OCD prevents Heather Bayliss from meeting Mr Right | News.com.au

OCD prevents Heather Bayliss from meeting Mr Right | News.com.au

The woman who can’t find anyone to love her

• 10 hours ago
  March 13, 2014
  7:31PM
  

Heather Bayliss would love to find her Mr Right, but OCD is stopping her.
Source: Picture Media

MEET the hopeless romantic who is terrified of love. 

Heather Bayliss would like nothing more than to find her Mr Right,
but her crippling obsessive compulsive disorder makes it impossible for
her to fall in love.



The 39-year-old dreams of the day she can get her debilitating condition under control and settle down with her ideal partner.



But
dating poses a horrifying number of issues for Heather, who hasn’t
invited anyone into her flat for more than three years and only leaves
home to shop or visit her mum.



She finds it extremely stressful to
meet new people and to spend time in public places, and her aversion to
eye contact means any first date could be disastrous.

She hasn’t invited anyone to her home for three years.
Source: Picture Media

Heather said: “Any relationship I did have would have to be
completely non-contact — an old-fashioned Jane Austen-style courtship.



“My
main worry is contamination from other people so there couldn’t be any
physical interaction — no hugs, kisses, hand holding — I would need to
trust someone before anything like that could happen.

“If I could
meet the right person I would be so happy, but there are just so many
extra obstacles that stand in my way because of my OCD and Asperger's.



“My
fear of germs makes it hard for me to go out for food in public too,
even something as simple as sitting on a seat in public scares me.



“And
I find social interactions very difficult, especially with people I
don’t know or have never met before — it’s all very stressful for me.
Dating just throws all of these problems at me in one go.”

It’s a lonely life for Heather who struggles to even go out in public.
Source: Picture Media

Heather — who was also diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome two
years ago — believes that it has been subconsciously affecting her
relationships her entire life.



Asperger’s is a form of autism which affects how people interact socially and communicate with others.



“I
think I can live with the Asperger’s, that’s part of who I am. But I
can’t live with the OCD being as bad as it is now — it’s pretty much as
bad as it gets,” Heather said.



“People think OCD is all about
cleaning, but it’s not. For me, it’s all about fear and fear completely
controls my life and I need to do something to make life a bit more
liveable.



“It’s like a snowball, it slowly gathers speed and over
the years things have slowly got worse and worse. And the older I’ve
got, the more I have found to worry about.”

Heather has struggling using internet dating due to her trying to be honest about her condition.
Source: Picture Media

 

Heather’s extreme OCD has left her terrified of even the most
simple interactions leaving her confined to her flat for the majority of
the time.



The extremity of her condition has got significantly
worse over the past five years and Heather turned to internet dating
with the hope of meeting someone to share her life with.



Reluctant
to give up her search for ‘the one’, Heather said: “I have used
internet dating sites in the hope of meeting someone special but it is
so hard to know when to be honest with people.

“I have been open and honest on my profile straight away, and had absolutely no messages from anyone.



“And
I have hidden my mental health issues from people and we’ve started
talking, but as soon as I have been honest they have dropped off the
radar and I never hear from them again.”