I have several OCD behaviors that stem from having cancer and needing to be very clean while my immune system was repressed. I've been in remission for almost 5 years now, but the pandemic triggered a relapse in my OCD behaviors and I've been seeking professional help this time around.

My behaviors centre exclusively on germs. I am a compulsive hand washer, but it's gotten better. I wash all my foods (even things like oranges, bananas, and eggs) and I don't eat or drink at people's houses. Most of the time, my behaviors are unnoticed.

My in-laws think my OCD is hilarious and have always done things to trigger it, like stick their fingers in my drink or lick the rim of my glass because they think it's funny to watch me get up and get a new drink or glass. Their favourite is to use the bathroom and make it obvious that they didn't wash their hands because I can't make them wash their hands.

We've explained hundreds of times that my OCD is manageable but they are not helping when they do these things. Plus it's just rude and gross anyway. My husband and I have gradually cut contact with them, seeing them only for special occasions and to visit our daughter.

It's hard enough managing my behaviors without people intentionally sabotaging any progress I make. I feel bad that our daughter, who is two, can't see them very often, but they lack a lot of respect and understanding. They even do things like tell my daughter "Don't wash your hands! It makes your mom mad!"

Why do people think doing things like this is funny?

Edit: I didn't include this because it's not relevant to asking why people think doing things like this is funny.

My husband will yell at them if they do something and my daughter isn't there, and then we leave. If my daughter is with us, we calmly tell them that we have asked them hundreds of times not to do what they're doing so we're leaving. My husband is very supportive of me and has no idea why his parents do this. Any time they do something that triggers my OCD, he lets me fight my battle but will step in to drive the point home.

They haven't been at our home in years because of how they treat me, but we will visit them in theirs and I will bring my own drink to drink, or we'll go out for dinner (which has been one of my bigger breakthroughs with my OCD).

If they didn't make a joke of my OCD, they'd actually be decent people. Prior to us telling them about my OCD, they never did anything like this. They just started doing it because they think it's funny.