The One Thing Families Should Stop Doing

OCD impacts individuals and their loved ones. You may need your loved ones to reassure that nothing bad will happen or maybe they participate in compulsions so they can make you feel better.

In OCD treatment, it's important to learn about all the ways you try to get rid of anxiety or other distressing feelings to add them into your response prevention plan. One important piece to consider is ways your family participates in this.

This is called family accommodation. This means any changes your family member(s) does to prevent you from being triggered or to make you feel better.

Examples of Family Accommodation

  • Participating in compulsions by changing clothes when they get home, handwashing, or showering

  • Saying "you won't get sick from that."

  • Changing their work schedule or other activities because of your compulsions

Why Family Members Should Stop Accommodating OCD

  • They are reinforcing the message that your fear and anxiety are "bad" and can't be handled

  • It is impacting their life by creating anger, frustration, burn out, anxiety

  • The accommodations make your OCD worse in the long-run

How to Reduce Family Accommodations

  • It's best to do this together as a team

  • Sit down with your loved ones and educate them about family accommodations. Many times families don't know that this is harmful and/or don't know how to stop. They can think they are helping you.

  • List all the accommodations they do and make a plan on how to start to remove them

  • Give your family permission to remove one accommodation at a time so it's not so overwhelming

Written by Jenny Matthews, LMFT, LADC

Jenny is a therapist that specializes in helping over-thinkers and worriers get relief from anxiety so they can be present with their loved ones.


Share On:

Ready to work with an anxiety therapist?

State of Mind Therapy in Bloomington can help. Click the button below to sign-up for your free 15 minute phone consultation today.




Related Articles

Previous
Previous

5 Ways to Handle Setbacks

Next
Next

How Should OCD Be Treated?