Why OCD Compulsions Are Not the Missing Puzzle Piece: The Truth About ERP

Have you ever worked your way through a puzzle and at the end you're missing a piece or two? It doesn't feel good. It's incomplete. How much time feels wasted? Would you have started the puzzle if you knew it couldn't be completed?

This is how OCD tricks us into thinking that doing compulsions will solve the puzzle, when in reality, it’s the exact opposite. By the end of this post, you'll learn why stopping those compulsions and focusing on treatment is the real missing puzzle piece—and there's one more piece you may be missing altogether. Stick around, because I'll teach you. Let's get started!

The Puzzle Analogy: Understanding OCD's Tricks

Imagine this: you're working on a complex puzzle. You've spent hours on it, and you're so close to finishing, but there's one piece missing. You search everywhere, getting more and more frustrated. Your brain goes into overdrive trying to solve this problem. It's distressing, right?

OCD is a master of trickery. It convinces us that if we just do this one thing, we'll feel better. So, we perform compulsions—whether it’s checking, washing, or seeking reassurance. But here's the catch: compulsions might give temporary relief, but they actually strengthen OCD in the long run.

Have you ever felt complete after doing a compulsion? Have you solved the problem...yeahhhh...probably not.

Compulsions: The False Promise of Resolution

Think of compulsions as decoys. They promise resolution but only lead to more anxiety and more compulsions. So, what's the real solution? It's something called Exposure and Response Prevention, or ERP.

ERP is like the ultimate puzzle solver for OCD. It involves gradually exposing yourself to the things that trigger your anxiety without performing the compulsions. Over time, your brain learns that it doesn’t need to do these rituals to feel okay.

How ERP Works: A Practical Guide

Here's how it works: Let's say you're afraid of contamination. An exposure might be touching a doorknob without washing your hands afterward. At first, your anxiety might spike, but as you resist the compulsion to wash, your anxiety will eventually decrease. This process helps rewire your brain, teaching it that the feared outcome is unlikely and that you can handle the uncertainty.

Doing Exposures Regardless of OCD Themes

Now, let's talk about how you can do exposures every day, regardless of your OCD theme. Did you hear what I said? Regardless of the OCD theme...It works the same for all.

Take your fear and create steps to face it. Maybe think back to a time when you didn't have all these rules set up—what did that look like? Do that.

We create a fear ladder or hierarchy: small steps to face a fear and build up to something bigger. I have worksheets on this in my online OCD course that can help you treat your OCD if you need more guidance. I'll link that down below.

Turning Compulsions into Exposures

Maybe to keep it simple, you're going to write down all the compulsions you do. Those are those puzzle pieces that just don't fit right. Things like washing hands, ruminating, asking for reassurance, praying, tapping, pushing thoughts away, etc.

You then turn those into your exposures. Maybe, I'm touching those things I normally wouldn't touch and not washing my hands. I don't avoid that thing I normally would avoid. I recklessly send a text message to someone. I go on that date. I make a decision and not ask for reassurance.

The Missing Puzzle Piece: The Response

But here's the thing. It's supposed to make you feel anxious. That's when problem-solving comes in and says...find the last puzzle piece. Once you do the compulsion, you'll feel better and complete. It's that last one. Just do it.

That is what we have to fight against. We sit with the uncomfortableness of not doing the compulsion. And here is actually that puzzle piece that I was wondering if you're missing altogether.

The response. Lots of people do the exposures, but they are missing the response. The response is simply telling your brain that you don't care about the fear it just presented. Can you smile? Can you relax your body? Can you use phrases like, "maybe, maybe not," to show that you're okay living in the gray? Only react to problems presented right in front of you. Don't do the action of facing a fear without the response.

The key is consistency. It’s like building a new habit—challenging at first, but it gets easier over time.

Conclusion

You can actually complete this puzzle, but not by doing the compulsions. It takes time. Be patient. You can get better.

There are some other puzzle pieces to help you on your journey. One of those is this video right here...Go check it out.

Thanks for reading! Stay strong, stay hopeful, and keep pushing forward. I’ll see you in the next post!