Hi Nike,

A link between stress and OCD severity wouldn't surprise me at all. As you know, OCD is an anxiety disorder, and stress is essentially a form of anxiety. I'm fairly sure it is common for OCD symptoms to be exacerbated when one is under high levels of stress. For example, from a website: "While stress doesn’t cause OCD, a stressful event can trigger the onset of obsessive and compulsive behavior, and stress can often make obsessive-compulsive behavior worse."

The same site also provides several helpful suggestions aimed at reducing anxiety:
- Mindfullness meditation (I've heard this used with everyone from people with depression to cancer patients with promising results)
- Practice relaxation techniques

I won't go through all of them, you can read the source for yourself: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Symptoms, Behavior, and Treatment

In general, the same general advice tends to come up over and over again for combating stress:
- Eat as healthily as you can
- Try to get 7-8 hours of sleep per night
- Go for a one hour walk daily (or go to the gym)
- Reframe stressful events (even in the worst case, they're rarely as bad as you think)
- Take at least an hour out of everyday to do someone you purely enjoy i.e. listen to music, watch a movie, play video games
- If you haven't already looked into it, consider checking out Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, it's used to treat pretty much every anxiety disorder under the sun