Tag: OCD Help

Understanding Thought-Action Fusion in OCD

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Thought-action-fusion is a common cognitive distortion associated with OCD.  It’s where a person believes that having a thought is equivalent to performing an action, or that thinking something makes it more likely to happen.

It is a very important distortion to be aware of if you’re suffering from OCD as when you’re in fight or flight mode – talked about in my previous post – anything can feel possible.     

Remember when we are suffering from OCD we are highly likely to be in the fight or flight (sympathetic) part of our nervous system. When in fight or flight our ability to think rationally goes out of the window and so things that we know to be impossible, when in our rational minds, can feel possible! 

When struggling and ruminating on an OCD obsession the brain and body are suffering with high stress (fight or flight), when in this state our memory becomes selective and fragmented.  Our attention narrows (tunnel vision) and our hippocampus (memory organiser) works less efficiently.

The result of this is that we can get gaps in our memory, Out-of-order recall and confusion about timelines. In addition to this the brain searches for danger-related memories, and the Safe or neutral memories are harder to access. 

It’s important to note that a Strong memory ≠ accurate memory.  Stress increases confidence in memory and emotional intensity but decreases, detail accuracy, context and perspective! 

All this results in intrusive memories feeling more real because they’re emotionally tagged

  • “What if” thoughts feel urgent due to amygdala activation
  • Memory distrust develops (“What if I forgot something important?”)

This fuels checking, reassurance, and rumination.

For me this was one of the most enlightening distortions to learn about.  Following my nervous breakdown, I was constantly in my sympathetic nervous system and so I had a few events when an intrusive thought occurred, and I couldn’t remember clearly/rationalise it/work it out, this caused me unbelievable distress. 

Thought-action-fusion can make you feel like a thought is real and because of your mental state your inability to rationalise that distortion feeds the uncertainty.  We need to recognise this pattern when it happens for what it is and reduce the impact by:

  • Not trying to ‘figure it out’ while anxious – this includes during the night, no analysis between 11pm and 5am remember! 
  • Remembering that you’re in fight-or-flight, you’ll be thinking in extremes and this is not evidence.
  • Find ways to reset and come back into the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest). 

I really love Byron Katies method for this where we say:
Is it true?
Is it 100% true? 

If the answer to the second question is no – which it will be because the stress is based on doubt and uncertainty, then ‘you have to let it go’.   

Why would you torture yourself over anything less than 100% certainty? 

Fear lives in the vague after all and it’s my guess, it’s just a thought (obsession), attached to a feeling of uncertainty, that you’re basing your rumination on, not facts. 

Your brain is probably desperately trying to work out whether there is something genuine to be concerned about, you should take this as your sign that there isn’t!   

I really hope this helps, OCD recovery isn’t easy and sometimes thought-action-fusion can get worse when we are in recovery and start to let our guard down, but know and trust who you are and as always,

Stay Strong xxx

Why OCD Compulsions Make it Worse!

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If you’ve landed here, you probably already know a bit about OCD but in case you don’t here are the Cliff notes.

OCD stands for: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. 

Obsessions are: unwanted, intrusive, and distressing thoughts, images, urges, or feelings that repeatedly enter a person’s mind and cause significant anxiety. 

The resulting compulsion is a repetitive behaviour or mental act that a person feels driven to perform in response to the obsession. 

Todays blog is all about why the compulsion part of OCD is not helpful for us. 

When you have OCD completing a compulsion, whatever it may be, is done out of a need to neutralise the obsession in some way. 

Examples of compulsions include; driving back round to check that a bump in the road wasn’t a person.  Washing your hands more than once to make sure they’re clean.  Going back to check if the oven is off, or that the doors are all locked and secure. 

There are in fact endless examples, and we’re all slightly different which can make OCD a very tricky beast to catch. 

It can be hard at times not to complete a compulsion, especially if we feel responsible for others safety but I’ve found that by invalidating the supposed ‘safety guarantee’ of the compulsion, the need to do it disappears as well. We start to see it as pointless – because it is, read on to see why.

How do I know if it’s an OCD compulsion?

The real clue to whether it’s an OCD compulsion or not, is that when it’s OCD it’s normally accompanied by distress.  Afterall if we don’t mind the compulsive action, then is it an issue?

People with OCD are normally fighting an inner battle where they are trying to work out the doubt and uncertainty they are feeling – impossible by the way – and compulsions such as checking or ruminating can feel like a productive way to do this.  Well, I’m here today to confirm to you that IT IS NOT. 

