Obsessive compulsive disorder - OCD treatment and therapy from NOCD
OCD subtypes
Relationship OCD

Best Therapy For Relationship OCD

4 min read
Dr. Keara Valentine
All types of OCD include obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are unwanted and intrusive thoughts, feelings, urges and doubts, while compulsions are repetitive physical or mental actions performed in an attempt to relieve distress and anxiety.

Relationships can be challenging for most people, but if you or someone you love struggles with relationship OCD, you know that it’s a completely different type of challenge to face. Relationship OCD, sometimes referred to as ROCD, is a subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that causes cyclical thoughts and compulsions around one’s relationship. If you’ve realized you or your partner are experiencing relationship OCD, it can be hard to know where to begin. The good news is that there are solutions for managing relationship OCD and gaining more control over the compulsions it can bring on. 

What is relationship OCD? 

We’ve actually covered ROCD before. Here’s an example we used as to what Relationship OCD looks like: 

Trigger: Made eye contact with someone attractive

Intrusive Thought: I could be dating someone more attractive

Catastrophic Assessment: The thought feels important, even urgent

Obsession: I could be stuck in the wrong relationship forever

Distress: As obsessions continue, the sense of inner tension increases

Compulsions:

  • Googling “Is it normal to find strangers more attractive than my partner?”
  • Asking a friend if they think you could do better

As the name implies, relationship OCD causes obsessions and compulsions related to relationships. In ROCD, the uncertainty that naturally comes along with many intimate relationships often leads to obsessive-compulsive cycles. For a person with ROCD, any detail they consider imperfect or uncertain in the relationship could potentially launch these cycles. 


While we all struggle with intrusive thoughts or fleeting concerns here and there, especially in intimate relationships, it’s consistently returning thoughts — or a repeating cycle of them — that can be a sign of OCD, or in this case, ROCD. If you suspect you or your partner might be dealing with ROCD, it may be time to reach out to a licensed therapist with experience treating OCD. 

What’s the best therapy for ROCD? 

Because ROCD is a subtype of OCD, it’s highly treatable with exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy. ERP is the gold standard of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for OCD. The treatment works by exposing those with OCD to potentialtriggers in a safe and controlled environment. It’s incredibly important to find a therapist who specializes in ERP so they can lead you through confronting your compulsive responses to triggers and decrease those responses over time. While the process may feel a little uncomfortable at first, eventually it can help to free those with OCD from the constraints of their compulsions.

With ROCD specifically, exposure and response prevention focuses on showing people that they can tolerate the intrusive thoughts that arise around their relationship without needing to act on those thoughts. For example, they can have the thought “maybe I’m not with the right person” without engaging in reassurance seeking or other compulsions. Those with ROCD are then able to gain further insight and learn that they don’t need to do anything about intrusive thoughts nor let them determine the relationship’s trajectory.  

Should you involve your partner in your ROCD therapy? 

In some relationships, the partner without ROCD might actually be inadvertently enabling the symptoms or compulsions of the partner with ROCD — often through things like reassuring their partner about their feelings or connection — which could be unintentionally hindering progress. That’s why clinics like the University of North Carolina’s Anxiety and Stress Disorders Clinic have developed and begun testing the effects of CBT treatment conducted as couples-based therapy. In this method, the couple learns to navigate ROCD symptoms together so that one partner doesn’t unintentionally reinforce the other’s OCD symptoms.

This kind of specialized couples therapy is not widely available, and therapists that serve individual clients in ERP may not be versed in couples therapy. If you’re considering bringing your partner into your ROCD treatment, start by discussing it directly with your therapist. A good therapist will be able to advise and help you come up with a plan that best serves you and your partner while continuing to work on improving your ROCD symptoms. 

Online therapy for relationship OCD 

Digital therapy has made a variety of mental health treatments more accessible than ever, and NOCD’s nationwide network has therapists who specialize in ERP available to work with anyone who is struggling with OCD and its subtypes, including ROCD. Utilizing one-on-one video therapy sessions, NOCD members are able to treat their OCD and ROCD symptoms effectively with customizable, accessible treatment options from the comfort of their own homes. 

If you or someone you care about is looking into treatment options for OCD or ROCD, you can schedule a call with someone from the NOCD clinical team to learn more about how our therapists can help. You can also join our Relationship OCD community and get 24/7 access to personalized self-management tools built by people who have been through OCD and successfully recovered.

Dr. Keara Valentine

Dr. Keara Valentine specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy and other evidence-based treatments for anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), social anxiety, panic, and depression. She is also a Clinical Assistant Professor within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, providing psychotherapy in the mood, anxiety, and OCD clinics and participating in research on novel OCD and Hoarding Disorder treatments.

Tags|
ERP Therapy
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
OCD Subtypes
OCD Treatment

NOCD Therapists specialize in treating Relationship OCD

View all therapists
Taylor Newendorp

Taylor Newendorp

Network Clinical Training Director

I started as a therapist over 14 years ago, working in different mental health environments. Many people with OCD that weren't being treated for it crossed my path and weren't getting better. I decided that I wanted to help people with OCD, so I became an OCD therapist, and eventually, a clinical supervisor. I treated people using Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and saw people get better day in and day out. I continue to use ERP because nothing is more effective in treating OCD.

Madina Alam

Madina Alam

Director of Therapist Engagement

When I started treating OCD, I quickly realized how much this type of work means to me because I had to learn how to be okay with discomfort and uncertainty myself. I’ve been practicing as a licensed therapist since 2016. My graduate work is in mental health counseling, and I use Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy because it’s the gold standard of OCD treatment.

Andrew Moeller

Andrew Moeller

Licensed Therapy, LMHC

I've been a licensed counselor since 2013, having run my private practice with a steady influx of OCD cases for several years. Out of all the approaches to OCD treatment that I've used, I find Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy to be the most effective. ERP goes beyond other methods and tackles the problem head-on. By using ERP in our sessions, you can look forward to better days ahead.

Want to work with one of our therapists?
Schedule a free call to learn more.