Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Thank goodness no one can hear your thoughts.

Not all your thoughts are wanted ones. Your mind is constantly bombarding you with scary thoughts, silly thoughts, and inappropriate or embarrassing thoughts. Sometimes, your mind shows you images or plays a song that gets stuck on repeat in your head.

Like a perpetual motion machine, your mind never stops. You try to push those thoughts away, but they will not relent. Even distracting yourself doesn’t work, causing an uneasy feeling that you NEED to do something or something terrible may happen.

Logically, you know that what’s happening makes no sense, but the ritual makes things feel okay for a little while. You repeat words, count numbers, recheck things, tap the counter three times, or rewash your hands until it feels “just right.”

Other behaviors involve avoiding a particular person or place, hoping that those thoughts will not return. But that stupid thought or uncertain feeling comes back, and the whole cycle starts again.

Thoughts are like clouds, but there’s no wind blowing yours!

Like clouds, thoughts come and go. Some thoughts you generate by choice – others appear out of nowhere. Thoughts are sometimes pleasant, and others are bothersome. Everyone has unwanted thoughts from time to time. The disturbing thought is noticed and then pushed aside as just a thought. But those with OCD get stuck.

The main characteristic of OCD is the persistent presence of obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are intrusive and unwanted thoughts, impulses, or images that cause distress to the individual. Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts that the person feels driven to perform to prevent or reduce anxiety or distress.

Those living with OCD feel trapped in a cycle. Obsessive urges, thoughts, or images demand the person’s full attention. They can take up all the mental space while signaling the body’s alarms, causing a buildup of disgust, distress, or anxiety. The urge to do something takes over and promises a moment of relief which it delivers temporarily.

The thoughts stop, and all feels right until the obsession returns – and it WILL!

Learn to watch the clouds.

Exposure and Response Prevention therapy (ERP) is the gold standard for treating OCD. It seeks to help identify the core fear underneath OCD obsessions and then gradually exposes the person to the thoughts, images, situations, or objects that cause distress while resisting compulsive behaviors. This approach helps retrain your brain.

ERP teaches your brain that OCD is a liar. Your brain associates that by doing compulsions, there is a real danger in your obsessions, causing your brain to find ways of avoiding those dangers. By tolerating all the things OCD wants you to avoid without doing any compulsions, your brain learns to stop setting off the alarm for a simple thought.

You reduce your obsessions and anxiety by consciously stopping compulsive behaviors. Instead of pushing and pulling thoughts or doing lengthy compulsions, you can begin to notice thoughts like a cloud in the sky rather than an approaching storm. And then carry on with your life. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Let me help you shut off the alarm! Let me help you learn how to watch the clouds roll by!