Present in Daily Life: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Its Impact on Family Life from the Partner’s Perspective. A Focus Group Study

ABSTRACT This focus group study explores the experiences of five partners of patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder concerning how this disorder might influence couples’ relationships in the long-term. We find that the disorder might give rise to power struggles concerning “normality”, deprive couples of opportunities for rewarding fellowship during household chores and leisure time, and persistent analytic processes concerning predicaments of what to do. They also express a need for more help from the health services. The results might be of value to therapists in their daily work, and might have implications for future research on couple’s therapy involving this group.