We feel like the compulsions are’ ‘helping us’ and ‘keeping us safe’ but they’re doing the complete opposite, yep you heard it right, they are making everything worse!

Now I’m not a qualified therapist but I know from years of experience that as soon as you give into one of those compulsions, you are validating the faulty signal coming from the amygdala and telling the brain that there is something to worry about.  You’re basically saying,

‘hey brain, this is important, you need to be on high alert and focus all your attention on this obsession’.    

By doing this you are putting yourself into your Sympathetic Nervous System, more commonly known as fight or flight.  Once in this state you will not be thinking rationally. The logical brain switches off and passes everything over to the more primal survival part of the brain. This part of the brain is all about keeping you safe and you’ve just told it, by giving into the compulsion, that there’s something it needs to worry about. 

Basically you’ve just started to fall down the rabbit hole.  I told you last time, he might look fluffy but he’s a whole lot of trouble!

When in fight or flight you cannot think rationally and so you are in a state where the brain can convince you black is white, up is down and left is right – things you know to be impossible!  You are not able to reason or be sensible in any way in this state and giving into an OCD compulsion puts you in this state.

How do you know when you’ve reached this state?  It can be hard when you’re in it to know but I like Martha Becks phrase:

‘If you’re struggling, you’re spiralling’

basically if it’s causing you distress then you can be pretty sure you’re in fight or flight. 

At this point you need to step away and reset.  Say ‘thank you brain, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear right now’ and carry on with your day aligning with your values.

More tips on how to do this coming next week, so don’t forget to subscribe below!  

In summary, compulsions are pointless because:   

  • As soon as we complete a compulsion, we validate the faulty signal aka the obsession. 
  • This then takes us into fight or flight – as we we’ve just told the brain there’s something to be worried about
  • Once this happens, we can’t think rationally
  • This cycle is self perpetuating.

I have illustrated it below to make it clear.

Hopefully you can now see why completing compulsions is COMPLETELY POINTLESS!!!!

I really hope this helps, let me know in the comments below.
As always, Stay Strong xxx

Expect and Accept: Overcoming OCD Thoughts

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‘Expect and accept’, is a new mantra I’ve been trying out recently. 

I’ve found It can be helpful when managing OCD thoughts day-to-day to have a mantra to act as a ‘switch’ for the brain, helping you to label the thoughts as OCD and move on. 

Obviously in an ideal world you wouldn’t need it but it can be so easy at times to get dragged into OCD thoughts and before you know it, you’re freefalling down a rumination rabbit hole and all sense of reality has gone.

Don’t be fooled by the cute bunny, he may appear to be your friend but believe me he isn’t!

At times like this it can be so helpful to have a little reminder, like a therapist in your ear, saying to you:

So let’s be clear here, by saying ‘expect it’, I’m not saying, lets invite those thoughts along or will them to be there.  It’s more about having an awareness that if you’re going into a triggering situation, a new environment or out of your comfort zone, then it’s highly likely that your OCD will want to come along for the ride. 

I’ve found at times that I can get frustrated with my OCD when it turns up and what I’ve learnt over the years is if you don’t want it to be there, then it’s almost guaranteed to be.

When it does, if it does, we need to accept it.  We can do this by saying, ‘Thank you, brain that’s exactly what I wanted to hear right now’.

After all OCD recovery is not about getting rid of the intrusive thoughts, this is a common mistake, remember everyone gets them. So it’s more about allowing them to be there and then carrying on with your day regardless, aligning with your values. 

I realise how hard this is, but know that you are not alone and that every time you carry on with your day, despite the thoughts, you are making progress and the brain is learning it doesn’t need to freak out at every thought that comes into your mind.  

Why not give the mantra a go this week and see if it helps you too. Let me know how you get on in the comments below.

Remember: ‘Expect it and Accept it’

As always,
Stay Strong xxx

The Role of Values in Overcoming OCD

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I’ve mentioned values in several posts to date, and I feel it’s time to take a closer at them and why they are so important in OCD recovery. 

What’s a value anyway? 

Lets start at the beginning, a value is: ‘a principle or standard of behaviour; one’s judgement of what is important in life’.

They are the standards we set for ourselves to live by, they outline the things that are most important to us and help guide us with our daily choices. 

If you’ve done any ACT (acceptance commitment thearpy), then you will know that values work is one of the 6 core principles

They describe values as something you, ‘do’ rather than ‘have’. They are verbs not nouns, general directions and guiders for life, a place you can never arrive at but are always striving towards.  

