Looking for clarification on O and C

These are great questions! Let's talk about both of these things. First, the "O" stands for obsessions. Most people are very confused about what this means. This actually means the intrusive thoughts that come into our heads. For me, that looked like sentences and words that repeated themselves over and over and over. It was basically like a record in my head that played over and over and over. It was in my own voice, but I couldn't control it. And it was very distracting. For example, I could not take tests or play soccer as well, because part of my brain was saying words over and over again. For example, let's say someone has sentences running through their heads like this: "I see a green tree. I see a green tree. I see a green tree. I see a green tree." This doesn't seem so bad, but now you have to imagine that there is a terrible FEAR attached to each sentence. Let's say this person thinks that if they form that sentence in their head, that their grandmother is going to die. So now they are going to try to FIX the evil sentence so that their grandmother does not die. . In my case, I feel like I was going to hell if I said my sentences in my head. Therefore, I tried to put the word "not" into all my sentences, in order to try to negate the sentences and make them less scary. And this action was actually the "C" part of OCD. It is the compulsion! The compulsion is actually anything you do to try to FIX the obsessive thoughts. In our our example, maybe the person would say "I see a green tree --not! I see a green tree--not!! Or the person might try to count things, or flip light switches, or wash their hands, or any number of actions like that. These would all be compulsions, because they are all in effort to try to FIX the obsessive thoughts. Back to our example, the part about seeing a green tree would feel out of control. And the adding of the "not" would feel like a chore that must be done in order to avert danger. ------------------// To sum up... The compulsions are actually any safety behavior we do that are done in an effort to "fix "the obsessive thoughts ----- So what do we do about it? Usually, it is best to do ERP therapy. That means you learn to allow the obsessions to run freely through your head WITHOUT trying to fix them. And anytime that a compulsion screams at you that you must perform it in order to stay safe, you deny yourself doing that compulsion. This causes a great amount of anxiety, and you have to train yourself to "ride out "anxiety spikes that occur when you deny the compulsions. There's a lot to be said about this! I'm here if you have any questions!! --------

So, in your case, shaking your head to clear the thoughts is actually a compulsion that you will want to start practicing denying. Instead, you need to allow yourself to have all the thoughts in your head. You have to understand that the thoughts are meaningless. They are not actually dangerous. They mean nothing. And you can just let them flow through your head. My therapist described it like this: Imagine a tree planted by a river. The leaves fall off the tree and float down the river. You don't pick up the leaves. You don't try to stop the leaves. You can watch the leaves, but you don't do anything about them. It is the same with the intrusive thoughts. It's OK to notice that they are there. But don't try to stop them. Don't try to push them away. If you do, that will actually make them worse! You just let them be there, and just watch them float down the river of your brain