“Pure O”

Purely Obsessional OCD, also known as Pure O, is a subtype of OCD that’s characterized by intrusive thoughts, images or urges, generally centered on themes of harm, relationships, sexuality and religious or moral questions with, primarily, mental compulsions. My Pure O intrusive thoughts include relationship and morality themes and my compulsions include avoidance, analyzing and reassurance.

Here we go, we are going to start to get deep…

A little background; I’m so blessed to be married to my husband. He has supported me through my entire journey and continues to do so to this day. We started dating when we were 15 years old and have been together ever since. We share an incredible life with our two amazingly smart and talented children (7 and 9 years old). I would not change a thing, however…my OCD continues to tell me otherwise.

I struggle, significantly, every day, with obsessional thoughts questioning if I am in the right relationship. This is extremely distressing as I, logically, know I am. My brain repeats, over and over and over again, that this may not be the relationship for me. The questions and doubt are overwhelming. I avoid these thoughts by forcing myself to think of something else, but this just makes the thoughts more intense. I analyze every nook and cranny of my relationship to ensure that it is the right relationship for me and I reassure myself constantly that I have made the right choice. These compulsions consume hours and hours of my day and the anxiety is unbearable.

Next Time:

What is Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) and how has it helped me? What is Thought-Action Fusion (TAF) and how does it effect me?

~Brooke~