Episode 9
General Q&A
In this episode, you show hosts Lauren and Kelley answer your questions about OCD for OCD awareness week. We cover how to do ERP when artificial exposures don’t cause you anxiety, how to find joy while living with anxiety and OCD greeting you first thing in the morning, alongside many other topics.
Lauren and Kelley have a conversation around differentiating between probable vs. possible.
Looking at factors through the lens of reason it plays in uncertainty in the treatment of OCD. Lauren explains further about not using rational thinking in a compulsive manner:
Lauren: We are not trying to talk our way out of anxiety… but to take a moment to think, “do I want my behavior to be dictated by this thought?”
We learn a little more about Lauren’s existential obsessions she had as a young child and Kelley points out everyone’s subtype will look different.
She compares her own experience being much different than Laurens and states, “this is why it is hard for us to put exposures in a box…It’s a costume job.” Lauren and Kelley explain what it means to sit with distressing thoughts and the the consequences for when we don’t, “it will give you a hard butt bite,” remarked Kelley.
When addressing how to handle aggressive intrusive thoughts at work, Kelley gives OCD a lecture in real time:
Kelley: “Yes, thank you so much for your input OCD. That meant a lot and I am going to just keep working…also, you a**hole OCD! I am just trying to be productive and do my job!” No I am just kidding, don’t do that, you’re not going to win that battle.
Ultimately, we must learn to notice the uncomfortable feelings and thoughts and then come back to the present moment. They acknowledge how painful this can be and find a way to add some levity to this very difficult task.
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