Seeking reassurance: How Can you Help a loved one with OcD?
Seeking reassurance is also a normal human reaction to worry or doubt, which makes it a particularly complex part of OCD related conditions to navigate, both for the person with the condition and the people in their life, like families, friends and carers
Like with intrusive thoughts, reassurance seeking is something that every person experiences, and research has found that there isn’t much difference in the topic, but rather in the degree of distress experienced by people with OCD-related conditions compared to others.
What is Reassurance?
Assurance is making sure of something, and makes sense in any context, especially when there is doubt.
Reassurance is making sure of something again, and this is what can become a compulsion in OCD-related conditions, as the person will be making sure again and again, instead of the doubt being resolved by assurance.
Reassurance seeking can take various forms
The most noticeable version is explicitly asking something, often something that has been answered already or is obvious.
Another form of reassurance seeking is watching something to make sure it happens. A more subtle way of seeking reassurance is to mention something and watch other people’s reactions.
Reassurance Seeking in OCD
Within the cycle of OCD-related conditions, compulsions are used to relieve the anxiety that is brought on by intrusive thoughts. These can be used to prevent the perceived danger, or to reduce the anxiety itself, like avoiding places that trigger intrusive thoughts.
Tips for carers (of people receiving treatment)
Over time, a person’s OCD-related condition takes over everything – their thoughts, emotions, time, energy, and life! It can also take over their relationships with people, and reassurance seeking can become the main form of interaction with loved ones.
For further details, see the OCD Action website: Reassurance