From this description they can feel quite nebulous, but they are the invisible building blocks of our lives. 

How do you work out your values?

There are lots of great exercises online that you can work through.  Here are a couple of links to try but a quick google will find you lots of information on the topic.

Values worksheet 1

Values worksheet 2

If you’ve never done this work before then I advise spending a bit of time working through one of the above activities. 

So why are values so important in OCD recovery? 

They become especially useful when you are struggling because you can align to your values and know that that’s the person you want to be. 

You can then take actions towards your values, regardless of the thoughts and how you feel, which is exactly what we need to do when OCD gets loud.

OCD has a nasty habit of making you think you’re the worst person in the world, capable of distressing and horrible things and when you’re spiralling it can be incredibly hard to pull yourself out.

Your values then become a superpower, acting as your anchor during these difficult times.  They remind you of who you truly want to be and allow you to proactively take action to align with them. 

Say for example that your values are to be an honest, trustworthy, reliable, kind and loving person, then when OCD is telling you otherwise you have the opportunity to say;

‘No OCD, I’m not who you’re telling me I am, I know my values and I’m going to carry on with my day aligning to them’. 

The brain believes what it sees, so if you live your life aligning to your values then you will be banking undisputable evidence of who you are. The OCD thoughts then become much easier to dismiss and don’t take hold as easily. 

In addition to this it’s worth remembering here that OCD thoughts are ego-dystonic, which refers to the fact that the obsessions and compulsions are inconsistent with a person’s values, beliefs, and self-image, understandably causing a lot of distress.  

When going through OCD therapy and recovery it can feel so tough at times and your values can act as your guiding light through the darkness. 

Every time it feels overwhelming and tough, you need to remind yourself of your values and ask yourself;

‘If I’m aligning with my values and the person I want to be then what would I do in this situation?’  

  • Would I drive back and check if that bump in the road was a person or would I carry on with my day?
  • Would I wash my hands again because they still feel dirty or would I just carry on with my day?
  • Would I spend hours ruminating over the nightmare I had last night and not make it into work, or would I just carry on with my day?

There are endless scenarios you could use here but ultimately you have to ask yourself, is your OCD holding you back from the values-based life you want to live? 

I’m guessing the answer is yes.   

The amazing thing about doing values work, is that once they’re in place they allow your life to become more focused and meaningful in all ways.  You become empowered to let anything that doesn’t align with them go, which quite often results in a lot less drama, mental health struggles and a lot more peace.

I’d love to know if you have also found ACT therapy and Values work helpful in your OCD recovery, please share your insights below.

As always,
Stay Strong xxx

Why Habituation is key to OCD Recovery

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Last week I posted about choice and why it’s so important in OCD recovery.  Towards the end of that post, I mentioned habituation and I felt the topic so significant for me in my recovery that it deserved it’s own post, so here we are.

What is habituation?

According to google it is:

‘the process of making or becoming accustomed or used to something.’

In Psychology specifically it’s:

‘the diminishing of an innate response to a frequently repeated stimulus.’

When applying this to OCD specifically:

We can see ‘the innate response’ as the compulsion and ‘the repeated stimulus’ as the obsession. 

Applying habituation to OCD recovery

We learn in therapy that everyone gets intrusive thoughts and so the aim in OCD recovery is not to get rid of the thoughts (obsessions) but to see them as completely irrelevant. 

We do this by recognising the trigger (obsession) when it comes in and habituating (getting used) to it, so that we no longer feel the need to complete the compulsion – whether it be mental or physical. 

This was a big turning point for me, realising that the obsession is something you can ‘get used to’.  The result of this is that the brain eventually no longer brings your attention to it – as it starts to see it as insignificant. 

For a long time I saw OCD recovery as not having the obsessions but now I see that it’s my reaction to the obsession that is the key.  I have no control over whether the thought/image/whatever appears or not only my reaction to it.

The Reticular Activating system and habituation

You only have so much mental capacity each day and the brain has an unbelievably effective filtering system called the reticular activating system or RAS for short. 

According to Jim Kwik’s book Limitless,

‘every second your senses gather up to 11 million bits of information from the world around you…
…the conscious mind typically processes only 50 bits per second. ’

‘(The RAS) also acts as the gatekeeper of information through a process called habituation, which allows the brain to ignore meaningless and repetitive stimuli’  

So the brain takes in an unbelievable amount of information every second and then decides what it’s going to bring to your attention and what it’s going to discard, mostly down to what you’re telling it you feel is important!

