- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I find separating triggers and thoughts easy enough, but separating obsessions from compulsions more difficult, especially when your compulsions are things like mental rumination.
Thank you for your input. It is much appreciated! I agree that the obsessive thought tends to run right into the compulsion. It’s hard to slow down enough to catch these things isn’t it!
For me at least, sometimes when you have mental compulsions, it almost feels like there is an “automatic transition” from obsession to compulsion. What I do is this, when that happens: 1) I first identify that I just did a mental compulsion (mental compulsions is when I purposely try to push my thoughts out of my head by reassuring myself, reviewing past events, etc) 2) then after I identify the mental compulsion, I accept the thought saying “maybe this (insert thought) is true, I’ll accept the uncertainty”. This gives me an opportunity to practice response prevention in the moment.
@NOCD Advocate - Stephen Smith By practicing response prevention after I did the compulsion, I look at this as a “retry”
I like the “retry”! Thank you for breaking that down too. That’s very helpful!
My compulsions are physical (i.e. touching the stove to ensure it's off). I already know hours in advance that I will start becoming anxious at a specific time of the day and will start doing compulsions. Once I start a compulsion, it is very difficult for me to stop because I know I'm letting my emotions overtake my logical thinking. I have to stop and think outloud, "What is it going to take for me to get this!" Then I panic and go back to doing the compulsion.
I've been through scary moments in the past and was able to get through it, so I'm asking myself why can't I get over this dumb fear !? The fear now is "being okay" with not doing any compulsions rather than the feared "worst case scenario" (stove causing a fire) because I already know the latter is highly unlikely.
I find my compulsions sometimes hard to identify too like maybe sometimes I don’t know if it is an obsession or a compulsion I don’t know if I am obsessing about a past event or if it is a compulsion to prove a point (that I am a terrible personn, a narcissist,...)
It makes a lot of sense. And sorry for the late reply. Thank you all for your posts, it’s super helpful for others to know they are not alone in these situations. I hear so often, how difficult it is to separate the trigger from the obsessive thought and to separate the compulsion from the obsessive thought. That’s why I call it a toxic cycle! It feeds itself. The self monitoring worksheet is very helpful. It breaks it down and possibly will help you to think differently about each part. I like to recommend that you listen to your body - when it starts to become uncomfortable, just that small flutter of worry, that is the obsessive thought. Sometimes it’s easier to think of the unwanted thought. The thought you are thinking that you don’t want to think but do not seem to have control over. Catch the thought and you can back track to the trigger. See a trained ERP therapist and they can help you do this. Once you have separated the trigger from the unwanted thought, image, urge it is much easier to see the behavior you are doing to distract, suppress, neutralize or make that though go away! Let me know what you think and thanks again for being here.
Hi bluegrass, I couldn’t pull that up but I can assure you there are lots of examples of the worksheet online, try therapistaid. You can find all kinds of workbooks etc. However, these tools are much more successful when you work with a professional that has been trained to do ERP. I shared a post about being a therapist for 20yrs. I’ve worked with many OCD clients using CBT and since joining NOCD I have been extensively trained to use ERP. My clients are more successful and obtained positive benefits - moments of peace from their obsessive thoughts came much quicker using ERP. I hope that is helpful!
Hello! I'm new here and new to OCD. My therapist suggested I might have OCD due to my tendency to ruminate endlessly on doubts and fears. These thoughts are indeed intrusive and I can't seem to stop them. The thing I'm kind of stuck on is that I can't see where the compulsions come in. Unless the thoughts themselves are compulsions. Can anyone relate to this?
I have a lot of thoughts about the universe, and they’re overwhelming—like being caught in a rip current, except it’s all inside my head. Most of the time, they’re about how small we are, how there really isn’t a “we” because our bodies aren’t truly ours—we’re just bacteria, cells, and microbes. The thoughts spiral, deeper and deeper, smaller and smaller, coiling until suddenly, I’m pulled under, drowning in a whirlpool. I’ve never felt like this before, and I’m convinced I’ve been faking it somehow. For the past few weeks, my OCD has been worse than it’s ever been in my 20 years of life. Or maybe I’m just more aware of it now. Has anyone else had their OCD suddenly get really bad? Does it ever end—if it even can? I’ve convinced myself that my intrusive thoughts aren’t actually intrusive, that my OCD is a choice, and that everything I do is intentional. As for compulsions, I don’t have the typical “If I don’t do ____ then ____ will happen” kind of thoughts. Instead, my brain simply commands, “Do ____,” and I always give in. It’s so loud in my head, and I can’t shake the feeling that I’m an imposter. Like I don’t belong here—like my presence on this app is an intrusion, invalidating everyone else’s struggles just by downloading it and daring to post. If anyone feels that way, if you think I’m intruding, I’m sorry. I only came here because I have no one to share my diagnosis with. Pouring my thoughts out, hoping someone might understand, feels less suffocating than journaling. Journaling is like letting a wound fester—each word burying the thoughts deeper, leaving them to decay in silence, for nobody to ever read but myself.
I get asked about the name NOCD a lot. People might want to know how it’s pronounced, and they’re curious about our story. Every time, I’m excited to share a bit about what the name means—in fact, it’s an opportunity for me to talk about something everyone should know about OCD. First things first: it’s pronounced “No-CD.” And it actually means a couple things, both central to our mission: To restore hope for people with OCD through better awareness and treatment. The first meaning of our name is about awareness: Know OCD. Though we’ve come a long way, not enough people truly know what OCD is or what it’s like. How many times have you heard someone say “Don’t be so OCD about that,” or “I wish I had a little OCD. My car is a mess!” Things like that may seem innocent, but they trivialize the condition and keep most people with OCD—around 8 million in the US alone—from getting the help they need. The second meaning of NOCD is about treatment: No-CD. To go a bit deeper: Say “No” to the compulsive disorder. On one level, this is also related to knowing OCD—noto means “to know” in Latin. This inspired the name NOTO, the operations and technology infrastructure that powers NOCD the way an engine powers a vehicle. But this meaning goes even further. It has to do with how you can manage OCD symptoms—learning to resist compulsions. This is the foundation of exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, the most effective, evidence-based form of treatment for OCD. Learning how to resist compulsions with ERP changed my life, and it taught me how important it is to get treatment from a specialty-trained therapist who truly understands how OCD works. I’ll give you an example. When I was 20, my life was going according to plan. I was thriving on the field as a college quarterback, doing well in school, even winning awards—until OCD struck out of nowhere. I started having taboo intrusive thoughts, things that horrified me and went against my core values and beliefs. Desperate for help, I saw several different therapists—but no one diagnosed me with OCD. At one point, I was instructed to snap a rubber band against my wrist whenever I had an intrusive thought. It was supposed to stop the thoughts, but it only made my symptoms worse. Driven into severe depression, I had to put my entire life on pause. Once I started ERP with a therapist who understood OCD, I learned why: you can’t stop intrusive thoughts from occurring. Everyone has them—and the more you try to get rid of them, the worse they get. Anything you do to suppress them is actually a compulsion, whether it’s counting in your head, snapping a rubber band against your wrist, or using substances to drown the thoughts out. To get better, you have to learn to resist compulsions and accept uncertainty. OCD doesn’t get to decide how you live your life. How do you educate the people in your life about OCD? Whether friends, family, or strangers, I’d love to hear how you share your understanding and raise awareness about OCD.
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