Have you used journaling to manage OCD patterns and triggers?

Yes I have tried journaling. It’s a way to organize your thoughts and see how they came about. For me journaling did not do much for me. It honestly made it a little worse because all the thoughts I was talking abt and wrote down were all in my head playing back and forth picking apart them. Deep breathing and grounding really helps. The 4,7,8 method breath in for 4 hold for 7 exhale for 8. Stare at ur feet when u are feeling anxious and all in your head so you realize you are in the present and none of what you are thinking is true.

Journaling really helps me. It can be scary because you’re writing everything out but I used it as a tool to organize my thoughts/feelings and get them from my mind to paper. It also helped with my therapy because I could come into sessions knowing what was on my mind, what I needed help with, etc. You don’t have to journal but if it helps you and you like it, do it!

Yes, with my ERP therapist I did “self-monitoring,” both at the beginning to identify my obsessions/intrusive thoughts and compulsions. I used an OCD-specific self-monitoring form for this. This can be a great wait to get started because it helps you notice what types of situations/activities/thoughts trigger the compulsions. And then once you’ve identified your compulsions you can start to resist them. Self-monitoring in this way also helped me realize how many of my compulsions were mental rather than physical. Here’s an example of a self-monitoring form: https://www.med.upenn.edu/ctsa/assets/user-content/documents/Self-Monitor_Record_OCD.pdf The one thing I’ll say about journaling when it’s not done for this purpose is, be mindful of when you might use journaling to ruminate. For example if you find yourself going over events or situations, just like you would in your mind, it might become another compulsion. The important thing is that you’re resisting your compulsions and using non-engagement responses to tolerate your anxiety. Rather than trying to get rid of it, we have to let the wave come and eventually pass on its own.

I have began journaling and find it helpful