How can I stop rumination during ERP for my OCD symptoms?

For me the hardest part of ocd has been realizing when I’m ruminating. I would ruminate for hours and sometimes days on one thought because I never realized I was doing it. Once you’re able to realize you’re ruminating the next hardest thing is forcing yourself to stop. Rumination is just a compulsion so you have to fight it the same way you would all your other compulsions. Anytime I catch myself ruminating I stop in my tracks and stop fighting my thoughts. If my ocd tells me “you’re a monster who’ll hurt somebody” I go “yup I sure am”.

You have to catch yourself about to do it or doing it and then, wait for it… stop doing it 🛑 You can actively choose not to ruminate after you’ve done it for, let’s say 5 minutes, until you realized what you’re doing. 5 minutes of ruminating before stopping vs. hours of ruminating even if you know what’s going on is NOT at all good for you. What’s worse? 5 minutes spent ruminating or 5 hours spent ruminating? The less the do, the better of you are.

I have this exact same problem so I am interested to see what others have to say

It’s all about catching yourself when you do 😅 it will most often start with what if… and then scenarios playing in your head.. like a story

Mine don’t always start with what if but with “maybe, blah blah blah (the story) “ but I don’t know when I’m obsessing and when I’m ruminating. I know with obsessions you have no control but yes w rumination, I feel like I have no control of either

OMG I go thru this too. Honestly what’s helped me is just talking to the thought with a phrase. Like I will say “I hear you thought” And let myself feel that feeling of being unsure, it is scary though, I start feeling it in my stomach but I just let myself sit in it, honestly sometimes it takes a while but I just keep acknowledging the thoughts until it’s not soo scary anymore. I’m still trying to work thru it though

I see. I guess I also get confused because I don’t know sometimes if I’m ruminating or obsessing