When you are struggling with OCD and you see the obsessions as important the brain will prioritise these thoughts above all others. Once you start to habituate yourself to the OCD triggers the brain will no longer use its finite resources on information you’re telling it is irrelevant.  It will file it as a ‘meaningless and repetitive stimuli’ and no longer bring it to your attention.

Yes, this is habituation and it’s where OCD recovery happens!   

A note here to highlight that we shouldn’t expect our obsessions never to show up again.  Every now and then the brain will throw one to the forefront of your mind and say,  ‘Remember this?  You were really obsessed with this at one point, is it still important?’ and your only job is to do absolutely nothing.  This is how we break free from OCD. 

In summary, we need to habituate to our obsessions, show the brain that they’re insignificant and carry on with our day aligning with our values. This is how we live our lives in recovery. 

Not sure on your values? Then be sure to subscribe below as that’s what next weeks post is going to be all about.

As always,
Stay Strong xxx 

OCD – Maybe This Time it’s Real!

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Ever heard yourself thinking this?  Maybe you’ve had OCD for a while, maybe you’ve had some therapy and you know all the tools; don’t engage with the thoughts, go on with your day like the thoughts are irrelevant, don’t fall down the rabbit hole – sounds familiar?    

You know it all but then comes that little voice which saying, ‘but what if this time, it IS important, it feels so real.’      

Don’t be fooled, it’s OCD’s sneaky trick, ramping up the doubt and uncertainty to take hold of the one thing it wants, your complete attention.

When you get triggered – for whatever reason – it can feel desperate, like this thought (obsession) needs all your time and energy – if you could just work it out this time then you would be OK. 

Well let me tell you it’s not important, your mind is telling you lies and trying to capture your attention.  Your scared amygdala (the part of the brain responsible for triggering the body’s fight-or-flight response to threats) is sending you a faulty signal and your only job is to not engage. 

The only way the brain can truly learn that the signal is faulty is by not engaging with the thought (obsession) and seeing for itself .  Any attempt to try and neutralise the thought will tell the brain that the signal was important & so perpetuate the OCD cycle.

OCD Cycle

Remember,

‘If you’re struggling, you’re spiralling’. 

If it feels desperate/urgent you can be sure you’re not thinking rationally, you’ve switched over to fight or flight mode and you will not benefit from completing any compulsions (repetitive physical or mental behaviour a person feels driven to perform to alleviate the anxiety, distress, or unease caused by an obsession).    

So ‘how?’, I hear you shout, when it feels so important, do I ignore my brains natural instincts and just carry on? 

It’s tough, it can feel like stepping out of an aeroplane not knowing if your parachute is packed correctly. Sometimes it can feel like the risk isn’t worth it, especially when people you love are involved,

examples include:

‘I must make sure my hands are extra clean before making my children’s tea, I should wash them a second time.’

‘I need to go back and check I didn’t hit anyone when I felt that bump on the road.’

‘I have to hide all the knives in case I loose control and hurt someone.’

Your brain tells you can’t take the risk and you’re just being a responsible person by making sure.

It’s worth pointing out here that we shouldn’t give our feelings so much credit either, we cannot control them, so don’t let them control you!  Feelings are not facts!

However know that by not sitting with the thoughts you will be drawn into them. 

You might think you’re being responsible but what the people around you see – the ones you love and are trying to protect – is a person who isn’t fully engaged in the world, has become irritable, withdrawn, detached, distressed, less empathetic and is really struggling.  

When we dissolve into our thoughts, our subconscious takes over our outer functioning – this is the you the world sees! Because you are so caught up in your thoughts your brain goes into default mode and it uses programs it picked up from when you were a child! Is this what you want? 

Wouldn’t you rather be showing up in your life?  Aligning to your values, trusting yourself and getting on with the things you enjoy, with the people you love? 

Does that make sitting with the thoughts a risk worth taking? Know your reason and keep it at the forefront of your mind whenever those thoughts come knocking, it will give you the strength and resilience to push though.  

Don’t let OCD steal anymore of your life, the time you have with the people most important to you and the dreams and ambitions you have for yourself.   

It might feel real this time, but my guess is if you leave it be, it will float away and be replaced by another thought pretty quickly and I bet you that one will feel just as real! 

Take a step back and just have a laugh at the madness that is OCD, I know it doesn’t always feel like you want to laugh when you have OCD but it’s a way of detaching yourself from the lies it tells you. 

