how do you deal with urges to do something you don’t want to do? for example, an intrusive thought telling you to shout something in a library. how can you silence that impulse? i can’t ignore these urges when they pop up.

urges is one of the biggest reasons why having ocd is so difficult. you may not be able to stop the intrusive thought, but you can control the way you respond. whenever i have the urge to do something, i take a deep breath and try to distract myself right away. i try to focus on something else. i also wear a bracelet everyday that says, “it’s ocd”. whenever I have the urge or a thought, I look down at my bracelet because i can remind myself that’s it’s my ocd trying to play tricks on me. if you are afraid of shouting something out loud, maybe get up and take a small walk, count to 10, take deep breaths, watch something on your phone, anything to distract yourself.

Accept that it is an intrusive thought and recognize that you don't have to act on it - just like all the times before you've had them and not acted on them. Don't try to suppress/ignore the thoughts - try to recognize it and then let it go. I struggled with thoughts like this as a kid a lot, but now as an adult they mostly just go in & out and I realize it's just an irrational thought - I say that's a dumb idea, and go on with what I was doing.

Same here... but with POCD and HOCD...