Is OCD Curable? It is commonly accepted that OCD is a chronic condition for which there is no cure. This idea is frequently used as an excuse for incomplete treatment, especially of compulsive rumination. Many patients who have completed ERP no longer do any physical compulsions but still ruminate. These patients are often told that the reason they’re not completely better is that OCD is a chronic condition, when the real reason is that no one has taught them how to completely stop ruminating. So, am I saying OCD is curable? Let’s answer that question with another question: Would you say someone who engages in absolutely no compulsion or avoidance has OCD? I would say they don’t. I would say that OCD consists of compulsion and avoidance, and that therefore, by definition, no compulsion or avoidance means no OCD. The counterargument I would expect is that this person would still have intrusive thoughts. But this argument falls apart when you break down ‘intrusive thoughts’ into (1) uncomfortable thoughts that occur to you, and (2) any engagement whatsoever with these thoughts — i.e., compulsive rumination. While an uncomfortable thought occurring to you isn’t controllable, this is also not a symptom of OCD; it’s a symptom of being human. And any engagement whatsoever with the thought is controllable and is a compulsion — and we said this person doesn’t do any compulsions. So would you say that someone who engages in absolutely no compulsion or avoidance — who sometimes has uncomfortable thoughts like all other humans, but doesn’t engage with them at all — has OCD? I would say they don’t, or at least they don’t right now. Thus, drawing a clear distinction between a thought occurring to you, and any engagement whatsoever with that thought, leads to the conclusion that a person can completely eliminate their OCD. So does this mean OCD is curable? Well, it’s definitely much more curable than people think it is. But if the word ‘cure’ means that something is permanently better, I wouldn’t say OCD is curable, because OCD will only remain better as long as compulsion and avoidance are completely eliminated. Consider the imperfect analogy of someone who gets their cholesterol under control by changing their diet.* Have they been cured? Only as long as they maintain the changes that made them better. While it might sound daunting, eliminating compulsion and avoidance does not entail an ongoing struggle. In fact, once a person sees that they have complete control over these behaviors, staying away from them becomes easy. This is why, in my mind, the goal of treatment is not only to eliminate current symptoms, but to help the patient see that they are completely in control of their behavior, including their mental behavior. That way even if they do fall back into compulsion or avoidance in the future, they know they have the ability to get back on track immediately. So I’m not sure whether I can say that OCD is ‘curable,’ but I know that it is possible to get completely better, to the degree that OCD is no longer a part of your life or even something you think about. And this is the standard that I think every patient and therapist should strive for. * The difference is that the dietary changes cause a change in the cholesterol, while the elimination of compulsion and avoidance are themselves the elimination of OCD.

I don't have an official OCD diagnosis, although I am near enough certain I have it after a long year of distressing intrusive thoughts and compulsions that have strongly affected my life. Unfortunately though, I do not have the opportunity or the finances to get checked or go to therapy for a good few months at least. Due to this, I have taken it upon myself to teach myself techniques to tackle it and to reduce and not engage in compulsions, as I did not want to take the risk of getting even worse before being able to get help (and desperation lol). For the first time in the past year I feel like I'm finally making some progress in getting better since incorporating these techniques into my life as my symptoms have become more manageable (minus the obvious bad days) at the time being. Is self-recovery actually possible? Has anyone managed to recover without a therapist's help?

The subject of OCD matters to the sufferer because it feels like confirmation that they are fundamentally unlovable and unwanted—as if even existence itself doesn’t want them. They feel like an error, carrying a deep sense of guilt and shame, as if they were inherently wrong. They suffer from low self-esteem and a deep internalized shame, because long ago, they were fragmented and learned a pattern of fundamental distrust—especially self-distrust. But the real trouble doesn’t come from the content of the most vile or taboo thoughts. It comes from the fact that the sufferer lacks self-love. That’s why, when you begin to walk the road to recovery, you’re taught unconditional self-acceptance—because that’s what all sufferers of OCD have in common: if you aren’t 100% sure, if there isn’t absolute certainty, the doubt will continue to attack you and your core values. It will make you doubt everything—even your own aversion to the thoughts. You have to relearn how to trust yourself—not because you accept that you might become a murderer someday—but because you enter a deep state of acceptance about who you truly are. It’s not about becoming a monster at all. It’s about making peace with what lies at the root of the fear. Making peace with the guilt. With the shame. Making peace with yourself and the person you fear you might be. Because that fear is not rooted in reality. It’s not rooted in any true desire to act. It’s rooted in your identity—specifically, in what might threaten it. That’s what confirms the belief that you are fundamentally wrong. And OCD fuels that belief by using intrusive taboo thoughts to attack your very sense of self. But then I wonder: let’s say, for example, someone fears being or becoming a sexually dangerous person—how could that person practice unconditional self-acceptance? I would never accept myself if I were to harm anyone—the thought alone makes me want to cry. I know it’s not about whether or not someone acts on the thought. It’s about the core fear underneath it. So how do you accept yourself when the thoughts—and the feelings around them—feel so completely unacceptable ?

I have this idea that if i stopped my current ocd it will comeback again in another form. Forexample, when i was 9 by the help of a doctor i stopped washing my hand every 10 mintues but then ocd switched into another theme, which is religious, and when i stopped that it again changed. And now i have prefction and mental ocd. So my question is why bother trying fix something isn't fixable? It takes a while to notice that the thing you have been doing is ocd, double the time to treat it, is there a permenant treatment or is it just tourture ? P.S sorry for my english i'm not from the U.S