OCD relapse

It always flares up when you are in a new environments, as your brain tries to go back to old habits because it views them as more safe. This happens when I am on vacation often even. Remember that OCD is measured by the compulsions, not the anxiety. You can have very high anxiety but do no compulsions and that would not be considered OCD, as in you are not contributing to it. Notice I said intentional compulsions. Your brain will have sneaky ways to pull you back in that you may not catch right away. The important thing is that you gracefully and gently redirect yourself in the path of no compulsions whenever this happens. All of this being said, I know full well that depending on the severity of the relapse, just stopping compulsions can be very difficult, so I would recommend going back to therapy. I am about to move to another state, so I am going back to therapy because I know this move will spike the disorder. Just remember that this is a new situation for you, one that you didn't have access to when you were going through treatment. You are not relapsing in a sense of regressing and losing your progress. You have just been placed into a new opportunity for more progress that you didn't have. You didn't fall down, the ceiling just rose.

Thankyou, so supportive! I appreciate this. I’m looking for a therapist at the moment in Canada. You are right! It can be sneaky - spotting compulsions is hard especjally if we’re dealing with mental compulsions which reinforce the issues. These can be as simple as habitual self-reassurance which only frames the sensations as a relevant piece of information for the mind and body to create again. And here I’m dealing with the scar of old OCD’s. I used to have checking compulsions which created sensations. Now the sensations are tied to a general sense of anxiety/ discomfort. So they are the intrusive thought and my brain keeps throwing them up. No compulsions for me = not reacting at all as it only leads to reinforcement. Thankyou for your kindness and sharing your mindset.

Good luck with the move too, you’ll do great!

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