Starting each day can feel like a fight against yourself when you have OCD. Trying to avoid intrusive thoughts that won't go away. Having to do things over and over until it feels "just right". You get a second of relief before the thoughts are back, making you think you've messed up again. 

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You're ashamed you keep doing these things that to everyone else seem weird, but it brings you some relief, so you continue. You learn to hide them, often people can't tell if you're counting in your head, naming things, tapping, rechecking, praying, etc.  You know it doesn't really matter, but for some reason, it helps. 

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What does it help? It prevents something bad; it could be a sickness, a car crash, anything you can imagine really. So then, what happens if you stop? 

 

The tough thing about OCD is that the compulsions you're doing - the touching, tapping, counting, avoidance, etc. bring you a fleeting moment of relief, but a prolonged presence of the anxiety, making it more powerful over time.  

 

The key to beating OCD is in how you approach exposure therapy. It's so much more than just confronting intrusive thoughts or fears. The treatment I provide, exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, was taught by the experts at the International OCD Foundation. ERP is the gold-standard, go-to treatment for treating OCD.  

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