Social support in obsessive-compulsive disorder: The relationships between social support and readiness to change

Social support is widely beneficial for individuals suffering from mental health disorders. Preliminary work suggests that it is influential in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but no studies have investigated the importance of social support as it relates to readiness to change (RTC, a relevant variable in treatment-seeking populations. The present study aimed to investigate this relationship as well as broadly characterize support-seeking experiences in those with OCD. Results indicated that, on average, participants with OCD have positive experiences of sharing their symptoms, that others tend to react well to such sharing, and sharing tends to positively affect one's relationship to their diagnosis. We further found that subjective experience of sharing symptoms and internalized stigma moderately predicts RTC. This study suggests nonprofessional social support may be a practical and impactful adjunct to OCD treatment by influencing motivation to change, though future work is needed to validate this pilot study.