Have you ever heard of Relationship Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? Admittedly, I didn’t know much beyond what I could surmise from its name until I read Marriage and Family Therapist Sheva Rajaee’s book, “Relationship OCD - A CBT Guide to Move Beyond Obsessive Doubt, Anxiety & Fear of Commitment in Romantic Relationships”. Right off the bat, I have to acknowledge that Relationship Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (rOCD) isn’t formally recognized by the DSM (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), but the more I learn about it, the more I recognize it in my work with clients and the culture at large (ahem, the recent season of Love is Blind 👀).
Even though we’re gradually moving away from traditional relationships, there’s still a lot of hesitation to change the relationships that we have with our partners. Both in my personal and professional life, I’ve met couples who are in the process of separating, and they often use phrases such as “I’m a failure,” “l failed my family,” and “I failed my kids.”
