Relationship OCD (ROCD)
Therapy for relentless doubt about your relationship or partner that no amount of checking settles.
Does this sound familiar?
Do I really love them? Are they the one? Why did I notice that other person — does it mean something? You monitor your feelings during every hug, compare your relationship to everyone else's, confess your doubts, and search for certainty that never comes. The relationship might be good — and the doubting is destroying your enjoyment of it.
Relationship OCD turns the normal ambiguity of love into a threat to be resolved. The problem isn't your relationship; it's the demand for certainty.
How I treat relationship OCD
Using CBT with ERP — the NICE-recommended treatment for OCD — we identify the checking, comparing, confessing and reassurance-seeking that keep the doubt alive, and practise letting the questions stand unanswered while you get on with loving imperfectly, like everyone else.
Therapy doesn't tell you whether to stay in your relationship — it returns the decision to you, freed from OCD's interrogation.
What to expect
A typical course runs 12–16 weekly sessions. Partners are sometimes invited in for a session (only with your agreement) — reassurance-seeking usually involves them, and a little shared understanding goes a long way.
Common questions
What if my doubts are telling me something real? Every relationship involves real doubts sometimes. ROCD doubts behave differently — they demand certainty, return immediately after reassurance, and contradict your own experience of the relationship.
Will therapy make me leave or stay? Neither. The goal is to quiet the obsessional doubting so that whatever you decide is genuinely your decision.
Does my partner need to know I'm having therapy? That's entirely your choice — many clients do involve their partner eventually, but it's never required.
Can sessions be in Spanish? Yes — I offer therapy in English and Spanish.
Ready to take the first step?
Send an enquiry and Gisela will be in touch within one working day.