How do you stop OCD before it starts

I am not sure if this will help but it has helped me recently :) I can't always stop the thoughts but I try to recognize that they are out of my control and redirect my actions/thoughts as best as I can by focusing on a separate activity or physical movement. I saw a post recently showing the difference in neural activity across psychiatric disorders, and OCD was full of various hills and valleys when compared to the other waves. In these "valleys", neural activity gets stuck, which to me represents the consuming feeling of obsessive thoughts. When I've felt thoughts coming on recently, I try to visualize the "ball" of neural activity in a valley, and then work on pushing the ball out and back on "track", which is also my way of pushing out the negative thoughts. I hope this helps you somehow!

It takes practice and trial & error, and over time you’ll find what works best for you. When you do feel the anxiety come in, you can address it before it worsens. I like to verbally say what my OCD wants me to do, then announce how I will address it instead. For example, I worked through driving OCD. It’s very manageable now, but there are moments where my OCD wants to sneak in. So I’ll say out loud, “ok OCD, you want me to ruminate over getting into a car accident. But I’m going to drive anyway, and not give in to the rumination. Maybe I’ll crash my car, maybe I won’t.” Sometimes I add humor, like “it would be so hilarious if I get into an accident. I hope I do. I would laugh and laugh.” It helps lessen the feeling that my thoughts are urgent. If I do end up doing a compulsion, I’ll acknowledge that I did and why (like what reassurance I was seeking by doing the compulsion), and resolving to not continue. When I’m stressed, I’ll re-direct by saying “ok OCD, you can hang out while I keep working, I’m going to ignore you but you can come along.” Overall what helps me is just grounding myself by understanding my OCD is coming up and what my plan is. I also work on not listening when my OCD tries to convince me that some made up scenario or intrusive thought is urgent. Follow your values and the OCD gets quieter 😊

So while you can't exactly stop your OCD -- it is, for better and for worse, a part of all of us at a cellular level -- you can treat it with Exposure and Response Prevention tools. There's really no way to stop or prevent the anxiety created by these intrusive thoughts, but you CAN prevent the compulsions. The anxiety is what triggers the compulsions so, if you sit with that anxiety (rather than running from it or trying to "fix it" by doing compulsions), and you face that anxiety and those troubling thoughts head on without do a compulsion, gradually you will start to experience relief and those thoughts, and that anxiety, and by proxy those compulsions, will all start to diminish... Hang in there and keep at it!