Relationship OCD Quotes

“Seeking certainty breeds more uncertainty.”
― Sheva Rajaee, Relationship OCD: A CBT-Based Guide to Move Beyond Obsessive Doubt, Anxiety, and Fear of Commitment in Romantic Relationships

“fear blocks attraction. It blocks intimacy and it blocks connection. Fear blocks love. If you want to find the love you seek, you will have to let go of fear and embrace uncertainty with open arms.”
― Sheva Rajaee, Relationship OCD: A CBT-Based Guide to Move Beyond Obsessive Doubt, Anxiety, and Fear of Commitment in Romantic Relationships

“We must respond to life's most difficult questions by humbly conceding 'I don't know the answer, and that's okay.”
― Sheva Rajaee, Relationship OCD: A CBT-Based Guide to Move Beyond Obsessive Doubt, Anxiety, and Fear of Commitment in Romantic Relationships

“the intrusive thoughts in OCD (such as What if I suffocate my baby?) are considered ego dystonic: they go completely against the person’s values, action, and true desires. It’s unlikely, for example, that a murderous person would even be in therapy discussing their murderous thoughts, because they wouldn’t register the thoughts as unwanted or intrusive, and they certainly would not receive an OCD diagnosis.”
― Sheva Rajaee, Relationship OCD: A CBT-Based Guide to Move Beyond Obsessive Doubt, Anxiety, and Fear of Commitment in Romantic Relationships

“Relationship OCD (ROCD): Fear of being in the wrong relationship, fear of not truly loving your partner, or fear of not being truly loved by your partner Sexual orientation OCD (SOOCD): Fear of being the “wrong” sexual orientation or of being in denial about your true sexual orientation,”
― Sheva Rajaee, Relationship OCD: A CBT-Based Guide to Move Beyond Obsessive Doubt, Anxiety, and Fear of Commitment in Romantic Relationships

“amygdala can also become sensitized through environment, most notably through how safe or unsafe we felt as children and how our caregivers managed their own fears and anxieties.”
― Sheva Rajaee, Relationship OCD: A CBT-Based Guide to Move Beyond Obsessive Doubt, Anxiety, and Fear of Commitment in Romantic Relationships

“Why then, do some people have a hyperactive amygdala while others view threat more rationally? The answer, like so many things in the world of psychology, is a mixture of genetics and upbringing, of nature and nurture.”
― Sheva Rajaee, Relationship OCD: A CBT-Based Guide to Move Beyond Obsessive Doubt, Anxiety, and Fear of Commitment in Romantic Relationships

“When functioning correctly, the amygdala scans the environment and decides whether to trigger a threat response (fight, flight, or freeze) or give the all-clear signal to the brain to “Move along, nothing to see here!”
― Sheva Rajaee, Relationship OCD: A CBT-Based Guide to Move Beyond Obsessive Doubt, Anxiety, and Fear of Commitment in Romantic Relationships

“conditions like panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are exactly that—they are the result of overactivity in an almond-shaped cluster of neurons called the amygdala.”
― Sheva Rajaee, Relationship OCD: A CBT-Based Guide to Move Beyond Obsessive Doubt, Anxiety, and Fear of Commitment in Romantic Relationships

“the real answer is to accept no answer at all.”
― Sheva Rajaee, Relationship OCD: A CBT-Based Guide to Move Beyond Obsessive Doubt, Anxiety, and Fear of Commitment in Romantic Relationships

“You don’t have to have all the answers to be happy.”
― Sheva Rajaee, Relationship OCD: A CBT-Based Guide to Move Beyond Obsessive Doubt, Anxiety, and Fear of Commitment in Romantic Relationships

“love, in words attributed to relationship philosopher Erich Fromm, “isn’t something natural. Rather it requires discipline, concentration, patience, faith, and the overcoming of narcissism. It isn’t a feeling, it is a practice.”
― Sheva Rajaee, Relationship OCD: A CBT-Based Guide to Move Beyond Obsessive Doubt, Anxiety, and Fear of Commitment in Romantic Relationships

“Because the fight you’ve been waging on anxiety, all the ways you’ve been trying to solve, escape, or avoid it, is keeping you from the very thing you want most: to love and to be loved.”
― Sheva Rajaee, Relationship OCD: A CBT-Based Guide to Move Beyond Obsessive Doubt, Anxiety, and Fear of Commitment in Romantic Relationships

“attempting to solve chronic doubt is the exact wrong thing to do: it gets you in trouble and keeps your anxiety alive and well.”
― Sheva Rajaee, Relationship OCD: A CBT-Based Guide to Move Beyond Obsessive Doubt, Anxiety, and Fear of Commitment in Romantic Relationships