How to recover from OCD

Nathan Peterson here! OCD and anxiety specialist and I'm here to tell you how to NOT recover from OCD. You heard me right. Seriously! Do you want those obsessive thoughts to stay? Do you want to continue doing those compulsions, right? So let me show you what you can do to make sure that you don't recover from OCD. 

Wait, wait, wait, but NATE, you're always giving me the things that are supposed to help me recover. Yeah but, it's just another video lost in the void. I thought it would be helpful to do a little reverse psychology, and instead tell you how you can stay in this OCD forever. 

The number one thing that you must do is to make sure you are continually problem-solving this fear. That's right. If you take the fear that you have keep thinking through it, going through all the possibilities, researching online, asking other people for reassurance. Essentially continually trying to be a researcher.

This will almost ensure your OCD sticks around. This is what you want right?

Okay okay, you're telling me this isn't enough to keep your OCD around. Here are some more tips for you. Whatever you do not stop doing those compulsions. Really. Those compulsions are so good at helping you restart the cycle of OCD. It's like the oil that keeps the wheels spinning. The more you continually do those compulsions, the more likely you'll want to keep doing it. Ensuring that OCD sticks around. 

I also want to make sure to give you the hint you should avoid everything that bring anxiety. Why feel anxiety when you don't actually need it. Our goal is to keep anxiety and OCD around, this is one really good way to tell the brain that you cannot handle or tolerate anxiety. So it will keep warning you and telling you that you are in danger.

Yeah!! We're going steps closer to keeping this whole OCD around.

You know what would be really helpful, stopping all activities, maybe not going to work today because you just don't feel like it. Don't go to the gym can you register a little anxious. To stop living lice and doing the things you enjoy will definitely keep this whole OCD around.

You know the treatment for OCD? Exposure and response prevention. If you try it once and feel like it's too difficult. I'm going to tell your brain work for you. Stick with this thought. The more you believe treatment doesn't work, the more OCD gets to stick around. 

In fact, if you want to ensure your OCD stays, you don't even attempt treatment. Also, exercising, eating healthy, drinking water, and sleeping I'm not those things that are going to keep OCD around.

What to really do to kick OCD to the curb

Ahhhhh, I can't do this anymore. Of course, you DON'T want OCD to stick around. Man. That was a tough journey we just went on. But seriously, if you want OCD to stay, you can continue doing all those things. 

However, if you want your OCD to reduce, let me tell you what you really need to do. First, learn about exposure and response prevention. You can do this through a trained OCD specialist through my step-by-step guided OCD online course, 

This is the treatment for OCD. Take time to write down all the various fears and "what ifs" and worries. Then spend time writing down all of the compulsions that you do. Those things that make you believe is what is going to bring down the anxiety. Come up with responses to these fears on how you're just simply not going to care about them anymore. These responses can be, maybe maybe not. Cool. thanks for the thought. Yep, I don't care if this happens. I am loving feeling.

People take this fear and face it. Move closer to it. Have their response ready to go and know all the compulsions they won't do. They repeat this process over and over and over again. The more we face the fear and respond differently to more this fear is no longer a fear. 

Individuals recover from OCD when they are willing to feel anxiety, risk the threat, respond differently, and then at the end of it all, realized that most of the time the catastrophe never happened.

If the brain does not learn this, it's going to keep telling you that your fear actually matters. So take it through the wringer. Teach it something different. The thing about learning a new skill is that you have to do it often. You can't take the study guide glanced at it expect to do well on the test. You probably need to spend a few hours studying day after day after day you have a better shot at passing.

So while I was trying to do some reverse psychology with you at the beginning, I know you're looking for a relief. I want you to trust and have faith there is hope in the future. Treatment works. Doing nothing ensures that OCD sticks around. And as I can tell because you're still watching, you are a darn thing to reduce. 

Don't focus on how to get the thoughts to go away but more on, how can I respond differently to the thought the next time it happens. 

Adjust your definition of OCD recovery

You might need to adjust your definition of recovery. Recovery for most doesn't mean that they removed all intrusive thoughts and all anxiety. Instead it means a thought they have 500 times a day has now been reduced to maybe once a day maybe once a week and maybe even once a month. Regardless, once you learn to respond completely different these thoughts just have no value.

I think the first initial response most people have is, let's try everything else first before I do exposures. Because exposures are the most painful way but tend to be the most successful in relieving symptoms. The brain is even really good at convincing the person that there okay continuing to do the compulsions, it's not so bad. Somedays are good, which mean I can handle it.

If your new to this channel, you'll know than I am a man of action. It means I need to do something different in my life to get different results. The same way of thinking in the same way I've been living my life hasn't been working so far so why would I expected to in the future. An action means, I'm willing to expose myself to the uncertainties in the fears. I am willing to feel anxiety for a little bit. No matter what my brain says even if it's also incredibly real, I am not giving into this thing. I will be living my life exactly how I want to live it even if it's a trigger. I am doing these actions on purpose, daily, I am finding it before it finds me.

Although I would love for you to watch more of my videos learn about OCD. I would love it even more if you took action upon what you learn today. As I mentioned, my guided course for OCD is always available. In many other resources online.

To help you along with my course take that next step, go watch the 25 tips for overcoming OCD. This will just add to your toolbelt and make you even stronger.