The scary part of OCD is the theme: contamination, religion, sexual orientation, violent or sexual, relationship worries etc (The list is endless). But the theme (mask) is not important. It of course feels it is, and this is exactly why we end up doing compulsions. But the key word here is FEEL. It feels important, but that does not mean it is.

In OCD therapy we want to treat the OCD, the core processes behind the theme. These core processes run across all themes, as that’s the issue, the theme is just a mask, an illusion your brain is using to get you to act and protect you from the perceived danger.

Easier said than done. However, the more irrelevance we can show the content, mask or theme our brain is showing us, the simpler it becomes to see past the mask, and see what’s really going on behind the mask.

To quote Dr Reid Wilson, “The content of your worry is trash”.

Hope that helps.

Illustration by https://namiralph.com/

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