational. It can be an overwhelming, frustrating, sometimes frightening anxiety disorder that you feel like you can’t escape.  “Having OCD is not your fault. It’s not a character flaw or something you did wrong. There is hope to manage OCD symptoms succ ..read more

When someone has obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), they’re overwhelmed by recurring images or OCD thoughts they can’t control. These obsessive thoughts can cause them to behave in a compulsive manner as they try to suppress those thoughts.  Knowing how to deal with OCD is hard, but it can be done with the right support. That’s why learning how to help someone with OCD is so important. Caring for someone with OCD is easier if you know more about the mental health condition. Keep reading to learn the top five tips on how you can help a friend or family member with OCD. Five Ways to Hel ..read more

Our Council of Experts are available each week to offer insight, guidance, and tips to answer your questions. Have a question for our therapists? Submit it to askatherapist@talkspace.com Q: Ever since the pandemic started, and to this day, my husband seems to have developed an intense fear around getting COVID, and now he obsessively cleans everything. He Lysols our home almost daily, washes his hands constantly, and still refuses to take the subway or any public transit to work for fear of contracting COVID, even though the vaccine is here. Is this OCD, or just normal anxiety about the p ..read more

The term “OCD” (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) is sometimes used thoughtlessly as a stand in for being focused on organization or tidiness. For example, if a person likes to keep things clean or always pushes their chairs in a certain way, or likes their desk to be organized in a certain way, then they “must be OCD.” But “OCD” is often used pejoratively, rather than strictly adhering to standard medical definitions, such as those found in the DSM-V. Calling someone OCD can also be hurtful and using it can diminish the seriousness of this disorder that can be extremely destructive to the lives ..read more

Updated on 10/15/2020 Some people may find themselves distractedly picking at their skin from time to time. For example, they may randomly pop a pimple or scratch at a particularly worrisome scab. In some cases, this habit of picking behavior can develop into a more heightened and persistent pattern of skin picking, a condition known as excoriation disorder. What is Excoriation Disorder? Excoriation disorder is a psychiatric condition which is characterized by the repetitive and sometimes aggressive picking of one’s own skin. It is a compulsive body-focused repetitive behavior, and people who ..read more

An anxiety disorder, OCD is characterized by recurring, unreasonable, and unwanted thoughts (obsessions) that drive sufferers to engage in repetitive behaviors (compulsions). For many people, their only conception of OCD — or obsessive compulsive disorder — is as a joke: “I’m so OCD,” someone might say. “I hate it when my books aren’t in alphabetical order!” And while, yes, alphabetizing your entire bookshelves might be a symptom of OCD, the disorder is something that shouldn’t be joked about. To sufferers, obsessive-compulsive disorder can be distressing and debilitating. At its core, OCD tra ..read more