Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
I first suffered with OCD nearly 30 years ago but have only found out what it was within the last month. This has been despite countless visits to my GP, psychologists and psychiatrists(NHS and private), medications, hypnotherapy, acupucture etc. I have recently started therapy with my NHS primary care mental health team who told me straight away that I had an OCD problem.
I started with obsessive thoughts of a sexual/ harming/value questioning nature. (These I have been able to deal with about 5 years ago through self help after my GP recommended David Burns' book "Feeling Good" I could discuss this further if it would be of help to anyone else.)
A number of years after I first suffered from OCD I developed a fear/ strong response against making eye contact with my wife. This started at a time when we had a scary time with a health issue she then had. This eye contact problem has now occured off and on since and has been especially bad in recent years. The effect on me varies from a mild awareness of a problem to a state of almost continual severe anxiety about making eye contact and listening. When I am anxious it leads to acute marital diffficulties as my wife feels totally rejectd as her perception is that I am anxious all the time we are together. Episodes are often triggered by stress or go away in times when I feel high self esteem.
Perhaps someone out there could help me with an answer to one of the following questions:
Is this a different form of my OCD as I think it is?
Has anyone else suffered from anything similar?
If so have you any tips for how both myself and my wife might cope with this better?
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