OCD Research News
Monthly roundups of new peer-reviewed OCD research and what it means for people living with OCD.
Try an exercise from the app
These are real statements from the ocd.app app. For each one, decide: is it OCD thinking that keeps the cycle going, or a helpful thought to practise?
- Without control - I'm useless
- I must always be certain
- Uncertainty is unmanageable
- I must have absolute control
- Letting go increases my well-being
- Learning is living
- I can bear not being in control
- Happiness can include letting go
Exposure and response prevention (ERP) means facing the thoughts OCD makes you avoid, without doing the ritual. Pick a thought from the app that makes you uneasy, then stay with it.
- Not knowing is unbearable
- I want to always be certain
- I need absolute certainty
- I must have complete control over everything
- I must have absolute control
- I have to avoid uncertainty
- Uncertainty is unbearable
- Without control - I'm useless
- Uncertainty is overpowering
- I have to know everything
An urge is a wave: it rises, peaks and passes, even when you do nothing. Breathe with the circle for 40 seconds — in for 4, out for 6 — and let the urge be there without acting on it.
Letting go increases my well-being
Educational practice, not therapy or a diagnosis. More exercises from the app · Practise daily in the ocd.app app →
Practise what you read, a few minutes a day
The ocd.app app turns these ideas into short daily exercises, built with clinical psychologists and backed by 22 peer-reviewed studies.
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