Notes On… OCD

OCD is not quirkiness.
It’s not neat handwriting.
It’s not a love of clean kitchens or symmetrical bookshelves.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a disorder of doubt.
Of relentless, haunting uncertainty.
Of the mind turning inward like a weapon, asking over and over:
Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure?

Clients say:
I know the door is locked, but what if I missed it?
I know I didn’t run someone over, but what if I’m wrong?
I know it’s irrational, but it feels so real.

OCD is built on two pillars:

• Obsessions — intrusive, unwanted thoughts, images, or urges that cause distress.

• Compulsions — behaviors or mental acts performed to reduce that distress, or prevent a feared catastrophe.

The tragedy is that the compulsions work... for a moment.
They soothe the terror.
But then the doubt returns, louder, sharper, hungrier.

And the cycle tightens.

OCD is not about logic.
It’s about urgency.
It’s not that the person doesn’t “know better.”
It’s that their nervous system is screaming that something terrible is about to happen and it’s their job to prevent it.

OCD touches every kind of fear:

• Fear of harm.

• Fear of contamination.

• Fear of offending God.

• Fear of being evil.

• Fear of being wrong, bad, dangerous, broken.

It hijacks the places we love most:
Faith, responsibility, love, morality.

OCD doesn’t doubt what you fear.
OCD doubts what you most want to protect.

The most effective treatments for OCD are not simply talk therapy.
They are Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and, in some cases, medication that helps regulate intrusive thought loops.

ERP doesn’t make the fear go away by arguing with it.
It teaches the body:
You can feel the fear AND not obey it.

It teaches the soul:
You are not your thoughts.
You are not your rituals.
You are braver than the trap your mind has built for you.

OCD healing isn’t about being fearless.
It’s about reclaiming your freedom,
one resisted compulsion at a time.