Resassurance: a complex part of OCD

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Seeking reassurance: distress experienced by people with OCD

Seeking reassurance is also a normal human reaction to worry or doubt, which makes it a particularly complex part of OCD to navigate, both for the person with OCD and the people in their life. 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 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, 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, 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 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

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Other OCD-Related Support Services – Find Out More!

In addition to OCD Action, other organisations provide useful, reliable and relevant support for people with OCD and OCD-related conditions and their friends, families and carers. Find out more on our Resources page: https://ocdaction.org.uk/resources/

These are just some of the many organisations:

Maternal OCD: They provide help for women with perinatal obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), a debilitating anxiety disorder, which is treatable. Maternal OCD’s aims are to:

• Raise awareness of perinatal OCD to healthcare professionals, mums to be/new mums, researchers and national decision-makers
• Provide information and support to mums and their families
• Encourage and support perinatal OCD research

BDD Foundation: Provides support for people with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), a preoccupation with perceived defects/flaws in appearance, often cause excessive self-consciousness. The Foundation:

• explains that BDD is a treatable condition and how, with the right help, recovery is very possible.
• provides information on support and treatment services available to UK residents
• recognises that the BDD community is worldwide. They encourage everyone to seek help and support through online services that can be accessed anywhere.

Asto Clinics: Asto is a UK charity providing treatment based on what works for individuals living with OCD. Asto’s founder, Steve Turnock, suffered from severe OCD and is aware of how life-changing the right support can be.

International OCD Foundation: The IOCDF is a large nonprofit serving the OCD community world-wide, including family members and health professionals. The IOCDF is known for:

• Their mission – to ensure that no one affected by OCD and related disorders is alone. Their community provides help, healing and hope.
• Their vision – that everyone impacted by OCD and related disorders has access to effective treatment and support.
• Their work – providing up-to-date education and resources, quality professional training, and advancing research.

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