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    The OCD specialist's blog

    Go on the offensive against OCD

    Illustration of a football pitch viewed from above, with a goal at each end

    Read aloud: Listen to the narrated version of the blog post.

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    In our work with OCD, we want to help our clients go on the offensive against it. Many have relied on for far too long, hoping to keep the distress caused by OCD to a minimum. Unfortunately, that has meant playing by OCD’s rules for far too long.

    When OCD sets the rules

    If we imagine OCD as an opponent on a football pitch, we find ourselves guarding our goal while our opponent is free to take shot after shot. Worse still, this is an opponent who has the referee on its side and can change the rules at any moment. Even as we guard the goal, it may be moved further to the left or right. It is hard to defend a goal when the opponent controls the rules.

    It is easy to think we need coaches who can help us become even better at defending, but that would only give us more of the same. Instead, we need to change the game. We need to go on the offensive. We cannot simply move play up to midfield and become more efficient at defending. No. We need to take the game all the way to OCD’s goal and score.

    From defence to attack

    Imagine a form of OCD in which certain thoughts feel distressing simply to have. If one of these thoughts occurs in a particular situation, the person feels compelled to , this time without the thought. For example, someone watching a television programme has an unpleasant thought and rewinds the last ten seconds, trying to watch them again without the thought. This is 100 per cent defensive. Another option is to and continue watching. Now we have moved play to midfield. But we are still hoping the thought will not occur, and every now and then we still get caught by it. So let us take the game all the way to the opponent’s goal: let us deliberately think the unpleasant thought. We score. And we can score again and again. Eventually, OCD no longer finds the game so entertaining.

    Need a coach?

    By going on the offensive, we can push OCD all the way back. Do you need a professional coach who knows the game?