However, if one means by interfering with one's obsessions to get that person in treatment, that's a different story. Occasionally, there will be what we call a spontaneous remission and symptoms will disappear. However, that by far is the exception, not the rule. OCD is a chronic illness that waxes and wanes. And while it might not disappear, there are now many kinds of effective treatments which significantly diminish the disabling affects of the symptoms.
New developments come in the following forms.
They come in the form so of new medications, and the medical field is encountering new discoveries, almost literally every day, and refinements in the psychological approach called exposure and response prevention. However, the most promising treatment that I think is on the horizon, is not only newer medications and refinements in exposure and response prevention, but it's actively involving the family in the recovery process, not because the family has done something wrong, but because the family is in a unique position to really do something right. One of the more unusual compulsions that I'm aware of is a married couple, and the non-OCD spouse would often awaken in the middle of the night, to find his spouse washing and cleaning his body to prevent contamination. That's why this is a family illness, because everybody is impacted. There is no free ride when a loved one suffers from this tormenting illness.