I hope it helps, you have totally go this.
As always, Stay Strong xxx

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OCD – The thoughts are Irrelevant

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Lady with thoughts above her head.

Paradoxically the word irrelevant has become extremely relevant in my life recently.  

It is exactly what we have to see OCD obsessions (unwanted, intrusive, and distressing thoughts, images, or urges that repeatedly enter a person’s mind, causing anxiety or distress) as. 

It sounds so easy but when your brain is telling you there is danger right here, right now and it’s letting off all the warnings signals, it can feel like you’re going against every natural instinct you have, not to do the compulsion (repetitive physical or mental behaviour a person feels driven to perform to alleviate the anxiety, distress, or unease caused by an obsession) and find that momentary relief.    

This is why it feels so hard, the brain – for whatever reason – has let off it’s fight or flight response.  The job of this system is to make you remove yourself from danger/discomfort. To act in opposition to this response is to go against your natural instincts. 

OCD is a fault in this system, the brain is alerting you to danger where there is none and it can only learn this when you sit with the uncomfortable feeling and go about your day as if the thought is completely irrelevant. 

No matter how you feel, you must carry on with your day and allow the brain to learn that the signal is a false alarm.  In contrast by giving into the compulsion you never give your brain a chance to see that there was nothing to worry about in the first place. 

The focus should be on living a valued based life and not trusting your feelings to guide you. Feelings are out of our control and so allowing them to dictate your actions is foolish. 

Decide on your values and live each day in accordance with them regardless of how you feel.  This way the brain learns it doesn’t need to complete a compulsion for every random obsession that pops into your head. 

This is also how the brain starts to heal and your scared amygdala (the part of the brain responsible for triggering your fight or flight response) which keeps letting off these false alerts, learns that it doesn’t need to be so scared anymore.  This does take time and I’m still in this process myself but having the knowledge that the current signals are faulty, and your brain is just a bit scared is so empowering. 

It can be very frustrating at times when you have OCD and easy to beat yourself up about it but Martha Beck tells us to imagine our amygdala as a scared animal. Would you say cruel things to a scared puppy, or would you show it kindness and love?  We all need to be a bit kinder to ourselves and realise that OCD is just our brain being scared incorrectly. 

See each day as an opportunity to get stronger and show the brain that these faulty signals are meaningless and irrelevant!

I know this work is hard, but you are not alone, you are not a bad person, and you are braver than you know. 

As always,
Stay Strong xxx

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Why it’s so important not to pay attention to OCD thoughts.

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OCD is the king of doubt and uncertainty, he’ll play on any worries or fears you have, and he’ll pick the things you care about most to do it with! 

He is not your friend in anyway and listening to him is like, ‘taking directions to heaven from the devil’ – thank you Dr Steven Phillipson for that wonderful analogy. 

You must therefore be tenacious, relentless and non-negotiable in your recovery because OCD is! 

You mustn’t even take a peep down that rabbit hole because before you know it, you’ll be tumbling down inside it.

Your job is to do nothing, just carry on with your day as if the thoughts are completely irrelevant because you know what, they are! 

Now I realise all this is easily said and much harder in reality but any other approach is going to end up with you putting your life on hold in some way.  Just take a moment to read that again and then realise that any other approach to OCD intrusive thoughts is going to end up with you, procrastinating, spiralling, getting caught up in your thoughts, impairing your judgements, distracting you from your life, taking you away from all the things you care about and keeping you STUCK! 

Yes, that’s the brutal reality of OCD, it’s stopping you living your life by stealing your mental capacity, which by the way, you only have a limited amount of each day. When your preoccupied with OCD thoughts you are not living your life to the full.    

It is such a mental and physical drag to carry OCD round with you, day in & day out and when you’ve had it for a long time you can start to get used to that weight!  Ouch, that was hard to write. It’s very insidious and it creeps into all parts of your life; it can even go back and destroy happy memories which is devastating.  

So how do we sit with these thoughts?  Well, a couple of the phrases I’ve found which have been useful are:

‘Thank you, OCD, that’s exactly what I want to hear right now’

And

‘Thank you, but I’m not answering that question right now.’

Both phrases allow you to accept the thought without pushing it away.  I’ve used them both successfully and they do work. They do require you to sit with the uncertainty, which can be very uncomfortable at times. If you find it’s too much, then go and have a look at last week’s post ‘2 simple questions to easily dismiss OCD thoughts’, to help you with the letting go process.

