OCD isn’t a separate thing? It’s an integral part of who you are and what you’re experiencing. It’s not something sitting in the corner of your mind, it’s an integral part of your brain and it’s processes. Let’s be real here. You can put lipstick on a pig 🐷 it’s a cute little piggy 🐷, but it still rolls around in caca 💩.

OCD is like your shadow. It follows you around and sometimes it throws crap your way. But its always a part of you.

Yes, ocd arises from the way our brains are organized. It's patterns that we've engrained into our neural pathways. However, those pathways are modifiable. The brain is amazingly plastic. One way to facilitate brain change is to externalize the problem by separating ocd from ourselves. This allows us to step into our observing self. In turn, we can then so a better job determining effective actions and implementing them with the help of supportive self talk

Thanks for the great responses everyone. I often feel like I’m battling ocd in my mind as a separate entity. Some people describe it as a “monster” or they’ll name the ocd and treat it as something they want to eradicate. I’m embracing the ocd as part of “me” incorporating it as mind, body and soul. I’m ok with having ocd. I’m at peace with my ocd and accept the condition.

It’s a part of us, but it’s not us. That was a struggle for me. I’m handling it much better now viewing that way.

The problem is that English is really not a useful language for discussing issues of psychology. It’s not precise; the same word can have a dozen different definitions and connotations depending on how it’s used and who hears it. :\ There’s a reason (actually, several) why it’s considered one of the more difficult languages to learn. What is meant by “OCD is separate from me” is that concieving of OCD as an external force is a way to help stop conflating your intrusive thoughts with your identity, your sense of “me” and “who I am.” My sense of “me” is bound up in what I consciously believe, feel, value, and want, but the formation of all of those relies on what I first *observe*. OCD threatens that sense, because it makes me observe intrusive, fearful, contrary-to-my-established-values thoughts, and it makes me do it from within my own mind, so that it becomes very, very easy to think that these thoughts are representative of “me” (as I described above; my beliefs, feelings, values, and wants), and/or to allow these thoughts to influence my sense of “me.” Because human brains tend to love creating stories—we are literally always constructing plot sequences, assigning motives and significance, observing patterns and foreshadowing, etc out of our own daily experiences, even if you never set pen to paper—it’s usually useful to set “me” up as the protagonist, and “the OCD” as the antagonist, in the story of one’s mental illness and recovery. I doubt that many people believe that OCD is some type of homunculus (though honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was), but treating it as if it is can be helpful in overcoming it’s influence.