#ocd compulsions

i love mental compulsions

Pure OCD isn’t obsession without compulsion — it’s obsession with invisible compulsions: mental checking, reassurance seeking, thought suppression, and analyzing the meaning of intrusive thoughts.

The themes vary — harm, SO-OCD, scrupulosity, existential dread — but the cycle is the same:

Intrusive thought hits

Mental rituals kick in (often instantly)

Temporary relief

More anxiety

Repeat

That’s the trap. The only way out? Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) — even when the compulsions are all mental.

💡 What ERP Looks Like for Pure O

Writing and re-reading scary thoughts on purpose

Sitting with uncertainty ("Maybe I'm a bad person. Maybe I’ll never know.")

Blocking mental reviewing, confessing, or reassurance-seeking

Letting anxiety rise, peak, and fall — without fixing it

ERP isn't about feeling better right away — it's about retraining the brain to see the thoughts as irrelevant noise. And it works.

📘 One Workbook That Actually Gets Pure O

If doing ERP alone sounds overwhelming, this helped tremendously:

👉 The Pure O OCD Workbook

It’s written by clinicians, but practical and easy to follow. Some highlights:

Breakdown of Pure OCD themes (harm, sexual, religious, etc.)

Worksheets to build a personal ERP plan

Imaginal exposure scripts tailored to intrusive thoughts

Strategies to interrupt mental rituals

Relapse prevention and tracking tools

It teaches how to face the fear without giving in to compulsions — step by step.

⚠️ What Keeps OCD Going (and ERP Stops)

Rumination (“Why am I thinking this?”)

Reassurance-seeking (Googling, confessing, analyzing)

Avoidance (of people, triggers, media)

Treating the thought like it’s meaningful

Needing certainty before moving on

The more the mind tries to “figure it out,” the tighter the OCD grip. ERP breaks that cycle — and the brain learns that uncertainty is safe.

✅ Recovery Is Possible

Pure OCD can feel isolating and exhausting. But with consistent ERP — even without a therapist — things can change.

The thoughts may still come, but they lose power. The anxiety fades faster. The freedom grows.

It takes work, but it’s worth it.

👉 Here’s the workbook that helped make it doable, one day at a time.

Not all of my OCs inadvertently catching my OCD lmaooo 😂😂 First Bunny Secretary and now Army Medic Vampire Boyfriend. Poor Ocs hahaha

I imagine him sitting by the computer after you tell him you think he has OCD. He’s silent the whole time he’s reading over the entire history of the disorder. You’re sitting there silently, ready to face the denial that’s sure to be coming.

“Yeah, I don’t have this.” And there it is. You give him a blank look.

“You compulsively check my temperature every time you enter the bedroom,” you point out.

“You’re sick, that’s normal.”

“You always touch my pulse and wait till it beats eight times before letting go,” you mention next. He merely shrugs.

“Well what if the previous seven were a trick?” He shoots out in response, his mind likely supplying that as a reason to fuel the compulsion.

“That’s not how pulses work,” you say gently.

“Ok— and how was I supposed to remember?! If you recall I haven’t had one for a very long time!” He cries out dramatically, slapping his hands on his thighs and storming out of the living room.