I really hope it helps
Stay Strong xxx

2 Simple Questions to Easily Dismiss OCD Thoughts

Posted in Anxiety, Mental Health, Mental Wellbeing, OCD, OCD Awareness Week, OCD Coping Strategies, OCD General, worryTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

No matter how many years I’ve had OCD and how many tools I have in my toolbox, there does still seem to be times when a thought will, pop up and for whatever reason it gets a bit stuck. 

I find it particularly frustrating after all the work I’ve put into my recovery but somehow my brains default mode does seem to be to doubt & worry and so I must be proactive about using the tools I’ve learnt along the way to keep my mental health in check. 

One tool which I find endlessly helpful to dismiss OCD thoughts is one I learnt from Byron Katie. 

It’s worth noting here that in an ideal world we wouldn’t invest any time in the thoughts, we’d let them be but if they do stick – for whatever reason – then take 5 minutes and give this tool a whirl.

Byron Katie calls it ‘The Work’ and it takes the form of a set of questions:

As yourself

  1. Is it true? (Yes or no. If no, move to question 3.)
  2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true? (Yes or no.)
  3. How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
  4. Who or what would you be without the thought?

The tool seems too simple right, but it is unbelievably good.

I love Byron Katies version, but I have found that I don’t need the whole version to be able to dismiss my OCD thoughts. All I generally need to do is ask myself,

Is it true? 

Quite often when I ask myself this question it isn’t obvious what my brain is obsessing over at all!  OCD can be so vague – after all fear lives in the vague – and when I dig down a little deeper the true fear is often nonsense.  Sometimes this is enough on its own for me to dismiss the thought! 

If not, I ask myself

Is it 100% true?

With OCD the answer is always NO, because OCD is about doubt and uncertainty and so I can guarantee you won’t know 100%. 

Next, I tell myself

If it’s not 100% true, then,

‘YOU HAVE TO LET IT GO!’

Why would you torture yourself over something which isn’t 100% fact?  The brain is looking for certainty which you cannot give it, so let it go.

And this is enough for me to sit with the thought and let it be. 

Just two simple questions:

  1. Is it true
  2. Is it 100% true?

I cannot tell you how many times this method has helped me.  I really hope it’s useful for you too. Let me know in the comments below

As always
Stay Strong xxx

5 Simple Words to Help Manage Intrusive Thoughts Effectively

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‘I’m not answering that question’, 5 simple words and yet it can feel so hard in the moment. 

When you’re spiralling – for whatever reason – you can feel quite desperate and like you must focus all your attention on answering OCD/anxieties questions, because ‘this time it might matter’, ‘I can’t take that risk’ or ‘I need to check, just in case’!

Does all this sound familiar? 

I get this a lot, in fact most days.  Sometimes something will happen or sometimes it can literally be an uncomfortable thought, feeling or emotion and that’s it my brain will hyper-focus on trying to work out the answer/solution as if it’s life or death! 

Sitting with the doubt can feel like too much, when it’s the people you love, your own mortality or something that strongly conflicts with your values.  You feel like the risk is too high and you must know the answer right now! 

Well let me tell you something, this is OCD and anxieties favourite game.  It wants to steal your focus, it wants your time and energy and nothing but your full attention is acceptable.  It likes to throw things at you until something sticks and then, aha, it’s got you, say goodbye to the rest of your day! 

So, how can we know if it’s OCD and anxiety or whether we genuinely need to pay attention to a thought, I hear you ask?

Ultimately the game is to learn to sit with the uncertainty but I’ve found a good guidepost is to ask yourself the following two questions:

  1. Am I suffering? 
  2. Do I feel desperate and like I need the answer right now?

If you’ve answered yes to either of these questions, then in my experience you can pretty much guarantee that you are in an anxiety/OCD spiral and that you wont be thinking logically/rationally. 

Your job is therefore to do NOTHING!

Step away from the thought and carry on with your day as if it’s completely irrelevant.  You can expect to feel anxious but that’s OK. 

Every time that thought comes back into your head just say the 5 words:

‘I’m not answering that question.’

and carry on with whatever you’re doing.

I do understand that in the moment when your brain is telling you that thought needs all your attention it can feel impossible, but you need to be brave and let it be. 

Another time this is particularly helpful is at night, when our rational brain is having a rest and we’re never thinking at our best. Things ALWAYS seem worse in the middle of the night so just tell your brain, I’m not answering that question’.

I really hope it helps you as much as it has me,
Let me know how you get on and as always,
Stay Strong xxx