What do you guys write for journaling? If I write down my ocd thoughts it will act as reassurance and I don’t want that. Any tips?

Really? I found that journaling can help a lot! At least as of recently. Because with my OCD, if I just sit with the thoughts, I will eventually start picking each of those thoughts apart into smaller fragments, to the point where I will only be even more overwhelmed and confused. Pen to paper or a notepad app organizes it, and is a way to actually tell yourself, or write down a list of excuses, as to why it wasn't a big deal that you couldn't complete the action, or simply decided not to out of exhaustion. It alleviates the distress, and dissatisfaction of not having done the compulsion. It could be something along the lines of "Oh, nobody else in my family has been doing this obscene amount of hand washing, and they seem fine. They don't appear to be in an unsafe or unhealthy position. So why would I be?" Like I shouldn't have to listen to my OCD anymore or let it be in control of me. "I" should be in control of me. I shouldn't feel the need to have everything be perfect, right down to the millimeter. Instead of focusing on these minuscule details, I should be looking at the whole picture.

Self affirmations that are far from your OCD related thoughts. "I am beautiful, I can do so-&-so, etc." It may seem cheesy but God does it work in mysterious ways.

I never took the idea of journaling seriously, but I’m glad I opened up to the practice and it has benefited me. There is no right or wrong way to journal, it’s just a routine practice of expression. For me, I don’t explicitly state all of my obsessions (though this is one way to do it). Instead I’ve found it comforting to write daily entries of my progress in an objective way, as if I were a therapist observing my own thinking pattern and behavior. I find this kind of daily self-reflection helps me recognize subtle differences or cognitive distortion changes. I don’t limit the process either. If I feel like it, I’ll draw a picture or a draft poem. During a severe OCD spike I just wrote out positive words, affirmations, or statements that I would write to a friend if they were experiencing my thoughts and feelings. Just do it without judgement and do it everyday, that’s all you need. I hope it can be of help for you :)

my therapist told me to express it, not suppress it. sometimes I polish my words up (kind of like a neutralising compulsion) when I journal about obsessions cause writing them gives me great fear. the template I usually follow is: triggers, obsessions, compulsions, emotion (morning, afternoon, and night), difficulty to change, peer interaction, self care - and because I just started ACT, a list of positive things about myself. I find myself documenting for a while but it’s cathartic.