Why You're Getting More Intrusive Thoughts

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Hi, my name is Danielle Thornton. I am an anxiety and OCD recovery coach. And today I want to talk a little bit about the OCD cycle, which also applies to anxiety to some extent, and why, how the cycle works and why doing compulsions actually fuel fuels more intrusive thoughts. So the OCD cycle looks something like this. You have ocd, there might be a trigger, right? Sometimes it's conscious, sometimes it's not conscious. But either way, you get an intrusive thought, right? OCD sends you an intrusive thought that causes anxiety, discomfort, uncertainty. And because we're all human beings and when we're struggling with anything difficult, we develop coping mechanisms. Those coping mechanisms that we develop with OCD and sometimes anxiety are called compulsions. Now, with anxiety, these compulsions are coping mechanisms. They may not be as obsessive or compulsive as with somebody with ocd, which basically means that they might have them, but they just don't do them as often. If you have ocd, you tend to do compulsions quite regularly. And that does still look different for everybody. Some people can do them all day. Some people have moments where they're not doing them as much. There is an up and down with those. But when we do the compulsion, it actually fuels more intrusive thoughts and keeps you in that OCD cycle. And the reason is, is because when the OCD fear part of your brain gives you a thought, okay? And you respond to that thought with, in a way, hooking into it, not purposefully, but you hook into it, and then you react by doing a compulsion. You're basically saying to that part of your brain that, okay, I hear you, I believe there's something to be afraid of and I need to do something about it, okay? And so that just tells the OCD part of your brain that what it's telling you is working. It needs to keep doing it because it's going to continue to try to keep you safe, okay? This is all about your brain, right? And it's somewhat controllable, somewhat automatic. So every time you do a compulsion, you are actually feeding more intrusive thoughts. In fact, I have seen this so clearly in the last couple years working with clients. Every time I talk to a client, and half of our focus is on compulsions, okay? Which is very rare with a lot of people who help others with ocd, they focus a lot more on exposure, and exposure is very important. It's half of the puzzle, right? But the other piece is the response prevention. And it's often very, very much missed. And ignored way too much with ocd, which leads people to continue to stay in the OCD cycle. Because every time you do a compulsion, it fuels the OCD cycle and keeps it going. So when I talk to clients, and the first thing we get on the phone and I ask them how they're doing, if they tell me they're doing better.

And this is something that I do with clients as well, we identify all of your compulsions, and we actually track them very regularly every time we meet. So when I talk to somebody and they say they're doing really well.

Almost always after we then go into their compulsions and look at where they're at with their compulsions, their compulsions are down. If they tell me they're not doing as well or they might be struggling a little bit, then their compulsions are up every time. And so I can tell you this, right? And we can talk about the OCD cycle, and someone can tell you that your compulsions feed the OCD and fuel that cycle. But I have seen it over and over again. There is no deviating from this, okay? And so the key is, with the OCD cycle is to stop the compulsions. And when you actually don't do a compulsion, you're actually doing an exposure, right? Because when you don't do the compulsion, you're exposed to the anxiety and feelings and uncertainty that you normally wouldn't be exposed to. So the response prevention leads to the exposure, Although there are other really important ways to do exposure that will help significantly and really help with your confidence with how ERP works. So that is the OCD cycle. It's very simple. ERP is actually, you know, pretty simple and straightforward, although it's almost impossible to do on your own because you need a specialist to help guide you through all of the tricks and sneaky ways that OCD can show up for you, right? And systematically do ERP with you so that it's effective, especially the exposure piece. And again, one of the things that I do very differently is a huge focus on compulsions, because, again, that is often very much missed. It was a reason for my relapse last year is I did not get the education on the compulsion piece that I did finally get that actually helped me recover that on top of some other dietary and physical changes that I made. I am symptom free from ocd. And it is possible. I know people will say it's not curable, but I have not had symptoms for quite a while. I'm at zero there.

But the ERP is crucial. It's the foundation. It's what got me 80 to 90% of my healing journey. And so working with a specialist is super important and someone who really, really understands erp, because I do run across, across people every once in a while who have worked with ERP specialists. Not doing it proper, that's possible as well. So if you're seeing an ERP specialist and it's working, they're teaching you exposure. You're doing it every single day and they're helping you to identify every single compulsion which you're probably aware of some, but not others, and helping to hold you accountable to bringing those compulsions down to zero. You are in the right place and keep going with that because that is very important. But if you are not, and you want more assistance with ERP or, or if you want assistance in learning about the dietary and physical changes that I made to eliminate the rest of my ocd, please check out the description below. I have been coaching people for over two years and have seen amazing results, so I'm always here for you. Please subscribe to this channel. If you want more information just like this, hit the subscribe button. Hit the like button. Comment. Let me know that you want more information just like this. If you and we'll talk to you next time.