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Is Love Alone Enough? Understanding Relationship Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Clinical Psychology
Zeynep Berat Şenateş Author: Zeynep Berat Şenateş
4 minreading time
Is Love Alone Enough? Understanding Relationship Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Introduction

Engaging in a romantic relationship can cause feelings of doubt, uncertainty, and a need for reassurance from one's partner. These are natural behaviors that can occur in any romantic relationship from time to time.

If we are to consider today's modern world, where social media content is curated to ruin the concept of 'healthy' love and provides a platform for insecurities to arise within relationships, these behaviors become even more 'normal' and almost expected within relationships today.

However, 'normal' never means okay, especially if this is causing significant distress and overwhelm in a person, to the extent that it begins to reduce their relationship satisfaction and damages the bond between themselves and their romantic partner. In fact, in several cases, this may be a sign of Relationship Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (ROCD).

The aim of this article is to discuss ROCD, its effects on oneself and one's partner, the underlying factors of the symptoms, and to present relevant findings from research.

What is Relationship Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?

ROCD is still an emerging area in psychology. It is quite unexplored in comparison to other subtypes of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). According to Szepsenwol et al. (2016), it refers to 'symptoms characterized by obsessive doubts and preoccupation...obsessions often lead to distress and are associated with compulsive behaviors' (p. 101). Naturally, and as the article mentions, ROCD symptoms are highly relationship-centered. Individuals with ROCD may also experience intrusive thoughts that affect their daily lives.

Furthermore, ROCD does not only affect the individual experiencing the symptoms but can also have an effect on the other partner. Littman et al. (2023) investigated this and found that ROCD can be mirrored onto one's romantic partner. Their findings indicated that if Person A believes that their partner, Person B, has heightened symptoms of ROCD, this may trigger ROCD symptoms in Person A, regardless of whether they had any prior ones. Additionally, their results suggest that being in the presence of one's partner's heightened ROCD symptoms increases evaluations of one's own and their partner's likelihood of committing infidelity, specifically in individuals with previous ROCD symptoms. Similarly, Genç and Büyükada (2026) found that obsessive thoughts in relation to one's relationship or partner have a positive association with infidelity tendencies, which leads to marital disruption.

Lastly, a systematic review study conducted by Mısırlı and Kaynak (2023) concluded that OCD symptoms in romantic relationships were based on two contexts: individual versus relational. In the individual context, symptoms were associated with factors like psychopathologies (e.g., OCD, depression) and obsessive beliefs. On the other hand, in the relational context, symptoms were associated with factors like marital quality, jealousy, and relationship/sexual satisfaction.

ROCD research has been more prevalent within the last 10 years. However, gaps in the literature do exist and more research is required in order to have a more comprehensive understanding of this OCD subtype.

As an aspiring clinical psychologist, this topic has intrigued me even more whilst reading the articles for my research.

Therefore, I hope to contribute to ROCD research in the future.

This article demonstrates how love alone is not enough to maintain a healthy relationship. It metaphorically depicts how ROCD can be contagious and how one partner having it does not mean that the other partner is not directly affected. Hence, appropriate interventions should be implemented for individuals with this disorder.

Littman (2024) describes how ROCD can be treated. He discusses how individuals with ROCD should engage in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). In ERP, individuals expose themselves to fear-triggering events in order to experience negative emotions without engaging in compulsive behaviors. This allows individuals to gain confidence in managing their obsessive thoughts and worries. Moreover, Littman suggests that individuals with ROCD should recognize their thinking patterns in relation to love, as they tend to hold extreme beliefs and set unrealistic expectations about how things should feel and be. This recognition can help them manage their obsessive thoughts and understand that love comes with various emotions and cannot be molded into a specific form.

Disclaimer to the reader: this article is educational and not a diagnostic tool for ROCD.

Kaynakça

  • Genç, E., & Büyükada, E. (2026). The impact of obsessive-compulsive relationship symptoms on marital instability: Mediating role of infidelity tendency. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 52(2), Article e70122. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.70122
  • Littman, R., Leibovits, G., Halfon, C. N., Schonbach, M., & Doron, G. (2023). Interpersonal transmission of ROCD symptoms and susceptibility to infidelity in romantic relationships. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 37, Article 100802. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocrd.2023.100802
  • Littman, R. (2024). A roadmap for the treatment of relationship OCD. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/relationship-ocd/202402/a-roadmap-for-the-treatment-of-relationship-ocd
  • Mısırlı, M., & Karadayı Kaynak, G. (2023). Relationship obsessive compulsive disorder: A systematic review/Romantik ilişki içerikli obsesif kompulsif bozukluk: Sistematik derleme. Psikiyatride Güncel Yaklaşımlar/Current Approaches to Psychiatry, 15(4), 549–561. https://doi.org/10.18863/pgy.1204303
  • Szepsenwol, O., Shahar, B., & Doron, G. (2016). Letting it linger: Exploring the longitudinal effects of relationship-related obsessive-compulsive phenomena. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 11, 101–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocrd.2016.10.001
Zeynep Berat Şenateş Zeynep Berat Şenateş
Graduated from the British School of Bahrain, Zeynep Berat Şenateş is currently a student at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara. She is a second-year student in the Psychology department, and an aspiring clinical psychologist. Zeynep previously participated in the British Psychology Olympiad, and holds qualifications from GCSE and A-Level Psychology. Her passion for writing and psychology motivated her to join the Psychology Times community, where she hopes to contribute by producing insightful and academic pieces of writing, that are in line with her interests in psychology, such as clinical, social, and developmental psychology. She has a strong foundation in psychology due to her high school education. However, she remains determined to further develop her knowledge in psychology, by not only excelling in academics, but also being highly involved in extra-curricular activities such as participating in research projects, joining university clubs, and pursuing all career development opportunities.