Hi everyone. I need advice/help on how not to ruminate. That is so tough. I get caught ruminating, even when I think I am not. Then, I try to distract myself in order not to ruminate but that is considered compulsion. Help. Thank you.

I would encourage checking out Dr Michael Greenberg and reading specifically the articles he has on "Rumination Focused ERP". It has seriously been a huge help to me. On of the things that has really decrease my rumination is by working to recognize when i do it, acknowledge with out self judgement, and then re-focus on the task at hand, not as a distraction or trying to push the thoughts out of my head, but just focusing my active attention on what i am trying to do in that moment. In the beginning it would be 30 seconds before I realized i was doing it again. The more and more I do it, the faster i am starting to catch my self, and the longer the time is between when i am and am not ruminating. Hope that helps....seriously, check this site out.... https://drmichaeljgreenberg.com/articles/

ps.... avoidance, distraction, rumination... they are all compulsions. The more i realize i am doing these automatic compulsions i wasn't even aware of, the more i am able to address and reduce them. And the less compulsions i am doing, the better my OCD overall is becoming :)

Don't judge yourself. And also don't try to fix yourself or your OCD. Love yourself in midst of the rumination by being kind and patient with yourself. What you and I need is not fixing ourselves but loving and accepting ourselves in the midst of our struggle. It's not easy but I think of myself winning more terrain with each experience, even if I have a couple of bad days.